What’s Brewing in Insurance: A Coffee Chat with the Insurance Workgroup

Please note: This conversation was based on peer-to-peer engagement and shared experiences, not formal research. The insights shared reflect personal perspectives from within the community.

Hello everyone! The TBM Council hosted an engaging "Coffee Chat" with the Insurance Workgroup, bringing together members of the TBM community to share insights and discuss the evolving landscape of technology business management in the insurance industry. Be sure to connect with speakers Nathan Batchelder (Community Chair) and John Schlegelmilch from the Insurance Community workgroup!

What is a TBM Council Coffee Chat?

Our goal with these Coffee Chats is to create a relaxed space where TBM community members can share real-world insights, ask questions, and learn from one another. It’s all about connecting and growing together.

These sessions are held every four to six weeks per strategy community and typically last about 30 to 45 minutes. They're hosted by fellow TBM community members who are passionate about sharing their experiences and lessons learned. You won’t see any formal slides—just honest, practical conversation focused on the 'how-tos' of implementing and evolving TBM in your organizations. We encourage you to participate—ask questions, drop thoughts in the chat, and let this be a space where you feel comfortable sharing. It’s the community that makes these chats valuable.

Key Discussions from the Insurance Coffee Chat

During our "What's Brewing in Insurance" Coffee Chat, several crucial insights emerged regarding TBM implementation within the insurance sector:

• CMDB as a Cost Allocation Driver: The CMDB is a powerful tool for allocating infrastructure expenses, enabling TCO analysis, decision support for cloud vs. on-premise, targeted technology updates, and fostering accountability among service managers.

• Incentivizing Data Accuracy: A "carrot and stick" approach, including calculating and re-distributing the cost of CMDB inaccuracy, can significantly improve data quality and VM assignment rates over time.

• Beyond Showback to Chargeback: Transitioning from showback to consumption-based chargeback models can effectively incentivize desired outcomes, such as cloud adoption or database optimization, by making financial opportunities objectively clear.

• Strategic Service Portfolio Definition: Defining service portfolios requires balancing IT's desire for granular detail with business needs for understandable, aggregated views, often leading to a reduction in the number of defined services for clearer executive interaction.

Key Discussions from the Insurance Coffee Chat (Survey Results & Summary)

The discussion kicked off with insights from a survey conducted prior to the coffee chat, highlighting the community's interest in various TBM aspects within insurance.

The Role of CMDB in Allocating Infrastructure Expenses 

A significant portion of the discussion revolved around the use of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) to allocate infrastructure expenses. One speaker noted that 50% of survey respondents use CMDB information for this purpose.

One of the workgroup members shared their organization's experience, where the CMDB was used for four primary functions:

• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Breaking down expenses into direct and infrastructure costs, all the way down to a virtual machine (VM) level.

• Decision Support: Evaluating whether to host services on cloud or on-premise, and assessing SaaS alternatives (rent, buy, or build).

• Targeted Technology Updates: Shifting from "Big Bang" data center refreshes to yearly cycles for faster savings.

• Accountability and Efficiency: Holding service managers accountable for server oversight, ensuring dev and test servers are turned off when not in use to avoid unnecessary costs, and assessing complexity targets for operational simplification.

An attendee raised a common challenge regarding the accuracy of VM mapping in CMDBs. The workgroup member explained their organization's "carrot and stick" approach, where they calculated cost inaccuracy and spread it back to server footprints, incentivizing service owners to ensure data accuracy. Semi-annual audits helped achieve 90% VM assignments, reducing cost leakage to 5% over several years. Another attendee also noted the difficulty of getting infrastructure teams to turn off dev servers immediately, and the workgroup member suggested changing processes to capture immediate savings and having service owners sign "hold harmless" agreements.

Services Chargeback Models 

The conversation moved to services chargeback, with half of the survey respondents indicating they have a services model for infrastructure-oriented services. One speaker highlighted that their organization's TBM program originated from the need to address friction between shared technology groups and business teams regarding cost levers. They transitioned from a showback model to a full-scale, consumption-based chargeback model for about 40% of their IT budget, updating consumption quarterly for over 120 unique service offerings.

The other workgroup member added that their organization used a cost influencing model where corporate leadership functions, like the head of HR, had to present and defend IT costs for corporate applications to business units, fostering joint accountability. They also stressed the importance of speed to market, noting that cloud solutions often offered much faster provisioning than on-premise infrastructure.

An attendee from Allstate Insurance shared that they primarily use a showback model rather than chargeback.

Defining Service Portfolios and Catalogs 

An attendee inquired about the formality of service portfolio management practices. One speaker explained that their organization has a "mostly formal" practice for shared technology services, with governance around changes to the service catalog during the annual planning cycle. Their current focus is extending this transparency to application groups across different business units.

The other workgroup member described their organization's approach, breaking their portfolio into five categories with varying degrees of governance:

• Investment/Transform Portfolio: High governance and financial stewardship.

• Application/Service Portfolio: Driven by business partnership and aligned with quarterly KPIs.

• Support Functions: Managed by IT teams based on requested capacity (less governance).

• Governance Bucket: Owned by IT teams for defense during reviews.

• End-User Services: Simplified view with an average cost per person.

Another attendee also shared their experience with ServiceNow implementation and building out services, emphasizing the need for a centralized approach to avoid overly granular services from IT or disconnected views from the business. They highlighted the value of a service portfolio for data enrichment, identifying redundant applications, and aligning with enterprise architecture reviews.

We hope this recap provides valuable insights into navigating TBM for financial planning. What are your experiences with TBM in budgeting or managing cloud costs? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Join the Insurance Community!

The TBM Council's Insurance Strategy Community Workgroup is actively looking for more members to participate in open forums, coffee chats, engage with the community, and contribute to assets. They meet bi-weekly and discuss a variety of topics, including the recently published insurance strategy e-book. The group is also considering a survey to determine future focus areas and plans to revisit the TBM taxonomy with an insurance extension

If you're interested in connecting with peers, sharing real-world insights, and helping shape the future of TBM in the insurance industry, we encourage you to join the Insurance Community and Workgroup. You can continue these conversations on TBM Connect.

Next Steps: Engage and Learn More!

To continue your journey with Technology Business Management, we invite you to explore our website, log into TBM Connect here, dive deeper into the TBM framework, learn the fundamentals of TBM modeling, and review our latest research here—including the State of TBM report and our ongoing study of TBM salaries. Consider enrolling in a TBM course, joining the TBM Council to connect with a global community of peers, or attending the next TBM Conference to engage with thought leaders driving innovation at the intersection of technology and business. You can also explore our network of partners for additional resources and expertise, and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed about the latest insights, events, and tools in the world of TBM.

Ready to connect, learn, and grow? Join one of our TBM Strategy Communities on TBM Connect to participate in open forums, attend upcoming Coffee Chats, and contribute to our growing body of shared knowledge!