Cybertalk Ceases Publication

By Jean Gora
February/March 2002

The CyberTalk column, which has appeared in Resource magazine since 1995, ceased publication with the January 2002 issue of Resource. Its author, Jean Gora, moves on to address a broader array of insurance issues in her new column On the Industry, which will begin publication in Resource magazine in March 2002. Below are her comments about why she decided to stop writing CyberTalk.

All revolutions have beginnings and endings. The Internet revolution is no exception. The Internet is now so completely integrated into insurance industry practices that it is no longer revolutionary. It has become one tool among many. Looking back over the past seven years, one can say that the Internet revolution boosted the efficiency of virtually every operation in the insurance value chain. No, it did not replace insurance brokers, many of whom used it to become more productive themselves.

When CyberTalk first appeared in early 1995, only one insurance company on the planet had a Web site—The Hartford. Chubb had announced plans to establish a site. A mere two insurance agencies had sites—The Legacy Group of New York and Insurance Research Network of Pennsylvania. Only one stockbroker—Aufhauser & Co.—offered online trading. Citibank, Bank of America, and JP Morgan had home pages. And that was about it: the sum total of the global financial industry's Web use. It was possible to surf all of the world's financial Internet sites in one hour. Now, it could take a lifetime. Both the financial industry and the Internet have come a long, long way.

Previous issues of CyberTalk are available in the CyberTalk Archives.  To see more contents of the magazine and to see how to subscribe, click on RESOURCE MAGAZINE.