INSURANCE - JUST AN OLD HIPPY - TECHNOLOGY

                             “I’m just an old hippie and I don’t know what to do.

                           Should I hold on to the old or should I grab onto the new.

                           I’m just an old hippy and my whole life is just a mess.

                           I’m not trying to hurt nobody. I’m just trying real hard to adjust”.   

The answer is of course you should grab on to the new!! You can still be an old hippie but you need to learn and do new things. You need to adjust.  Not doing new things  is lame. Get with it.  Don’t give a bad name to being an old hippie and to the insurance industry.

Computers were just getting started in the early sixties when I was in  my prime.   There were punch cards and that was  about it. Was that supposed to be it for me? No!!

That was the beginning of the lightning fast technology development revolution  like never seen before.

I was a computer programmer then. I remember going to a conference in Chicago.  The main speaker was James Martin, a very famous technology writer and communicator of that time.  He was among other things a database expert.

Mr. Martin gave a dynamic  presentation. He provided a vision of the future that included a computer on every desk and a network bigger and better than anything the world had ever seen.

At the time,  I was immersed in the implementation of a general ledger system at an insurance company. My reaction to Mr. Martin was “you got to be kidding”. How was all of this going to help me with my general ledger system. No way Jose!!

And you know what,  everything that Mr. Martin said has happened and then some.

I listened to Mr. Martin. I really liked his books. Database fascinated  me. I believed him when he said that technology was going to change the world and it has  And I was involved. I loved it.

And so I am still just an old hippie  but guess what. I always grabbed on to the new. And life  has been great.

And now, we are changing faster than ever. Thank you James Martin for saving me  from the purgatory of punch cards.  I hope all of you are saved from the  purgatory of current  technology. Many years from now, you will look at the internet and data base and Java like I look at punch cards.  Oh, by the way, I keep a package of punch cards in my bottom desk drawer!!

Grab on to the new. Every day. Every week. Every month. Every year. Forever!! Enjoy life.!!  As you go so goes the insurance industry!!

Thank you,

Bob

Note:  Lyrics of "I'm Just an Old Hippy"  written by the Bellamy Brothers and recorded by Merle Haggard