Case Analysis: USAA

Question: Is USAA a typical insurance company? List all reasons supporting your answer.

When USAA started in 1922, they were a property and casualty insurance company however, with time they expanded their services to their members and became a financial institution.

Their objective when starting the company was to provide auto insurance to military officers. In 1988, they owned 32 wholly-owned subsidiaries. Their main scope remained property and casualty insurance with automobile liability and damage insurance constituting over three-quarters of the company’s P&C business[1]. They also kept the membership limited to military officers and their dependents.

USAA is considered a financial institution for …show more content…
Due to the use of advanced IT systems by the USAA, the company was able to process nearly four million transactions every day, and the response time was only two seconds, while there was 99% systems availability. All these achievements prove that the USAA gradually became an IT leader in insurance industry.

McDermott was always a step ahead in trying to figure out what would be the next step in IT requirements. By the mid eighties, when all their systems were integrated and working well, they did not stop their technological advancements. They actually started planning for what would come ahead in the next decade, preparing for the year 2000.

Question: The fact that McDermott provided visioning and leadership for the use of IT within USAA is clear from the case. Why is this so important?

USAA embraced IT development as a way to increase its productivity and service offerings. They were always a step ahead trying to anticipate future trends and they saw technology as something significant in their development. Customer satisfaction was always a priority for them and in consequence the company has been able to maintain a strong reputation for excellent customer relation in the face of rapid technological change.

By eliminating the