Strategy Meets Action Launches Ground-Breaking Next-Gen Innovation

BOSTON, May 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Strategy Meets Action (SMA), a leading insurance strategic advisory firm, is pleased to announce the launch of the first-of-its-kind offering, SMA Next-Gen Innovation. The offering is a unique blend of an outside-in approach for innovation through SMA's new SMA Innovation Ecosystem and an environment for collaboration and crowdsourcing with SMA Innovation Communities to allow insurers an ideal way to re-envision and reshape the business of insurance. 

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SMA's research and work with the industry has identified major influencers that are converging, challenging decades of business traditions and technology environments, and demanding innovation, all leading to the rise of the Next-Gen Insurer. The SMA Next-Gen Innovation offering will help insurers to strengthen and fuel the innovation journeys that are taking hold at businesses of every size. It will help them to evolve their visions and ideas into the central components of their business strategies, cultures, and transformation plans.

"Companies across all industries are embracing innovation to propel their visions and strategies. They are working to create new levels of competitiveness and customer value," said Denise Garth, SMA Partner and Head of the Innovation Practice. "Fueling this innovation journey will be the combination of outside-in and inside-out thinking. It is a collaboration, through a network of relationships that will inspire and activate new ideas and thinking. The SMA Next-Gen Innovation offering uniquely puts insights and action around innovation strategies." 

The new SMA Innovation Ecosystem, a core component of the new offering, will provide access to an integrated, thriving network of "outside-in" and "inside-out" resources and voices, including futurists, trailblazing technology start-ups, leaders in other industries, technology R&D insiders, think tank experts, and seasoned insurance leaders. Participation in collaboration and crowdsourcing at the SMA Innovation Communities will focus on the Next-Gen Insurer.  

"The SMA Next-Gen Innovation offering builds on SMA's foundation of research, trusted advice, and consulting services to provide an environment to help the industry move forward in this fast-paced, changing market," said Deb Smallwood, Founder of SMA. "Based on our research and work with insurers around innovation over the last three years, the industry is looking to SMA to help guide and inspire innovation and embrace all the possibilities for an exciting future."

The development of the SMA Next-Gen Innovation offering was shaped and influenced by industry leaders from insurers of all sizes and from innovation best practices from other leading industries and companies. The feedback and reaction by leaders and visionaries within and outside the industry has been extremely positive, recognizing the value of access to and participation with a large and diverse array of participants and resources. 

"No business can go it alone and expect to harness the future, and all its conceivable possibilities," said David Smith, CEO of Global Futures and Foresight. "Those who embrace innovation ecosystems and innovation communities for crowdsourcing and ideation can fully capture the potential, change legacy cultures, and enable ideas and technologies to be uniquely operationalized within their companies. SMA is leading the industry in offering an extremely valuable offering that can help each company who participates in ways they cannot imagine today. I have seen it in other industries, and it is the right time for insurance to embrace this concept offered by SMA."

For insurers, associations, solution providers, and other industry influencers that are interested in learning more and participating in SMA's new SMA Next-Gen Innovation offering, contact Denise Garth at [email protected] or 402.963.0198.

More information about SMA is available via the following options:

• About SMA
• Offerings for Insurers
• SMA Published Research

About Strategy Meets Action

Exclusively serving the insurance industry, Strategy Meets Action (SMA) is a strategic advisory firm offering a unique blend of research, advisory, and consulting services to insurance companies and IT solution providers. By leveraging best practices from both management consulting and research advisory disciplines, SMA's advisory service offerings are actionable, business-driven, and research-based – where strategy meets action.

SOURCE Strategy Meets Action