Standard software would appear to be an imperative for insurers, but the time and money required to make the change are limited. The software-vendor market is emerging, but the track record is scanty. Standardization is not a panacea, of course, and every insurer has to find its own way through this rocky terrain, but core-system-replacement lessons from the manufacturing and production industries could make the journey shorter and significantly reduce the risks.
For my friends in the insurance industry that are making the transition to packaged software, they may find confort in the following paper from McKinsey. The lessons learned and the 5 principles they highlight are good but do not provide a silver bullet or quick fix: you are in for a long and difficult transformation. Sorry...