Celent study cites miscommunication between IT vendors, insurers

A new report by Celent research services, Dont Sell Unicorns, suggests there is often a failure to communicate during the technology purchasing process between the insurance software vendors and insurance IT buyers.
The study presents a set of key principles drawn from the experiences of Celents insurer clients. It also incorporates the experiences of Celents own analysts, who work with and even on behalf of insurers during vendor selection and evaluation.
Our hope is that by simplifying some of these key issues into the 10 most common mistakes, we can help IT vendors avoid them and thus streamline the identification, evaluation, and selection process for insurer IT groups, comment report authors Matthew Josefowicz, the managing director of Celents insurance group, and senior analyst Chad Hersh.
According to the Celent study, the Top 10 mistakes IT vendors make when selling new software to insurers or brokers are:
Selling [insurers] unicorns when they want to by horses e.g. insisting on a unique product classification that confuses the market rather than positioning the offering as a solution to a common need.
Not understanding marketing, and the importance of clear communication to the marketplace.
Confusing the market with meaningless branding.
Annoying the top and ignoring the bottom. CIOs have specifically designated other staff to do the first cut through the available vendor solutions. Trying to do an end-run around these people loses vendors respect from both quarters.
Sending the wrong guys to the meeting. Sales representatives that don’t know the industry, the target company’s issues, or (infinitely worse) the product inside and out are a huge liability.
Ignoring the needs of business users in the demo. Business users need to understand how they will use the solution.
Not (immediately) answering the questions asked. Just because insurance technology buyers may move at a snail’s pace is no excuse for vendors to do the same.
Being a slave to the pricing model. Inflexibility costs sales.
Not offering a free or at-cost pilot or proof of concept. Everyone wants to try before they buy.
Not absorbing part (or all) of the costs for a charter client. New vendors must make their first client a true partner, and focus their client development efforts on finding that special partner first.