Gary Hoberman

First Facebook live appearance

General Colin Powell spoke, focusing on the theme of leadership and his experiences with that subject. He said that true leaders invest in their people, and it was apparent that many insurers were investing in their people by sending them to the conference. Gary Hoberman of MetLife also spoke about the power of leadership when business and IT truly align. When these functions collaborate, they become one voice, generating belief that goals will be met and that the energy comes from the top down.

MetLife is dedicated to innovative approaches to technology solutions, and we believe that the data-driven solutions created at the TechJam will deliver invaluable benefits to veterans and others,” said Gary Hoberman, MetLife CIO and SVP of regional application development. “We are proud to have brought together some of the brightest minds in technology to help facilitate faster and easier sharing of vital health information, enable coordinated care and ultimately better the lives of our… Show more

MetLife is dedicated to innovative approaches to technology solutions, and we believe that the data-driven solutions created at the TechJam will deliver invaluable benefits to veterans and others,” said Gary Hoberman, MetLife CIO and SVP of regional application development. “We are proud to have brought together some of the brightest minds in technology to help facilitate faster and easier sharing of vital health information, enable coordinated care and ultimately better the lives of our nation’s veterans.” Show less

MetLife is leapfrogging competitors with a mobile social app and a portal that uses big data to “paint a picture” of customers. Find out how the insurance company spurred innovation with NoSQL technologies in Doug Henschen’s interview with MetLife Global Business CIO Gary Hoberman.

"MetLife is dedicated to innovative approaches to technology solutions, and we believe that the data-driven solutions created at the TechJam will deliver invaluable benefits to veterans and others," said Gary Hoberman, MetLife CIO and SVP of Regional Application Development. "We are proud to have brought together some of the brightest minds in technology to help facilitate faster and easier sharing of vital health information, enable coordinated care and ultimately better the lives of our… Show more

"MetLife is dedicated to innovative approaches to technology solutions, and we believe that the data-driven solutions created at the TechJam will deliver invaluable benefits to veterans and others," said Gary Hoberman, MetLife CIO and SVP of Regional Application Development. "We are proud to have brought together some of the brightest minds in technology to help facilitate faster and easier sharing of vital health information, enable coordinated care and ultimately better the lives of our nation's veterans." Show less

"We're a 145-year-old company that's acting like a startup," Hoberman says. "Technology is not just an enabler. It's the fabric of the company -- and the future." That may just be the best insurance policy MetLife can buy.

Drive Customer Experience With Smart Technology Solutions

Gary Hoberman, CIO of MetLife, on a recent big data project: "Big data was a term used as a goal when I landed at MetLife. When we started this [project], we knew there was something out there called big data, but we didn’t yet have a use for it. We didn't say, 'Let's look at that box and put something [in] it.' We looked at the use case and saw we needed to have better customer centricity. … The answer was big data."

Technology, innovation, speed, and agility are words not typically associated with the insurance industry, unless you are MetLife

MetLife's latest use of MongoDB is a customer-facing mobile app called Infinity. Now available in the Apple and Andoid app stores, Infinity lets MetLife customers and potential customers upload critical documents, images, movies and other digital content that they can automatically share with designated people at some future date. It's a digital time capsule that could be used to send somebody a birthday greeting, to send yourself a future reminder of what you cared about when you were 30 or to… Show more

MetLife's latest use of MongoDB is a customer-facing mobile app called Infinity. Now available in the Apple and Andoid app stores, Infinity lets MetLife customers and potential customers upload critical documents, images, movies and other digital content that they can automatically share with designated people at some future date. It's a digital time capsule that could be used to send somebody a birthday greeting, to send yourself a future reminder of what you cared about when you were 30 or to send loved ones key documents and memories when you're gone -- a more obvious connection to the life insurance business.

One thing notable about the app is that it was dreamed up by IT, according to Hoberman. "We presented the idea to the business as a way to emotionally connect with customers," said Hoberman, who added that the MongoDB-based app is set to scale on Microsoft's Azure cloud. Show less

Helping people save digital memories.

Insurance company MetLife introduced in August a consumer mobile app for iOS and Android called MetLife Infinity that lets people upload precious data such as official documents, photos and videos to share with only select people, either now or at some future date. One possible use is a life insurance holder who wants to release a cache of information upon his or her death. But users don't have to be MetLife customers, so people can use it for… Show more

Helping people save digital memories.

Insurance company MetLife introduced in August a consumer mobile app for iOS and Android called MetLife Infinity that lets people upload precious data such as official documents, photos and videos to share with only select people, either now or at some future date. One possible use is a life insurance holder who wants to release a cache of information upon his or her death. But users don't have to be MetLife customers, so people can use it for whatever ideas they dream up. The app is about changing what people expect from a financial services company.

But it's also about changing what the company expects from IT, said Gary Hoberman, MetLife senior VP and CIO of regional application development. The company's IT pros are trying to not just implement what business units ask for, but to also be in a position "where we're bringing our own ideas forward," Hoberman said.

MetLife also shows a common theme for mobile development: It must move fast. MetLife completed the entire project in nine months. And that's on the high end of its mobile projects, since it involved complex storage and policy issues. Show less

Don't worry about the death of the CIO position. A strong CIO is more in demand than ever.

"We're looking to use new technology, not the technology you typically see in insurance companies," said Hoberman. "Thus, we're looking for talent that's comfortable with new technology and that wants to do something different."

"This application is a prime example of our global strategy to embrace disruptive emerging technologies whose timetables are days and weeks, not months and years," said Gary Hoberman, CIO and Senior Vice President, Regional Application Development, MetLife. "We want to let the best developers know we speak their language not only in terms of cutting-edge technologies -- which we are deploying at scale -- but also in terms of a culture of speed and experimentation.

Just because a company offers life insurance and retirement-planning services doesn’t mean it has to be boring on the tech side.

The insurance industry hasn’t exactly been a beacon of technological innovation. But MetLife has bet $300 million on a new system that for the first time puts everything it knows about its customers in one place.

"We had 60 different teams working together as one group, and they were working nights and weekends not because they had to but because they were excited and wanted to," said Gary Hoberman, senior vice president and CIO of regional application development at MetLife.

Read more: MetLife unites disparate data using NoSQL - FierceCIO http://www.fiercecio.com/story/metlife-unites-disparate-data-using-nosql/2013-05-15#ixzz2jyQIAELv
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Looking beyond MetLife and even the insurance industry, The Wall may well be a prototype for the next generation of customer-360 applications.

“In insurance,” Hoberman said, “… working in months, not years, is really a startup mentality.”

CIO Case Study Interview with Gary Hoberman, MetLife moderated by Paul Taylor editor of the Financial Times

For industries like insurance, innovation isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But at MetLife, we’re changing that by embracing disruptive technologies across big data, the cloud, mobile, and more as we place technology at the center of our business. This session will cover MetLife’s culture of innovation and the initiatives that are transforming our company, and setting the industry curve.

MetLife Inc. is working hard to create a startup culture within IT. Getting there means attracting the right kind of talent. That's why the insurance company launched a new site called Synapse. It offers up puzzles for prospective software engineers to solve, and it gives MetLife a chance to show that insurance isn't as stodgy as some engineers might assume. But the Synapse experience doesn't end once the problem is solved.

“Programming is an art”

Perhaps one of the biggest feats of Synapse was its deployment time, being put into motion in under 48 hours. Hoberman credits this to his “S.W.A.T. team,” and a dose of diversity. One member of this team hailed from outside the insurance industry, bringing fresh perspective in order to address a long-standing issue at a century-old firm.

“My view of programming is that it’s an art – if you know how to do it, you can paint in any color,” Hoberman says.… Show more

“Programming is an art”

Perhaps one of the biggest feats of Synapse was its deployment time, being put into motion in under 48 hours. Hoberman credits this to his “S.W.A.T. team,” and a dose of diversity. One member of this team hailed from outside the insurance industry, bringing fresh perspective in order to address a long-standing issue at a century-old firm.

“My view of programming is that it’s an art – if you know how to do it, you can paint in any color,” Hoberman says. “We have our share of legacy here, which we’re balancing that with those willing to learn.

“If you take a fresh outlook on insurance it’s interesting from technology’s view – but it all comes down to a business logic rule. It’s an industry that’s historically looked at large, commercial solutions that package things instead of looking at those things and breaking them down individually. We’re looking at every function of the process – do we build it? Buy it? Integrate it? The only way to do that is to bring in the right talent. We’re thinking for ourselves here.”

Hoberman’s dedication to internal resources is evident beyond The Wall, Synapse and even his S.W.A.T. team, as he anxiously looks to nurture a startup mentality at MetLife’s new offices, currently being razed in North Carolina.

“We’re looking for those developers through Synapse, and those that have the right mindset, for engineers and our infrastructure,” Hoberman says. “We want them to look at our new home in North Carolina to build a startup mentality in a 100+ year-young culture. You get to see how their abilities can influence a company. I’m hearing this from our competitors and peers, asking how we did it. We’re being transparent because we know the next big thing is right around the corner.

“It’s about building the right bench,” Hoberman goes on. “You surround yourself with talent. My S.W.A.T. team has the ability to go in and fix problems anywhere in the company. That’s bigger than just developers.” Show less

"The TechJam is just one of the ways MetLife is driving innovation, and was a great opportunity to demonstrate the creativity that can come from an insurance company," he said. "For instance, through facilitation by MetLife, TechJam participants made their solutions available publicly through open-source code. We have received great feedback from the participants and hope to host other events like this one in the future."