Forget banks, insurers are among the biggest investors in IT this year. The pay isn’t much to get whipped into a frenzy over, though.

A recent study by Forrester Research suggests IT spending in the insurance industry will rise 7% this year, up on 5% last year, as insurers seek to up efficiency and replace legacy systems.

What will be the impact on jobs? Megan Kaim-Caudle, consultant at recruitment firm Hewitts IT, points to an increase in business analyst and project manager roles. And Monika Kulbicka, new business consultant at recruitment firm Project Partners, says there are particular opportunities for IT change managers to work on ‘claims transformation’ programmes which automate the processing and transfer of claims.

Unfortunately, if you fancy moving into insurance you’ll probably need prior experience of the industry. Kaim-Caudle says most insurers place industry knowledge above knowledge of particular technologies.

But for developer roles, Kulbica says most insurance hirers are also looking for candidates with experience with SQL, meta architecture and web-based applications such as Java and J2EE.

How much can you earn? Generally, a business analyst can earn a 30k to 35k starting salary, rising to 45k to 55k with experience. Unfortunately, there’s no mention of bonuses…