Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management articles from April 2005

Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management archives from April 2005

SOX Keeping You Awake At Night?(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
April 1, 2005... Don't throw away the sleeping pills just yet. If you're a senior executive or manager with financial accountability, chances are, over the past year, you've had trouble sleeping because you've been worried about complying with the...

An 'Aha' Moment For Agent-Carrier Communication: A brainstorming session at Encompass Insurance resulted in a new real-time alert/company messaging transaction that is causing some carriers to imagine all the possible ways they can use it to communicate with their agents.
April 1, 2005... Insurance carriers have been hearing an incessant mantra from independent agents for years now: "Make it easy for us to do business with you." In fact, surveys consistently reveal that, when placing business, aside from price and product...

Wireless Claims: Ready For Prime Time?: Some carriers are moving forward with next-generation technology. But others are waiting for greater application functionality and dependability.
April 1, 2005... After flirting with test pilots, phased rollouts and other levels of adoption, the jury is still out on whether mobile computing will become as ubiquitous to insurers as pen and paper. With claims management activities providing the most...

Handle Data Like Diamonds.
April 1, 2005... Data security is much broader than a technology concern for CIOs; it's a topic that's on the minds of many senior executives at U.S. corporations. From headlines about stolen data to federal regulations such as HIPAA to proposed Congressional...

ChoicePoint: Insurance Data Was Not Compromised.
April 1, 2005... The recent disclosure that criminals illegally obtained personal information from ChoicePoint Inc. is prompting the company to take action to improve the security of its insurance databases. Although no insurance-related information was...

Calendar.(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... Life Insurance Conference Sponsor: ACLI, LIMRA, LOMA, SOA When: April 4-6 Where: The Westin La Cantera, San Antonio www.loma.org NAFRA Annual Meeting Sponsor: National Association For Fixed Annuities When: April 10-12...

Applied's Agent Users' Group Criticizes "One-Off" Download Technologies.
April 1, 2005... As independent agents identify the best ways to download files from carriers, a controversy is brewing that pits the established value-added agency download technology against emerging alternatives. Over the past couple years, many...

Business Alliances.
April 1, 2005... COVER-ALL, AIG TECHNOLOGIES PARTNER ON MY INSURANCE CENTER Cover-All Technologies Inc., Fair Lawn, N.J., and AIG Technologies Inc., a member company of American International Group Inc., recently announced that agents and brokers writing...

Letter To The Editor.
April 1, 2005... Great Job I just want to let you know that I saw Steve Dwyer's "Happy Trails to Paper Trails" article in the January 2005 issue of Insurance Networking News, and I think you did a great job. Often the story gets garbled in retelling, but...

Contracts.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The Contracts Update section includes announcements of contracts insurance information technology companies have signed with customers in recent weeks. Contract news can be faxed to Insurance Networking News magazine at (312) 913-1366 or by...

Industry Lags In Meeting April HIPAA Deadline.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
April 1, 2005... Maybe it's because so many companies have focused most of their attention on complying with Sarbanes-Oxley this past year, but a significant portion of health insurers and health care providers will not meet the security requirements of the...

Product Previews.(Manakoa Services Corp.)
April 1, 2005... INTERNET-BASED REGULATORY COMPLIANCE TOOL Manakoa Services Corp., Kennewick, Wash., has launched the Manakoa KnowledgeBase, a subscription-based portal for regulatory compliance information, legislative reviews, examiner guidelines, road...

People On The Move.
April 1, 2005... * New York Life Insurance Co. in January made a series of executive announcements. Gary R. Bennett was named to succeed John V. Jones as president and CEO of New York Life Insurance Worldwide Ltd., the company's Hong Kong subsidiary. Bennett...

P&C Execs Address Core Issues.( executives)
April 1, 2005... Given the complex and challenging factors that property/casualty insurance executives face in today's market, it's becoming more difficult-if not impossible-to establish key priorities that remain relevant over time. Findings from a survey...

Penn National Insurance Clamps Down On Employee Internet Use: A program monitoring employees' Internet usage is helping Penn National Insurance comply with laws governing the security of customer information-and to optimize employee productivity.
April 1, 2005... The Internet sometimes is referred to as the "wild, wild West"-a moniker earned by the manner in which the Web represents an open, loosely policed territory where traditional rules and procedures don't apply. In recent years, it became...

Need Help? An Operational Framework Is on Its Way.
April 1, 2005... Last June, a group of 10 vendors formed The Compliance Consortium. Its mission: To publish governance, risk and compliance (GRC) best practices and reference architectures; to influence and contribute to GRC-related industry and computing...

NAIC Considers SOX-like Provisions.(National Association of Insurance Commissioners; Sarbanes-Oxley)
April 1, 2005... Privately held and mutual insurance companies should not consider themselves off the hook when it comes to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Even though the law, which passed in 2002, applies only to publicly held companies, the National Association...

Life Insurers Sold on Mobile Sales Support.
April 1, 2005... While property/casualty insurers are using mobile computing devices to support claims management, life insurers are looking for opportunities to enhance the capabilities of agents and brokers in marketing wealth management products. For...

Fireman's Focus: Agent Loyalty: Fireman's Fund Insurance Co.'s emphasis on ease of doing business with agents is directly tied to the carrier's IT strategy of implementing service-oriented architecture.
April 1, 2005... Insurers' growth strategies largely are based on their ability to sell more policies; competitive pricing, quicker time to market, effective marketing and new product development are common tactics to achieve that goal. For carriers like...

e.Business Briefs.
April 1, 2005... Progressive Accepts E-Signatures In 17 States The Progressive Direct Group of Insurance Cos., a unit of Mayfield Village, Ohio-based Progressive Corp. that sells directly to customers online and over the phone, is enabling customers to sign...

Index Of Advertisers.(Illustration)
April 1, 2005... Advertiser Site Addresses Page # ACORD http://cartoons.acord.org 10 ALLFINANZ www.allfinanz.com 9 Fair Isaac ...

Improving The ROI On Claims Processing: With proper technologies, claims histories can be accessed faster, accurate claims information can be updated on the fly, and errors on new claims can be eliminated.(Return on investment)
April 1, 2005... Although computer technologies have been applied to improve productivity in vast arenas of the American economy, the insurance industry had-until now-limited access to technologies designed to improve the productivity of its highly mobile...