Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management articles from April 2006

Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management archives from April 2006

Lessons Learned from Katrina.(Company overview)
April 1, 2006... Gilsbar Inc. has had a detailed disaster recovery and business continuity plan in place since 1996. The New Orleans-based third-party administrator, which handles claims for about 150,000 members, employs a certified disaster recovery...

Gerald Shield's IT Leadership Book Club.
April 1, 2006... He Ain't No Oprah; but he's definitely a force to reckon with. At Aflac, at least, he's the senior vice president and CIO-and, like Oprah, he likes books. In fact, Gerald Shields likes books so much he established a lunchtime book club several...

Minding the Data.(Security service management)
April 1, 2006... The "whys" of data access management are as far-reaching as the technology used to manage it. According to New York-based Ernst & Young LLC, regulatory compliance is the No. 1 driver of insurance industry information security. However, the...

Feeding the Poodle.(value of retirement based financial investments.)
April 1, 2006... I'm sure you've heard the one about the life insurance salesman who asked his client, "Do you know the present value of your husband's life insurance policy?" "What do you mean?" countered the woman. "If you should lose your husband,...

PMA Earns High Customer Service Scores: The insurer's Internet loss reporting system and document imaging system have significantly enhanced customer satisfaction.
April 1, 2006... In a sign of the major benefits to be won by insurance firms that accentuate Web-based and electronic solutions, the Blue Bell, Pa.-based insurer PMA Insurance Group received superlative ratings in customer service in a recent survey conducted...

News Briefs.(Change Sciences Group Inc. conducts research)
April 1, 2006... RESEARCH RATES AUTO INSURANCE WEB SITES New research released by Change Sciences Group Inc., a White Plaines, N.Y.-based online financial services benchmarking firm, shows that a handful of auto insurance Web sites are working hard to...

Solutions.
April 1, 2006... E-Z DATA LEVERAGES LATEST WINDOWS TECHNOLOGY Client Data System 6, the newest version of the E-Z Data Inc.'s Windows-based solution for practice and relationship management, addresses specific requests from E-Z Data's current corporate...

News Briefs.(Security breaches)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... SURVEY SHOWS IT ENVIRONMENTS NOT QUITE SECURE A survey by Forsythe Solutions Group Inc., Skokie, Ill., reveals that many organizations are struggling to ensure secure IT environments. The survey of more than 100 senior IT and data security...

Solutions.
April 1, 2006... ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING COURSE LOMA, the Atlanta-based trade association to the insurance and financial services industry, is offering an online anti-money laundering (AML) course on LOMALearn Online, LOMA's e-Learning portal. The USA...

How Insurers Have Updated Their Disaster Plans.
April 1, 2006... Getting back on track and serving the needs of customers were certainly the most pressing tasks at hand in the wake of Katrina. Job No. 2? Learning from the experience. Indeed, insurance companies are now incorporating what they learned to move...

Streamlining Compliance: Compliance may present one of the most technology-resistant processes to boost speed to market and reduce regulatory risk, but technology can help.
April 1, 2006... Insurance Networking News recently interviewed Debbi Marquette on the topic of regulatory compliance. Marquette is a former insurance company compliance officer with 25 years of experience. Currently, she is director of compliance solutions at...

Insurers Are in the Game: A new survey shows that enterprise risk management programs are catching on, but operational risk management tops the list of areas needing better methodologies and tools.
April 1, 2006... Since the business of insurance is risk management, it's not surprising that the majority of insurers have standards of practice for monitoring, managing and mitigating risk. What's more surprising, is that enterprise risk management...

Solutions.(Transaction processing services)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... ENTERPRISE PLATFORM PUT TO THE TEST Results of a large-scale stress test of NaviSys Enterprise Platform from Edison, N.J.-based NaviSys Inc., showed that at extreme levels (10 million contracts and 500 concurrent users), the typical Web...

Standards Needed, But No Concerted Push.(Ernst & Young L.L.P.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Could standardization be another aid in managing operational risk? Industry experts believe it may be a part of the future. Respondents to an Ernst & Young LLC Insurance Industry Risk Leadership survey expressed strong support for standard...

Plugging the Drain: Technology is key to reducing claims leakage, but so are adjuster experience, efficient claims processes and forensic accounting.(Insurance claim adjustment)
April 1, 2006... Despite reeling from the worst year in history for claims losses, pundits say the insurance industry plans to increase its spending on claims technology in 2006. For some, the idea of stepping up to new technology sounds like the perfect way to...

Solutions.
April 1, 2006... SECURE REMOTE NETWORK MANAGEMENT Westborough, Mass.-based provider of on-demand support for on-demand networks ComBrio Inc. has released Version 2.0 of its Virtual Service Infrastructure (VSI). Version 2.0 introduces VSI Service Control,...

Who's Buying What: Recent deals for technology software and services.
April 1, 2006... POLICY PROCESSING The Cumberland Insurance Group, a Bridgeton, N.J., multi-line carrier, has placed Mount Arlington, N.J.-based AGO Insurance Software Inc.'s Commercial Multi-Peril Policy System in its production environment. The Windows...

Ad Index For April 2006.(Advertiser)(Directory)
April 1, 2006... Advertiser/Website Address Page # Acord www.cartoons.acord.org 35 Acord / LOMA Home Theatre Giveaway www.insurancenetworkingnews.com 34 CCH...

Prevent Claim Fraud Automatically: A business rules management system may be the key to stopping claim fraud in its tracks.
April 1, 2006... According to the coalition Against Insurance Fraud, insurance fraud is an $80-billion crime wave. Unfortunately, most insurance carriers have neither the processes nor technology they need to stop fraud. Even so, as fraud schemes become...