Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management articles from February 2008

Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management archives from February 2008

Feature: Virtualization @ti#The Second Wave of Virtualization.
February 1, 2008... Like a painting, the topic of virtualization is subject to interpretation and can mean different things to different people. To some, virtualization is synonymous with the consolidation of hardware and the product offerings of Palo Alto,...

Build Vs. Buy: Finding Solutions to a Fading IT Workforce.
February 1, 2008... Youve heard the phrase, you cant teach an old dog new tricks. Can the same be said for new dogs? Insurers are finding that in the context of IT staff, those new dogs coming out of academia want less to do with the old tricks of programming...

Project Management: IT Project Management Keeps the Business on Track.
February 1, 2008... When does an IT project officially become a formal project, worthy of the care and attention of management, with the resources of the organization placed at its disposal? At AFLAC, Columbus, Ga., proposed IT projects need to meet certain...

Don't Look Too Far Ahead.
February 1, 2008... We hear a lot about how the insurance industry needs to step up its adoption of technology and look to the future. This most likely is true, but in that drive to futuristic business operations, its easy to forget some of the traditional...

Disaster Recovery: Plan Now, or Face Regret Later: A widening array of solutions is giving carriers more options to backup and safeguard their critical data.
February 1, 2008... If it is at all possible to find a silver lining in the spate of natural and manmade disasters afflicting the United States since the turn of the century, it is that they remind companies to prepare themselves so that the next disaster causes...

News Briefs.
February 1, 2008... E-SIGNATURES PICKING UP STEAM E-signature adoption is picking up steam, although this transition has taken much longer than initially expected, according to a new report, "An E-Signature Update for US Insurers" from Celent LLC, a...

Solutions.
February 1, 2008... NEW LINK TO NAVA Secure electronic document communications network provider eLynx has integrated its expedite suite of on-demand e-business services with the NAVA Straight-through Processing (STP) initiative for the life and annuities...

News Briefs.
February 1, 2008... MAJORITY OF INSURERS FACED LAWSUITS IN 2007 A recent survey found that 93% of insurance companies faced at least one new lawsuit in the past year, with a third (33%) facing more than 20 new actions. And more than one-half (54%) of American...

The Rising Tide...
February 1, 2008... In an effort to stem the tide of legacy IT attrition, a number of industry organizations have implemented action plans that focus on boosting recruitment, education and career development. Bruce Skaistis, founder of Skaistis Consulting,...

Solutions.
February 1, 2008... THREAT MANAGEMENT SOLUTION INTEGRATES PROPRIETARY WEB FILTER Astaro Corp., Burlington, Mass., announced the global availability of version 7.1 of its Astaro Security Gateway software appliance. Integrating a new HTTP proxy in the latest...

The Long, Winding, Yet Worthwhile Road to STP: Foresight, and a focus on usability, will help those converting to straight-through processing reap dividends from the process.
February 1, 2008... The concept of straight-through processing (STP) is an especially enticing one to the traditionally paper-laden and process-bound insurance industry. Insurance Networking News asked Lana Macumber, director, new business development strategy,...

Many Taking a Stepped Approach toward STP: It's tempting to view STP implementation as an enterprise-scale undertaking, but the best approach may be step-by-step. By Bob Mueller.
February 1, 2008... By some accounts, straight-through processing (STP) is becoming downright common these days. Donald Light, senior analyst at Boston-based Celent LLC, estimates that in the personal lines property/casualty and automobile segment of the industry,...

News Briefs.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... NETWORKS, INSURERS CHANGING In a new report from Boston, Mass.-based Celent LLC, Changing Networks, Changing Insurers, the firm analyzes how networks are changing, and how smart insurers will use those changes to their advantage. Network...

Canadian Life Carrier Builds STP System.
February 1, 2008... Four years ago, Assumption Life, a 100-year-old life insurance company in Moncton, New Brunswick, considered new ways to grow its business. The company sold policies and financial services in Canadas eastern provinces, and its managers decided...

Solutions.
February 1, 2008... DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT FOR SMALL/MEDIUM BUSINESSES Cabinet NG, a Madison, Ala.-based provider of automated document management and workflow solutions for small enterprise businesses, announced the latest release of its flagship product,...

News Briefs.
February 1, 2008... ACTUARIES SEEK AUTOMATION In the actuarial world, process inefficiencies, increased business complexity, regulatory demands and data volume are leaving little time for crucial analysis, driving a growing trend toward automation, according...

Solutions.
February 1, 2008... ONLINE MAPPING FOR RISK ASSESSMENT Infoterra Ltd., Leicester, U.K., launched its GeoStore Explore service to enable professional risk assessment based on location-specific imagery and maps. Using the GeoStore Explore service,...

E-Business is Critical for Life/Health Insurers.
February 1, 2008... Life and health insurers e-business budgets remain at roughly 5% to 15% of total IT budgets, with the majority spent on agent-facing systems. E-business has become a critical component of life and health insurers way of doing business with...

Who's Buying What: Recent deals for technology software and services.(Company overview)
February 1, 2008... PREFERRED HEALTH CHOOSES SALES AUTOMATION SYSTEM Implementation is currently underway at Wichita, Kan.-based Preferred Health Systems (PHS) for a sales automation system from Duck Creek Technologies Inc., Bolivar, Mo. The solution, due for...

INN February 2008 Editorial Index.
February 1, 2008... Company Name Page # Accenture LLC 16, 25 ACORD 10, 28 AFLAC Cover AIR Worldwide Corp. 34 Allianz Insurance 36 A.M. Best Co. 8 American Community Mutual Insurance Co. 4 American Family 14 ...

Ad Index For February 2008.
February 1, 2008... Advertiser Website Address Page # AgencyPort www.agencyport.com 37 AQS www.AQSSYS.com 11 Bill Matrix www.BillMatrix.com 29 Camilion www.productauthority.com 27 IASA www.IASA.org 5 IASA 2008: Educational...

Information is Power: Business intelligence constitutes relevant, accurate, timely information that can be used in an integrated fashion.
February 1, 2008... As the saying goes, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. However, gaining greater knowledge through the more effective use of information is providing true differentiation for todays leading insurance companies. Thats why more and more...