Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management articles from March 2002

Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management archives from March 2002

Internet's Benefits Are Real.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... It has become popular among financial services experts to recognize the Internet as "just another distribution channel." Perhaps many of these same experts once believed the Internet would become the end-all, be-all communications link between...

Business Strategies: New Carrier Mantra: 'Outsourcing Is In'.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The outsourcing of information technology is proving to be popular with carriers these days, reversing the industry's historical apprehension of working with third parties. But experts caution that time will tell how widespread the concept...

Reaching out.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... * WHAT: PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. enters into a 10-year, $1.2 billion outsourcing venture with Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. and Boston-based Keane Inc. * specifics: IBM Global Services will manage PacifiCare's data center operations...

Industry Research: Carriers Need Refined Metrics For Measuring IT Results.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Insurers have invested significant amounts of capital on technology based on the belief that those investments will improve their top- and bottom-line performance. However, new research indicates that carriers are experiencing mixed results to...

Financial Firms Scale Back On IT Initiatives.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... In the wake of the events of 2001, financial institutions generally closed the door on new IT spending across the board. That's a conclusion drawn in a report from Meridien Research Inc., Newton, Mass. Virtually all large institutions are...

Affluent Prefer Face-To-Face Financial Advice.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Insurers courting affluent customers would be prudent to continue to provide face-to-face financial advice in addition to their online offerings. That's a conclusion drawn from a survey conducted for Nationwide Financial Services Inc.,...

OneShield Raises $6.3 Million In Financing.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Woburn, Mass-based OneShield Inc. closed on $6.3 million in Series C financing, which the company will use for general corporate purposes with a focus on expanding its marketing and sales initiatives. The new financing is expected to bring the...

BenefitMall Completes Third Round Financing.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Dallas-based BenefitMall, an online exchange for buyers, sellers and providers of employee benefits for small businesses, completed a $17 million third round of equity funding. The company plans to use the investment to enhance its technology...

Insurance Fraud Continues, Despite Efforts.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Insurers of all sizes consider fraud "a serious problem," according to a survey conducted by the Insurance Research Council, Malvern, Pa. More than one-third of insurers believe that the amount of fraud has increased over the past three years,...

ChoicePoint Ceases Data-mining Practice.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Following discussions with the Independent Insurance Agents of America (IIAA), Alexandria, Va., ChoicePoint Inc., an Alpharetta, Ga.-based provider of data services to the insurance industry, has agreed to end its practice of data-mining the...

Newsline Briefs.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Teradata, a division of Dayton, Ohio-based NCR Corp., has developed Teradata Behavior Explorer, an insurance-specific business intelligence application for property/casualty claims. Running on the Teradata database engine, Teradata Behavior...

Alliances.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Reston, Va.-based National Association for Variable Annuities (NAVA) and Pearl River, N.Y.-based ACORD are collaborating to develop XML-based standards for the annuity industry. The specifics call for NAVA to coordinate and develop requirements...

An Image That's Worth $500,000: Document scanning and imaging technology has saved Prudential Group Insurance $500K-in its first six months of operation.
March 1, 2002... Environmentalists should be happy about the new document scanning and imaging system at Prudential Group Insurance-because it's saving a lot of trees. The insurer's disability insurance customers should be pleased too-because it's enabling the...

A New Lease On Life.
March 1, 2002... Carriers are encouraged that a combination of new technologies and new consumer attitudes will place Web-based life insurance programs on the map this year and beyond. Poor first impressions are often extremely difficult to shake. Just a...

A well-calculated group life program.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... In the late 1990s and into 2000, several carriers and third-party providers began to recognize online calculator tools as invaluable in helping consumers perform needs analysis for life insurance. "We have come to believe that few consumers...

Internet Options For Policy Administration.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... It may be an old joke, but it's not a laughing matter: The only people who really understand the legacy policy administration systems running at most insurance carriers have either retired or passed on. Nonetheless, most carriers are...

Optimizing Investments In Web Integration.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Insurance CIOs report that the emerging mix of legacy and Web systems in their enterprises creates a set of integration challenges that dominate their list of IT priorities. Not only are these integration challenges technically demanding,...

Technologies Supporting Claims Benefit Carriers And Customers.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Insurance is an important component of modern economic life. The logical outcome of the millions of policies in force today is a proportional number of claims to pay for covered losses. From an operational cost and policyholder perspective,...

Internet's Potential Is Just Being Tapped.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Layton Christensen's best-selling book, "The Innovator's Dilemma," discusses how business leaders at large companies have usually underestimated the long-term impact of disruptive technologies. This trait certainly applies to insurance and the...

Contracts Update.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... 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 magazine at (312) 913-1366 or by...