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

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

Mashups: Not Just for Music Anymore.
March 1, 2008... Similar to the music world where a new song can be created from bits and pieces of two or more different songs, mashups in the technology world follow the same basic structure. Taking disparate data from divergent sources and/or applications, a...

Agent Underwriting: Carriers Hand Over the Underwriting Keys.
March 1, 2008... The concept of front office underwriting may sound like an oxymoron, but year after year, agents and other distribution channels are given more underwriting responsibility. Many carriers, especially those who work through independent...

Network Applications: Solution Helps AEGON Transfer Files Globally.
March 1, 2008... Considering the heightened state of security that exists in the post-9/11 world, few people would relish the prospect of getting unusual-looking electronic equipment to pass through customs unimpeded on a regular basis. Gary Bales, a senior...

The Case for an Incremental Approach.
March 1, 2008... As a lifelong football fan, I have long rued the ascendancy of the short pass. Ever since Joe Montana implemented the West Coast passing scheme to such glorious effect in 1980s, teams all across the league have adopted its principlesopting for...

News Briefs.
March 1, 2008... YOUNG AGENTS SEEK TECHNOLOGY Attendees of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big I) Young Agents Leadership Conference view technology as being central to their future success. Meeting in San Diego with the Strategic...

Solutions.
March 1, 2008... AMS RELEASES VERSION 9.1 OF ITS AGENCY AUTOMATION AMS Services, a Bothell, Wash,-based provider of insurance agency automation solutions, has released AMS InStar v.9.1, an agency automation solution. AMS InStar is designed to enable agency...

Coping With Upcoming Compliance Challenges: Just as carriers are using technology in novel ways to cope with existing regulations, other regs may be waiting around the corner.
March 1, 2008... Despite the insurance industry being more highly regulated than almost any other, compliance issues are more apt to elicit resigned murmurs than howls of protests from insurers. Much like gravity, regulatory compliance is widely acknowledged as...

News.
March 1, 2008... IT OUTSOURCING RATES LOW Despite the attention focused on the outsourcing of technology jobs overseas, a recent survey by Menlo Park, Calif.-based Robert Half Technology shows that the majority of U.S. companies are not engaged in the...

SOLUTIONS.(Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions, has been awarded a U.S. Patent, this technology provided by Vericept Corp.)
March 1, 2008... VERICEPT AWARDED PATENT FOR DLP TECHNOLOGY Denver-based Vericept Corp., a provider of data loss prevention (DLP) solutions, has been awarded a U.S. Patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for its technology used for DLP. The patent...

Carriers Wise to Consider Software-as-a-Service: Technology pioneer Bill Lowe says insurers can reap many benefits by opting for a hosted infrastructure.
March 1, 2008... One of the most intriguing issues facing the IT community is the concept of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). To get a sense of the concepts present and future, Insurance Networking News turned to a technology visionary. Early in his career, Bill...

Simple Mashups for Everyone.
March 1, 2008... Given the rise of Web 2.0 and the abundance of blogs, wikis and general expansion of enhanced Web services and functionality, there are a number of basic mashups out there for everyone to use on a daily basismany of which carriers probably use...

Designing a Mashup.
March 1, 2008... According to Tim Zonca, a director with Serena Systems Inc., San Mateo, Calif., there are four key points to designing a mashup: workflow, usability, security and customized data. The first step is to lay out the set of activities, or the...

Glossary of Mashup Terms.(Brief article)(Glossary)
March 1, 2008... Given that mashups are new to the insurance industry, the following terms are important to know and understand. * Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX): A group of interrelated Web development techniques used for creating interactive Web...

Business Intelligence Empowering Actuaries.
March 1, 2008... 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 to a roundtable hosted by The...

News.(Insurance industry is conducting a program for finance and related operations)
March 1, 2008... BENCHMARKING PROGRAM CONDUCTED Ward Group, a Cincinnati-based insurance industry consulting and benchmarking firm, is conducting a program for finance and related operations, the company reports. The company is applying its benchmarking...

SOLUTIONS.
March 1, 2008... EMC UNVEILS SaaS, FIRST ENTERPRISE OFFERING EMC Corp., Hopkinton, Mass., is set to launch a hosted backup and recovery service based on technology gained from its acquisition of Berkeley Data Systems in September 2007. The MozyEnterprise,...

The Ups and Downs of Claims Processing: Carriers are taking steps to modernize their claims processing systems and better integrate technologies with existing systems.
March 1, 2008... Claims processing systems come in many different flavors, each catering to a different segment of the insurance industry. But they all have one thing in common: they represent huge opportunities for cost savings, customer satisfaction and...

News Briefs.
March 1, 2008... STUDY GAUGES BACK OFFICE EFFICIENCY Deloitte Consulting LLP has unveiled the results of its 12th annual life and annuity back-office operations benchmarking studies, LIONS 2007 and ACES 2007, which provide comparative analysis to benchmark...

Claims Model Carriers.(Report)
March 1, 2008... Boston-based Celent LLC released its annual Celent Model Carrier 2008: Case Studies of Effective Technology Usage in Insurance, which included three examples of effective claims technology use. While there are a number of ways to improve...

Solutions.
March 1, 2008... IVANS GIVES PROVIDERS HIGH-SPEED CLAIMS PROCESSING IVANS Inc., a provider of Medicare connectivity solutions and services, introduced a new high-speed, multi-user Internet solution for healthcare providers processing Medicare transactions,...

Who's Buying What: Recent deals for technology software and services.(Company overview)
March 1, 2008... NATIONWIDE FINANCIAL ADVANCES TIME TO MARKET Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Financial Services, working with Insurance Technologies LLC, a Colorado Springs, Colo., point-of-sale software provider, now offers on a single platform historical...

INN March 2008 Editorial Index.(Editorial)
March 1, 2008... Company Name Page # AAA Carolinas Motor Club 44 Aberdeen Group 26 Accenture 12 Accident Comp Corp. 30 ...

AD Index for March 2008.(Advertiser)(Website overview)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Advertiser Website Address Page # Camilion Solutions www.authoritysuite.com 36-37 Camilion Solutions www.productauthority.com 25 Depository Trust& Clearing www.dtcc.com 7 IASA ...

Automated Onboarding: Replacing manual processes with network technology, carriers grow producer channels and accelerate time to revenue. By Scott Morrison.
March 1, 2008... Although insurers have begun embracing electronic and Web-based approaches to recruiting, onboarding and managing agents, most organizations have seen only patches of efficiency and cost savings. For example, a recruitment campaign...