Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management articles from March 2009

Insurance Networking News: Executive Strategies for Technology Management archives from March 2009

Paperless Processes: How to Avoid the Missteps.(Cover Story: Document Management)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Carrie Burns Whether the driver behind going paperless is cost, efficiency or environmental, insurers know that the initiative requires a stepped approach. Starting with one department and applying that success to the next, these...

Insurers Scale the Many Steps to Paperless; Going paperless produces numerous benefits, but it takes time and many small steps.(Cover Story: Document Management)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Carrie Burns Good, but not good enough. That's not usually what insurers striving for success want to hear. But, it can work in some cases. Take, for example, paper-free operations. Completely paperless processes may not always be...

Agility Vital in Insurance IT; The time is now for innovation, but many insurers find it very difficult to translate ideas or pilot projects into tangible results.(INN Sight)(Survey)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Matthew Josefowicz It has never been more important for insurers to be adaptable to changing business conditions and competitive environments, and to be able to innovate new products and service offerings for a market in flux. ...

Reforging IT Contracts; Hammering out a deal between carriers and vendors can be a doubled-edged sword, but done correctly, the benefits outweigh the costs.(Enterprisewide)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Alex Vorro At a time when everyone, regardless of industry or title, is worried about the state of the economy, never has it been more pressing to ensure fiscal responsibility. Many insurers, trimming budgets and staff and...

Enterprisewide Solutions.(Enterprisewide)
March 1, 2009... NEW REDACTION SOLUTION Redact-It Desktop 1.1, from Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Informative Graphics Corp., removes sensitive content and privacy information, such as social security numbers, names and phone numbers, before making documents...

Options Abound in Claims; When it comes to replacing legacy claims systems, carriers have many options large and small.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Bill Kenealy While the motives for insurers to replace an aging claims system remain relatively universal (minimizing leakage, reducing cycle times, improving claimant experience) the means vary. Insurers can opt to extend the life...

Back Office Solutions.(Trintech Group)
March 1, 2009... NEW GENERAL LEDGER Trintech Inc., Dallas, a provider of integrated financial governance, transaction risk management and compliance solutions, released AssureNET GL 4.1, an application for general ledger reconciliation, review and...

Considering Claims Analytics.(Back Office)
March 1, 2009... One technology beginning to impact claims is predictive analytics, which insurers can employ to help combat fraud, fine-tune the assignment of adjusters, and aid in the of setting reserves. Yet, Donald Light, senior analyst at Celent, says...

Health Insurers Must Boost Provider Connections Now; The state of health care is changing. Insurers need to change with it and develop ways to connect with health care providers.(Vantage Point)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Clare DeNicola Health care payers and providers will need to change the way they work together in the future. A combination of regulatory, consumer and demographic issues will require payers to form tighter relationships with...

Who's Buying What: Recent deals for technology software and services.(insurancenetworking.com)
March 1, 2009... Medavie Blue Cross Signs with Thunderhead Medavie Blue Cross has selected Thunderhead's Thunderhead NOW platform to revamp its customer communications and improve overall customer care. Thunderhead NOW will provide Moncton, New...

Sifting Through the Ashes To Assess ERM's Value; In a collection of essays, actuaries ponder the role of risk management in the financial crisis.
March 1, 2009... Byline: Bill Kenealy Did enterprise risk management (ERM) fail the companies at the epicenter of the financial services meltdown or did the companies fail to properly employ ERM? While this question will vex many for a long time to come,...

SALES TOOLS: Molding Growth, Up and Down the Channel.(Front Office)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Pat Speer From a simple change in a personal auto policy to a major switch in their long-term investment planning, American consumers are making insurance decisions in light of escalating recessionary developments. Meanwhile,...

VENDOR RELATIONSHIPS: Renegotiating IT Contracts.(Enterprisewide)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Alex Vorro Reforging information technology contracts is one way to cut operating costs in these harsh economic times. Yet, because of the complexity, intensive effort and agonizing detail put into the initial contract, the process...

Insurers Losing One "Nobody" at a Time.(Commentary)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Pat Speer, Editor-In-Chief My friend tells me that he's a "nobody." Like the more than 159 million members on employer-sponsored rolls at U.S. health insurance carriers, he shares many of the same human infirmities. And like those...

Molding Growth, Up And Down the Channel; Sales methods in today's economy vary, making technology's role to customize its approach more important than ever.(Front Office)(Company overview)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Pat Speer Before the economy began its southward spiral, insurers were already improving the Web and multichannel customer experience. In today's economy, however, they have placed a new focus on surpassing the competition by...

Front Office Solutions.(The Economical Insurance Group and Applied Systems Inc. to join forces)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... New Real-Time Inquiry The Economical Insurance Group (TEIG), a Waterloo, Ontario, P&C insurer, and University Park, Ill.-based Applied Systems Inc., an agency management system technology provider, announced a joint venture offering new...

CIOs Ponder a Year of New Predicaments; Pressures and priorities prevail upon insurer CIOs consciousness' at all times, but growing the business in this precarious economy tops the list in 2009.(Statistically Speaking)
March 1, 2009... ACIO's work is never ending. Insurance officers are presented with new challenges every year, and it takes savvy and intuition to address not only what's presently pressing, but also to predict what dilemmas are beyond the horizon. To...

Green Screens Fade Out in Workers' Comp; Carriers are moving to modern billing systems to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.(INNFocus - Workers' Comp)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Bill Kenealy When it comes to the novel use of technology among different lines of business, workers' compensation is not widely regarded as a hotbed of innovation, especially when compared to areas such as personal lines auto....

Now's Not a Time to Hide; Despite challenging market conditions, forward-looking insurers should consider the merits of core system investment.(Counterpoint)
March 1, 2009... Byline: Marcus Ryu The financial crisis has triggered a recession of frightening potential and unknown duration, leading to dramatic declines in consumption and capital investment across the economy. For many cash-strapped businesses, this...