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

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

Standards: XML is Helping Insurers Bring Order Out of Babel.
May 1, 2008... Even in the case of technological standards, it seems there can be too much of a good thing. So it goes with XML, which, a decade following its inception, is now entrenched as the lingua franca of B2B and intra-company communications not just...

Regulatory Compliance: Insurers Strategize Regulatory Compliance.
May 1, 2008... Gone are the days of someone sitting at a typewriter creating 50 separate cover letters for state filings, as was the case in the 1980s when John Baumgardner joined Standard Insurance Co. The Portland, Ore.-based insurer began using simple...

IT Best Practices: Six Sigma Still Delivering Significant Savings.
May 1, 2008... Six Sigma, a process improvement discipline that made headlines in the 1980s and 1990s, may no longer be in the spotlight, but its still thriving in the insurance industry, at least among some larger carriers. Given the potential savings, its...

Spitzer - "So Five Minutes Ago".
May 1, 2008... Shortly after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned and left town with his tail between his legs, his successor began his term by revealing his own indiscretions. Meanwhile, as the executives at Gen RE and AIG await appeal on their fraud...

A Back Office Blueprint Spurs Front Office Growth: A new architecture and associated document management solution is streamlining enrollment at Unum Group.(UNUM Corp.)
May 1, 2008... Kevin McCarthy, president of U.S. Unum, was happy to share $13.7 million in bonuses with its Chattanooga, Tenn., workforce as part of a $44.5 million companywide dole out in March. All of this activity around pricing, discipline, underwriting...

Solutions.(Kaplan Financial Compliance has introduced CMS G2 compliance solution)(Boston Software has introduced WinRater Comparative Auto Rating Software)(Examination Management Services Inc. has introduced Applications software)
May 1, 2008... RULES-BASED, ELECTRONIC APPOINTMENT PROCESSING Chicago-based Kaplan Financial Compliance, a provider of services and technology solutions for the insurance and securities industries to help manage the producer/representative on-boarding...

Keep An Eye on The Big Picture.(enterprise content management)
May 1, 2008... Its no secret that one of the primary challenges faced by the insurance industry is the continued reliance on paper-based communication and documentation. Companies continue to generate paper for a variety of internal policy issuance processes...

BPO Gathers Steam Around the World: Insurance firms face new challenges as they avail themselves of the growing business process outsourcing market.
May 1, 2008... Offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) in the insurance industry is facing new challenges, ranging from rising wages in the most popular outsourcing destinations to natural disasters. In February, India experienced a major Internet...

News Briefs.
May 1, 2008... MUTUALS FACE INCREASED COMPETITION Mutual property/casualty insurers are likely to face increased competition over the next few years due to overall capital buildup in the insurance industry, but they are well positioned to compete,...

Solutions.(Reliant Solutions Inc. has introduced ReliantAuditor)(Wolters Kluwer Financial Services has introduced Audit FS)(LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group Inc. has introduced Fraud Prevention solution)
May 1, 2008... SOLUTION INTEGRATES, AUTOMATES AUDIT OPERATIONS Reliant Solutions Inc., Laguna Niguel, Calif., released ReliantAuditor, which is designed to integrate continuous monitoring of internal controls with automated audit operations, risk...

Data as Insurance DNA: Better data utilization and analysis results in better performance for insurance organizations.
May 1, 2008... In a recent research note, I referred to data as the DNA of an insurance company. While I thought I was being clever, I actually missed the broader implications of the analogy. The point was that just as DNA helps define the moleculewhich...

Managing The Digital Universe.(IDC Inc.)(digital universe)
May 1, 2008... The digital universe is expanding rapidly. According to a recent paper from Framingham, Mass.-based IDC, a provider of market intelligence and advisory services for the IT markets, the number of digital atoms in the digital universe is already...

Solutions.
May 1, 2008... OPEN SOURCE ALLIANCE Intalio Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of an open source business process management suite (BPMS), inked a partnership with Alfresco Software Inc., a provider of open source enterprise content management...

Solutions.
May 1, 2008... CAMILION LAUNCHES V3 OF AUTHORITY SUITE Camilion Solutions, a Toronto-based provider of insurance product development and policy administration solutions, released of Authority Suite V3.0, the companys latest policy administration system...

News.
May 1, 2008... ALLSTATES ITIL NAMED PROJECT OF THE YEAR Allstate Insurance Co., Northbrook, Ill., earned the 2008 Pink Elephant Project of the Year award for its efforts in implementing IT Service Management processes based on the Information Technology...

Six Sigma and IT.
May 1, 2008... Six Sigma specifically, and process management generally, are not IT activities. That doesnt mean, however, that theres no IT involvement. Marla Friedman, VP for Allstate Insurance Co.s Six Sigma Center of Expertise, notes that at her...

Who's Buying What: Recent deals for technology software and services.
May 1, 2008... CHUBB IMPLEMENTS HORNBILL SUPPORTWORKS ITSM Chubb Insurance Company of Europe upgraded to Supportworks ITSM, the comprehensive ITIL-compatible service management software from Hornbill Systems Inc., which has locations in Texas, New York...

INN May 2008 Editorial Index.
May 1, 2008... Company Name Page # ACORD 12, 25, 26 Aetna Inc. 6, 14 AIG 4 Alfresco Software Inc. 36 Allstate Insurance Co. Cover, 40 AXA Insurance 18 Boston Software 8 BUPA 20 Camilion Solutions 39 ...

Ad Index for May 2008.(Website list)
May 1, 2008... Advertiser Website Address Page # Acord Loma www.acordlomaforum.org 23 Adminserver www.adminserver.com 13 Adobe www.Adobe.com/financial 9 Cardiff Autonomy www.cardiff.com/compliance 37 ...

Create a Portal to Success: A supercharged portal lets users unlock information in different systems, making life easier for users and system administrators.(industrial-strength carrier processing systems)
May 1, 2008... Core insurance systemspolicy administration, claims, reporting and billingfrequently were designed as industrial-strength carrier processing systems. Each system typically would handle all functions for each type of business the carrier writes....