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

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

Insurers Drill Deeper With Data Standards; While long ubiquitous in business-to-business transactions, internal use of standards is becoming more prevalent in the era of service-oriented architectures.(Cover Story/Standards)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Bill Kenealy At a purely theoretical level, you'd be hard pressed to find people in the insurance industry opposed to data standards. The values are clear: lower transaction cost, better data quality and greater ease of doing...

Online Aggregators Can Drive Revenue; Insurers may not want to dismiss aggregators as "just another agency" - most are poised to deliver on a unique value proposition.(INN Sight: Exclusive commentary from Novarica)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Karlyn Carnahan According to Nielson Online, 17 million consumers conducted insurance transactions online in the last six months (purchased a policy, filed a claim, or paid a bill). In addition, 16 million consumers shopped online...

Insurers Attacking Problems in Parallel; As computational needs of actuaries swell, distributed computing is gaining sway.(Industry Priorities - Keeping up with top-of-mind executive concerns)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Bill Kenealy Much like youth, good looks or money, when it comes to raw computing power, too much is never enough. This is especially true for insurance actuaries, who are tasked with some of the most horsepower-hungry tasks in...

7 Steps to Policy Admin Implementation Success; Iterative methodologies and sound product architectures reduce risk, and yield faster return on investment.(Vantage Point - Guest commentary from industry sources)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Susan Hutt As the economic turmoil continues and markets harden, P&C insurers of all sizes look for ways to invest strategically to quickly enter new markets or launch new products. Insurers will need to replace expensive,...

Insurers Testing the Waters For Solid State Drives; While the advantages of solid state hard drives are legion, it may be a while before they make a big impact in insurance data centers.(Emerging Technologies - Information on the latest advancements in technology)(Company overview)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Bill Kenealy For the first few decades of the computer era, the well-worn migratory path of a technology was from the business to the home user. However, in the last few years this has begun to change, as several technologies...

Who's Buying What: Recent deals for technology software and services.
May 1, 2009... Manulife Inks Outsourcing Deal With Thomson Reuters Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp.'s asset management division has signed a multi-million-dollar outsourcing deal with New York-based Thomson Reuters. As part of the agreement, MFC...

CORRECTION.(Correction notice)
May 1, 2009... In April's cover story, "Executing Under Pressure," (p. 14), the first line of business involved in FAMI's initiative was business owners policies (BOP), not personal lines auto. The carrier did work with OneShield, Westborough, Mass., to...

How to Navigate the New World of Outsourcing; Economic concerns and volatility in the marketplace have changed the outsourcing landscape, and insurers must adapt.(Back Office - Strategies and technologies to boost behind-the-scenes efficiencies)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Carrie Burns It seems that every day there's news of a company in the insurance industry experiencing massive layoffs or making extreme adjustments. Yet, the business still must be productive. So who's going to do the work? At...

Empowering Your Agent; Property/casualty firms are offering agent portals with rich functionality to reduce costs and appeal to agents' pressing needs.(INN FOCUS - P&C: In-depth coverage of issues affecting specific lines of business)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Daniel Joelson The current economic climate is causing insurers to rethink their agent portals. The onus is on insurers to replace static, information-only sites with transactional sites where agents can conduct business. The...

Welcome to Big Brother Insurance Inc.(Commentary)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Pat Speer, Editor-In-Chief The insurance industry has a long history of governmental intervention. During World War I, when German U-boats began sinking U.S. commercial vessels in the north Atlantic, commercial insurers balked at...

Cultivating Communication One Consumer at a Time; Insurers' use of Web 2.0 strategies and other rich Internet applications have allowed them to harvest a new audience.(Front Office - The latest on customer-facing issues that drive revenue)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Alex Vorro Reflecting on the United States' recent presidential election, a good deal of attention was paid to the Obama campaign, specifically in how he, as an orator, moved the masses with his message. But while he stirred voters...

Front Office Solutions.(Front Office)
May 1, 2009... Total Rewards Software Launches Agency Edition Total Rewards Software Inc., a Rocklin, Calif.-based provider of on-demand total compensation statement software, has created a partnership program called the Agency Edition. Designed...

P&C Solutions.(Front Office)
May 1, 2009... Foreclosure Monitoring Services Available CDS Business Mapping LLC, Boston, a provider of online hazard mapping, reports that it has added foreclosure monitoring to its RiskMeter Online service. Users now can submit an Excel file, and the...

Models Are Not Reality; Predictive modeling may be a useful tool, but it shouldn't be used as a shortcut for the claims process.(Counterpoint)
May 1, 2009... Byline: Donna Popow Predictive modeling certainly has advantages. Insurers can use it to streamline the underwriting process so underwriters only review exceptional cases, rather than every single application. Claims departments can use...