Spotlight on Progressive in IWK 500

Insurance & Technology sister publication InformationWeek has released its 23rd annual list of the nation's 500 most innovative IT organizations.

A number of insurance companies made the list. These include, in the top 100, USAA (No. 7), Harleysville (No. 21), Stewart (No. 34), Acuity (No. 37), Aetna (No. 50), Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin (No. 52), Asurion (No. 55), Progressive (No. 71) and Access (No. 98).

Progressive got a little more run in an online slideshow showcasing "20 Great Ideas to Steal." It celebrated the SOA on Progressive's site that allows it to accept incoming referrals from competing auto insurers for non-auto products.

From the piece:

It writes rules so the site recognizes when customers are referred from an auto rival site, and suppresses information about Progressive's auto products.

This is an important innovation that shows Progressive's good-faith commitment to its partners. It also covers a number of bases in terms of how IWK found insurers are innovating: it speaks to efficiency, Web operations, customer experience, creating new revenue streams and partner relations.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio