Content posted in June 2011
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When Disaster Strikes
A string of disasters has put insurers' CAT management capabilities to the test. Carriers are tapping mobile and other technologies to streamline claims resolution.
AIX Group Taps Cover-All Technologies BI Solution
Speed of implementation factored heavily in AIX's choice of Cover-All's NextGen Business Intelligence Suite.
Patriot National Selects Paradox Technology Solutions' WorkersCompExpert
The Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based carrier will use PTS's suite to support its insurance, managing general underwriting, billing and claims services operations.
Aerial Measuring Helped State Farm Through CAT-Heavy Spring
Making things easier on the back-end allowed the company to pay more attention on the customer service side, CAT team manager Sherry Roche tells I&T.
SBLI Adds Life Insurance Forms to Laser App Library
By adding its forms to the Laser App library, SBLI will be able to simplify the account opening process for agents, decrease the time it takes to auto-populate fields on applications and make information retrieval from CRM systems much easier, the vendor claims.
KESA Selects Valen's UnderRight Predictive Analytics Solution
The Valen solution is aimed at growing KESA's market share of higher quality workers' compensation business in Kentucky.
Seizing the Claims Advantage
Insurers are deploying maturing workforce management, advanced analytics and flexible core technologies, often in new combinations, to achieve competitive distinction in their claims service and operational effectiveness.
IT Budget Recovery More About Maintenance Than Breaking New Ground
A recent report showed that the insurance industry was leading other verticals in growing their IT budget year-over-year. However, a look inside the numbers shows that much of that increase is going to current systems.
Why You Need to Put Generalists Above Specialists for Your Technology Transformation Project
Fine-grained specialists are often uniquely qualified to support and maintain the carrier's status quo platforms. Unfortunately, they are also just as uniquely unqualified to manage and execute a major upgrade or change to those platforms.
Microsoft Moves Into Google's Territory With Office 365
Competition in the cloud e-mail services sector is heating up, and insurance companies are likely to watch it closely.
4 Key Areas of Claims Innovation
Claims processing offers insurers a major opportunity to create competitive advantage. But carriers need to think of claims not as a cost, but as a way to provide distinctive customer service, says Accenture's Michael Costonis.
Core Modernization: CNA Upgrades in Search of the Truth
Chicago-based CNA has embarked on a multiyear journey at the center of which is the upgrade of its core claims system.
Analytics: Accident Fund Builds Through Teamwork
Along with consolidating its claims platforms, Accident Fund sees analytics as a key component of a strategy that puts the right tools in the hands of employees with the goal of achieving better results for customers.
Workforce Management: VSP Automates to Meet Claims Demands
Faced with demanding service levels, VSP has partnered with Verint to improve claims processing efficiency and better adjust workloads to meet service deadlines without incurring unnecessary overtime.
Nippon Life COO Heads to Principal, Replacement Named
Francine Young, a four-year veteran of the company, will take over for Gerald Patterson.
Symetra Appoints New VP of Life Sales
Phil Bouvier comes from Sun Life.
Insurance Trade Groups Praise White House Appointment of Roy Woodall as FSOC Expert
Trade associations praised Woodall's understanding of the state insurance regulatory system and his appreciation of the less risky nature of the insurance industry with reference to the potential for systemic risk in the financial services industry.
P&C Insurers Must Move to a Customer-Centric Operating Model
To capture the full benefits of a changing environment, insurers must create customer-focused models that shift away from their traditional channel or product focus. It's a daunting task, but A.T. Kearney's Joseph Reifel discusses several simple ways for insurers to succeed.
Telematics-Powered Auto Insurance Poised to Grow Rapidly
Under the influence of regulation, shifting consumer attitudes and thoughtful product development, usage-based insurance offerings have quietly caught on and now insurers and service providers are betting on growth.
Get Compliant on Social Media Advertising Content and Campaigns
Insurance companies can leverage social media for marketing at both the corporate and agent levels. But carriers must take steps to avoid running afoul of regulators in the sensitive channel.
CMS To Battle Claims Fraud With Analytics
Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor on a project to use predictive modeling to weed out fake Medicare claims before they're paid.
With More Insurance M&As, IT Faces Compliance, Integration Challenges
Analysts are noticing an increase in M&A activity in the insurance industry, and IT capabilities are not an afterthought.
Insurance Industry Leads Recovery in 2011 IT Spending
Stereotyped as a laggard adopter of technology, the insurance industry is in the vanguard of a recovery in operational and capital IT spending.
Aviva NA Names Chief Risk Officer
Saskia Goedhart replaces Dan Guilbert, who left last November.
More Claims Processed Incorrectly This Year Than Last, AMA Says
In its 2011 National Health Insurer Report Card, the association finds a 2% increase in claims processing inaccuracy. Is this a symptom of an illness IT can cure?
Global Aerospace Insurance Company Selects Maximum Processing's Stingray System
The program is a web-based policy, billing, claims and reinsurance insurance administration system.
Facing the Challenges of the New ICANN gTLD Program - I&T Talks with New York Life's Ken Hittel
This could be the greatest change in e-business since the internet was created, but that's not necessarily a good thing, as New York Life's Ken Hittel observes in an exchange with Insurance & Technology.
ICANN's New Top-Level Domain Name Program Forces Insurers to React
Praised by ICANN as a liberator of innovation, the new gTLD program may bring new marketing opportunities to the insurance industry but also compels insurers to defensively apply for expensive domain names to protect their brands.
Hockey Riot A Sad Stop on Wild 2011 CAT Ride
As if earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and fire weren't enough, insurers are now weighing serious damage to a prominent city's core.
Why Claims Must Try Harder – Making the Case to Replace Legacy Claims Systems
Claims executives must leverage new technology for initiatives that transform the claims department and deliver clear financial results.
Farmers Expands Zynga Partnership
Promotions in the CityVille, Mafia Wars and Cafe World social games follow the reintroduction of a FarmVille one.
Interactive Intelligence Readies Upgrade of Flagship Customer Interaction Product
Customer Interaction Center 4.0 features real-time speech analytics, increased scalability, Web portal access and a private cloud deployment model.
CSC Releases BPM Offering to P&C Carriers
The system is powered by AWD, a business process management system built by DST Technologies and deployed by CSC at more than 120 insurance firms around the world.
Global Aerospace Selects 4Sight BI
The company provides coverage for airlines.
Are Health Insurers Prepared for Healthcare Reform?
Insurers who understand the promise of healthcare IT systems can turn reform mandates into competitive advantage.
Natural Disasters Build CAT Losses in Advance of Atlantic Hurricane Peak
Fires, floods and volcanic eruptions add to an already extraordinary year of catastrophes, even before the Atlantic Hurricane Season warms up. Will St. Louis be chest-high in water?
CNA Names Roger Nulton SVP for Producer and Product Development
In his newly created position, the former Fireman's Fund exec will unite CNA's production and sales team with its product development leaders.
The Quick Quoting Conundrum - Where Do We Go From Here?
Three core strategies can help insurers to capitalize on the service and operational advantages of rapid quotes while ensuring that they can "get it right" the first time.
The Case for Automated Reporting: Increasing Data Visibility while Controlling Costs
Amid the numerous issues affecting the healthcare industry, one of the simplest and most powerful ways to add value, control costs and improve efficiency within a health payer organization is through data report automation.
CSC Introduces New BPO Offerings for Life Insurance
The initial offering, Life as a Service, is primarily designed for firms whose core offerings do not include basic life insurance products, such as duly authorized property and casualty writers with the need to provide life products for their distributors, as well as health insurers offering life products and life insurers seeking to ramp up new lines of business rapidly.
StoneRiver Debuts Billing Stream 1.1 with Agency Bill Support
With added agency bill capability, Billing Stream will help P&C carriers reduce their administrative burden, gain greater flexibility in billing issues with agents and increase agent satisfaction, the vendor asserts.
Profiting By Addressing the IT Needs of the Small Carrier Market
IDP InsuraSphere Agent portal enables small- to mid-size P&C Insurers to offer real-time quoting; Echo Ridge Partners' offers small carriers iCatalyst modular P&C policy administration solution.
Torus Insurance Licenses ProducerOne Producer Management System
Torus' use of OutLine Systems' ProducerOne to streamline producer onboarding builds on completion of the carrier's ESCAPE broker portal initiative.
Loudon Mutual Selects KeyMark to Implement Hyland Content Management Solution
KeyMark will help Loudon establish a modern content management solution for scanning, indexing and retrieval within its claims and underwriting departments.
CSC Acquires Brazilian IT Services Provider VIXIA
The acquisition builds on CSC's strategic business efforts in Latin America, where banks and insurers are seeking to modernize their IT capabilities.
StoneRiver Announces Version 7.1 of Reinsurance Solution
URS v7.1, which adds support for a Microsoft SQL Server relational database streamlines navigation, reduces training time for first-time users, and provides a clear snapshot of workload for both individual users and companies.
Symetra Life Selects Wydes Wynsure System for Group Life and Disability Income
Wynsure will support policy quoting, underwriting, policy administration and claims in support of Symetra's growing life and disability insurance income operations.
Adaptik Introduces PolicyWriter Task Manager
TaskManager is designed to improve ease of doing business through agent and underwriter collaboration, afford greater visibility into workload allocation and improve efficiency and productivity, according to the vendor.
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