Insurance Trade Associations Mostly Relieved by Financial Reform Bill Deal
6/30/2010Duplicative federal regulation of the insurance industry is essentially absent from the Dodd-Frank bill that emerged from a Marathon session in Congress June 25.
Profile of Anthony O'Donnell
Blog Posts: 2240Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information technology in the property/casualty, life and health insurance industries, following the trends and issues faced by senior technology executives. In addition to reporting and editorial duties for I&T, O'Donnell also serves as a moderator and speaker at industry events and broadcasts. He began his editorial career in the healthcare industry where he reported and edited for medical publications with a variety of audiences, from the general public to physicians and researchers. He has also worked in the healthcare field as a media relations professional and Spanish/English interpreter/translator, and has taught English composition and conversation classes to native speakers of Spanish, both in the United States and in Latin America. O'Donnell lives in the Portland, Oregon area with his wife and two sons.
Articles by Anthony O'Donnell
posted in June 2010
posted in June 2010
Duplicative federal regulation of the insurance industry is essentially absent from the Dodd-Frank bill that emerged from a Marathon session in Congress June 25.
Supreme Court Punts on Software Patent Controversy
6/29/2010Observers of the Bilski v. Kappos case had seen it as an opportunity for the Supreme Court to address unresolved issues about what should or should not be covered by a patent.
Madison Mutual Selects ISCS SurePower Policy Administration Suite
6/29/2010Regional P&C insurer seeks to streamline policy and claims processes and gain greater product speed-to-market with configurable rules-and-tools system.
MS Frontier Re Chooses Sword Intech's Co+
6/25/2010The Co+ policy administration platform will enable Ms Frontier Re to handle the full lifecycle of a global-based assumed reinsurance system.
Sagicor Life Names Todd Campbell President and CEO
6/22/2010Former partner of Atlanta law firm Arnall, Golden, Gregory, LLP will provide strategic direction for Sagicor's U.S. operations.
iPipeline Awarded Patent for Computerized Insurance Apps
6/15/2010The vendor has filed a continuation application claiming additional subject matter for the patent covering a computerized method of insurance applications.
Sagicor Life Implements Insurance Technologies' ForeSight 5.0
6/14/2010Sagicor chose to upgrade on ForeSight based on version 5.0's enhanced capabilities, including SmartPhone/PDA, CRM, FNA, and a summary values section.
Vertafore to be Acquired by TPG Capital
6/14/2010Pending regulatory approval, TPG will purchase Vertafore from Hellman & Friedman and its co-investor JMI Equity for $1.4 billion by the third quarter of 2010.
Risk, Reputation and the World Cup
6/11/2010Americans have taken a lot of abuse over the years for supposedly not being up to competing in the World Cup. Attitudes are slowly changing owing to some impressive performances against great teams, such as Germany. Here's a light-hearted take on the American team from John Oliver of the Daily Show.
CNA Signs Contract With SeaPass for Small Business Quoting
6/11/2010The Chicago-based carrier says the SeaPass Hub comparative commercial lines quoting tool will improve distribution partners' productivity.
Donald D. Larson Named President, COO of Great American P&C Group
6/11/2010The Cincinnati-based carrier also announced the promotions of Ronald J. Brichler and Gary J. Gruber, both to executive vice president of the Great American Property and Casualty Group and the Great American Insurance Company.
Optimum General Taps Iter8 For Broker Portal Project
6/10/2010The project's goals are to enhance speed-to-market for new products and services, and fully support the independent broker channel, with ease-of-use, comprehensive functionality, and overall superior system performance.
Mid-Continent Group Seeks Speedy Path to Growth with Camilion
6/10/2010The Tulsa, Okla.-based mid-sized P&C carrier is implementing Camilion's Authority Suite for policy administration, working with the vendor's implementation partner, Phoenix-based Discoverture.
AG Insurance Selects ISIS-Papyrus for Integrated Class Management
6/8/2010The Papyrus platform is aimed at helping AG Insurance consolidate current platforms in order to reduce complexity and cost while improving time-to-market, improvements that will improve customer satisfaction and give the carrier a competitive advantage.
StoneRiver Introduces Distribution Stream Solution
6/8/2010The latest offering in the Stream solution set, Distribution Stream grants new visibility into and control of commissions, appointments, and terms and conditions as well as analysis through segmentation of the agency force with agency definition by region, district or other marketing area, according to the vendor.
Lawson Offers Full-Function ERP on Amazon Web Services Infrastructure
6/8/2010Part of Lawson's Cloud Services portfolio, the vendor's delivery of core systems on Amazon infrastructure is designed to help midsize companies and organizations looking for a more affordable, flexible and agile deployment option for full-function enterprise software.
IASA Report: Malcolm Gladwell Asks Engineers and Accountants to Embrace "Mystery"
6/7/2010Malcolm Gladwell's interpretation of the challenges that face decision-makers today, in the insurance industry as in intelligence, medicine, education and other endeavors, is that there is no triumph of either art or science, but that both complement each other in new, non-linear ways of processing increasingly large amounts of information to yield meaningful insights.
edge IPK's edgeConnect 5.0 Enhances User Experience for Multiple Communication Channels
6/7/2010The new version of the solution includes support for external, customized and out-of-the-box widgets, a variety of presentation and usability elements to support dynamic presentation behavior, support for graphical reporting, and automated documentation.
Camilion Solutions Releases Authority Suite V5.0 for P&C Mid-Market Insurers
6/7/2010The vendor has also signed its first customer of the new release of its Authority Suite rules-and-tools P&C policy administration system.
Access Insurance Wins IASA 2010 Technology Innovation Award
6/7/2010The Atlanta-based P&C insurer received the award for its Instant Access application, which executes all business rules and processes needed to provide a quote, and bind and issue a policy. Honorable mention was given for projects by Great American Insurance and West Bend Mutual.
Insurers Master Data for Strategic Business Support
6/4/2010As it becomes more feasible for insurers to base their strategic decisions on data analysis, IT and the business are stepping up their efforts to develop more subjective interpretations of data that drive a competitive edge.
SAS and Sword Ciboodle Partner on Intelligent Contact Center Capabilities
6/4/2010The vendors have combined the capabilities of Ciboodle One intelligent desktop with SAS's Real Time Decision Manager to be able to predict customer behavior in the contact center and create what they describe as a unique level of personalization.
Aetna's Attractive Virtual Online Assistant Reduces Call Center Load
6/3/2010The soundness of Ann's design been validated by adoption by Aetna's members. "We're averaging 2,500 chat sessions daily, and calls to our customer service technical help desk declined 29 percent in the past month as a result," Sherry reports. "She surpassed all expectations in terms of how much people were engaging with her and using the service."
Guidewire Formalizes SI Partnerships To Foster Implementation Success
6/2/2010Many systems vendors have ongoing relationships with systems integrators and other consulting partners, but Guidewire has introduced a level of formality designed to mitigate project risk and foster success. The PartnerConnect program establishes formal partnerships at the company level and also establishes formal qualifications for individual consultants.
Southern Pioneer Implements ISCS's SurePower Policy Admin Suite
6/1/2010Implementation of SurePower Innovation at Southern Pioneer has automated most of the company's critical business processes, including underwriting, policy and claims management, reinsurance and billing.
First Named Storm of Hurricane Season Hits Central America
6/1/2010Guatemala hit hardest as that country and Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras declare a state of emergency in response to conditions such as widespread flooding, mudslides and the opening of large sinkholes.
A Vivid Picture of Destruction in Guatemala
6/1/2010June 1 marks the beginning of the 2010 Hurricane season, both for the Atlantic and central pacific. As if to mark the day, a tropical storm named Agatha slammed into the Central American coast.
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