Delivery Strategies Briefs

UK-based Norwich Union Insurance entered an agreement for an enterprise-wide license of Clear Technology's (Westminster, CO) Tranzax business process automation software platform. Earlier this year, Norwich ran a successful pilot project called Advanced Recoveries with Tranzax, aimed at quality and cost improvements in the carrier's motor third-party recoveries subrogation processing unit. "The subrogation process is dependent on human intervention to ensure that all appropriate actions are carried out. Tranzax eliminates the potential for human error, giving us the desired process each and every time," said Simon Machell, claims director, Norwich Union Insurance. The new license permits Norwich to apply a Tranzax-powered automation layer to other major business processes.

Apogee, a Net-centric software platform integrating the necessary elements to sell and service P&C insurance, was launched by Steel Card. The new system has been designed to enable insurers to centrally manage rules and processes, as well as state, product, and other variances across the enterprise. All users involved in the insurance cycle, including managers, product developers, systems administrators, agents and customers, can use Apogee's browser-based interface from any PC; no client software is needed, according to Steel Card. Apogee includes comprehensive support of established standards and technologies, including XML, Java and ACORD standards.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Newark) has selected Pfizer Health Solutions' (PHS) ASCERTAIN software for performing health risk assessments of 15,000 new Medicare enrollees. The software uses clinical data and health-related lifestyle behaviors to measure health risks, as well as helping to recognize patients who need increased education, and identifying candidates for more aggressive case management and measuring satisfaction of care delivery, according to PHS.

Strategic Insurance Software (Gahanna, OH) launched version 6.0 of SEMCI PARTNER. Enhancements of the release include a new WebLink feature that allows agents to seamlessly interact with company Web sites for policyholder rating changes, claims and billing lookups. According to Noreen Johnson, vice president, information technology, with version 6.0, "agents are able to perform real-time policy inquiry transactions, including company-issued declaration pages, billing invoices, up-to-the-minute payment status information and claims details."

Anthony 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 ... View Full Bio