DELIVERY STRATEGIES BRIEFS

Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Co. (Lansing, MI) has signed a contract with Duck Creek Technologies (Bolivar, MO) to implement the vendor's EXAMPLE Platform product suite to provide the carrier with a Web front end. The implementation is part of a three- to five-year initiative to deliver straight-though processing from point of origin through entire product cycle for all lines of business. An initial project is aimed at encouraging agents, vendors, suppliers, associates and policyholders to interact with the carrier through the Internet. "Our intention is to replace our existing policy administration environment. However, we wanted to approach the project one step at a time, rather than turn our operation inside out with massive overnight change," says Ralph, Sukla, CIO, Michigan Millers. The Duck Creek suite includes EXAMPLE Author, EXAMPLE Server and EXAMPLE Express.

New York Life Insurance Co. (New York) selected San Mateo, CA-based Digital Impact, Inc., to create and execute online direct marketing campaigns. New York Life chose Digital Impact -- which has worked with Fortune 1000 customers such as Citibank, Hewlett-Packard, Marriott and Eddie Bauer -- because its "technology and online direct marketing expertise is unsurpassed in the market," according to Michael Battaglino, assistant vice president, Internet marketing, New York Life.

PilotFish Technology (Wethersfield, CT) released an enhanced version of the PilotFish XMLife Communications Suite (XCS) Release 2, including a complete toolkit, available as a free download at the vendor's site. XCS was developed with the objective of reducing the time and cost of implementing ACORD-compliant e-commerce solutions, according to the PilotFish. Components of the suite include a parser, database generator, exporter, and an enhanced version XCS API for Application Developers, which provides a Java-based application programmer's interface that allows developers to access and extend the capabilities of XCS from within their own code. The suite can be customized for specific business needs, the vendor claims. Enhancements include ACORD XMLife/TXLife 2.7.01 support, Product Profile for Annuity (PPFA) support, architecture for advanced TXLife transaction management, and a requirement ordering sample application, including sample code.

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