Reporting for Duty

With a focus on cultivating its employees, Minnesota Life has remained innovative while supporting growth.

Customers Come First

Just as customer service needs have spurred recent enhancements in Minnesota Life's call center, they've also catalyzed the carriers exploration and recent implementation of IBM's (Armonk) J2EE WebSphere development environment. IBM is on a short list of Minnesota Life preferred vendors that includes Microsoft (Redmond, Wash.), AT&T (Bedminster, N.J.) and Computer Associates (Islandia, N.Y.). Delaney Nelson contends that since these companies are closely involved in the decision process, they are considered more than just vendors of technology. "Minnesota Life has a tight relationship with these companies and we meet with them on a regular basis," she says. "They are involved in our planning processes. They also talk about their potential contributions relative to our plans so we consider them to be our strategic partners."

Minnesota Life's latest IBM WebSphere partnership has developed into the carrier's creation of its Client Connect project on the J2EE development platform. The application will provide users with up-to-date client information, projects Delaney Nelson.

Additionally, access to this application and others may be enhanced through a wireless/mobile strategy that Minnesota Life has adopted in the past year.

Plans for Handhelds

The carrier has recently completed its exploration and testing of numerous handheld devices, such as laptops and phones, enabling tasks including e-mailing and calendaring. After it puts these devices in the hands of home office and field force employees, the underwriter will evaluate the practicality of the program for everyone from "executives on down to associates," explains Delaney Nelson.

But before such expansions take place, they must first be met with approval from Minnesota Life's Technology Steering Committee, which is headed by Delaney Nelson. The group is comprised of the heads of Minnesota Life's asset management, individual financial security, financial services, retirement services and group life services groups. Additionally, the insurer's chief financial officer, George Strong, sits on the committee that is held accountable by chief executive officer Robert Senkler.

The group meets on a monthly basis to prioritize projects. And once a project has been approved, specifics of that project are handled on a business unit level.

So far, projects on the docket awaiting approval include a partially approved grid computing initiative that is currently in the pilot mode. Minnesota Life expects that the project will help the carrier to maximize its unused server computing power.

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