Analytics

ITIL may be key to embedding service orientation into business processes through governance and management of SOA efforts.

Analysts and consultants weigh in on the status of insurers' IT spending. What is driving and/or restricting those purchases?

St. Paul, Minn. - IT executives overwhelmingly identify user interface as a key criteria when considering an upgrade or replacement purchase, according to a survey conducted on behalf of St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson Software.

Insurance companies—including actuaries and IT executives—will be under growing pressure to enhance their financial management system capabilities as they face changing financial reporting requirements, and more extensive risk management challenges in 2008.

There is overwhelming evidence that spending on servers is slowing down significantly across a number of market sectors, in some cases by up to a factor of five, according to research conducted by TechNavio from Infiniti Research.

On the heels of its merger with LIMRA, LOMA is offering conferences at the beginning of the new year designed to help insurers capitalize on the technologies that will enable them to do more business, and do it better.

Simsbury, Conn., and Powell, Ohio - In a move designed to offer defined benefit plan sponsors the latest in Internet functionality, The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has agreed to acquire TopNoggin, a Powell, Ohio-based firm with proprietary technology that tackles data management, administration and benefit calculations.

Approaches to policy administration systems may differ from region to region, but the factors driving replacement are similar.

Zurich — Zurich Financial Services Group announced that it is elevating the role of Chief Risk Officer to Group Executive Committee status, and appointing Axel Lehmann to the position, effective Jan. 1, 2008. Also on that date, Mike Foley will succeed Lehmann as CEO of Zurich’s North America Commercial (NAC) division, and will become a member of the Group Executive Committee.

New York — Execution is taking precedence over profit and top-line growth as a focus for CEOs around the world, according to a survey of 769 global CEOs from 40 countries from The Conference Board report, CEO Challenge 2007: Top 10 Challenges. The annual report, conducted during the first quarter of 2007, details specific challenges that CEOs face across regions, as well as by the company’s size, industry, and level of success—all factors affecting the concerns of CEOs.