Analytics

Silver Spring, Md. – AIIM, the Enterprise Content Management Association, is expanding its certificate training program to include two new programs for business process management and information organization and access. The new programs are designed to provide organizations with the skills and knowledge to improve their business processes and optimize enterprise search and findability. Online courses will be available starting September 10 by going to www.aiim.org/training. More than 4,200 participants attended the Silver Spring, Md., organization’s first two certificate programs—on electronic records and enterprise content management, reports John Mancini, AIIM president. “This led us to look at related certificate programs that would help end-users make smart information management decisions," he said. Each AIIM certificate training program consists of three designation levels (practitioner, specialist and master level) across four programs (enterprise content management, electronic records management, business process management and information organization and access. Source: AIIM

Novato, Calif. and Armonk, N.Y. – Allianz of America (AZOA), parent company of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, has signed a $330 million-, 7-1/2-year outsourcing agreement with IBM to handle information technology (IT) operations of the life insurer.

Silver Spring, Md. — Insurers are recognizing the savings associated with installing distributed scanning and capture technologies, according to a July 2007 survey by AIIM, who specializes in disseminating information about enterprise content management.

Worchester, Mass. - The Hanover Insurance Group Inc., a regional property/casualty company based in Worchester, Mass., is offering Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) bonds through the company’s online point-of-sale system, BONDirect. The federal government’s ERISA bonds protect employee benefit plans against losses caused by fraud and dishonesty committed by employee trustees.

Toronto-based kanetix, Canada's online insurance marketplace, compared the average lowest auto insurance premium quoted at www.kanetix.ca in Q2 2007 with the average lowest premium quoted from the same period in 2006, and found that the average lowest price had decreased by almost 17%.

In the wake of insurers increasing their efforts to utilize the Internet to broaden their accessibility, streamline efficiency and reduce time and costs, two insurers have recently ramped up their online customer service capabilities.

Frisco, Texas – The consolidation in the vendor arena continues as Skywire Software, making its third major acquisition of the year, snapped up Canadian automation and compliance solutions provider Whitehill Technologies, Inc.

The momentum to move to a nationwide e-health network that includes electronic medical records and secure transmission of information between stakeholders is being fueled by entities of all sizes and influence-from grass roots-oriented non-profits to major health insurers to the federal government. This momentum is putting mounting pressure on the faction that may stand the most to gain yet seems most reluctant to participate-the health care provider.No one questions the fact that the e-health market is still in a state of relative infancy, in spite of the support being offered by the government, insurance, standards and vendor communities.

If you think your contact center (what used to be your call center before e-mail and Web chat were added to the customer service mix) doesn't do much for sales, you might have a look at a new study from Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. The Daly City, Calif., maker of contact center software recently surveyed 500 consumers in the United States, and found that almost half placed more importance on customer service than product quality, price or the vendor's reputation when it came to loyalty. A full 40% said they'd stopped doing business with a company solely because of a bad contact center experience.Donna Fluss, president of DMG Consulting, a West Orange, N.J., company that specializes in helping clients build contact centers, says the centers should be playing a more significant role than just keeping customers happy and loyal-especially for insurance carriers.

From collaboration to customer service, companies are turning to networks of applications and individuals to accomplish tasks, increase competitiveness and improve productivity. As a result, pressure is on enterprise networks to constantly keep increasing capacity, intelligence, speed and performance-both inside and outside the firewall.The typical insurance carrier is increasingly becoming a networked organization, albeit at a slower rate than other industries.