Customer experience

TRANSAMERICA RECEIVES SIX 'BEST IN CLASS' RANKINGSAs a testament to its relationship with its clients, Los Angeles-based Transamerica Retirement Services received six "Best in Class" ratings from the Chatham Partners' 2005 Client Satisfaction Analysis. Transamerica received "Best in Class" ratings: timeliness of contributions, distributions and loans, accuracy of contributions, overall satisfaction with processing of employee transactions, accuracy of participant statements, clarity of participant statements, and courtesy and professionalism of personnel.

Several years ago, a rising deluge of spam, much of it offensive to the firm's largely female workforce, prompted Tollman & Wiker InWest (TWIW) Insurance Services, LLC, to seek better ways of protecting its incoming e-mail."We felt as employers we should protect our staff from this stuff," recalls Kevin Dickmann, who, as technology manager, ran IT single-handedly for the 85-person insurance agency based in Ventura, Calif. "Every morning, our employees were finding 30 to 40 messages they had to review and delete." What's more, e-mail's importance to daily operations was growing by leaps and bounds, so keeping it safe and sound was critical.

In early 2005, after being pounded by hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jean, Glen Distefano pondered the technology model for the soon to be established St. Petersburg, Fla., insurance company.SUNZ Insurance Co. set up shop this year to provide workers compensation and related liability coverage through a direct sales force to a select clientele-a controlled group of Florida-based professional employer organizations (PEOs), staffing companies and other preferred large risks. After agreeing to take the helm as chief information officer at the company, Distefano thought about the 8,000 businesses and 100,000 jobs lost from 1992's Hurricane Andrew.

VERIO ALIGNS WITH ARSENAL TO PROVIDE EXPANDED DATA PROTECTIONVerio Inc., an Englewood, Colo.-based managed hosting provider, has expanded its data protection and managed storage service offerings through a partnership with Arsenal Digital Solutions, Cary, N.C. Verio's managed storage and data protection services include remote data backup and restore; data center backup and restore; managed storage area network solutions; and database backup.

WEALTH RISK MANAGEMENTThe Chubb Group of Insurance Cos., Warren, N.J., has selected New York-based Risk Control Strategies to support its new Signature Suite offering of luxury personal risk management services. Signature Suite is designed to help identify potential threats and help affluent individuals protect their families and wealth. Risk Control Strategies will provide Chubb's high-net-worth and family office customers with a complimentary personal risk assessment. Risk Control Strategies will also offer Chubb's clients an array of services including cyber crime investigations, identity theft prevention and response, and premise security strategy and implementation.

New York - Lexington Insurance Co., a member company of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), has expanded it online training on its Web site at www.lexeplhelp.com for customers carrying employment practices liability (EPL) insurance.Launched in 1999 and formerly called www.eplselect.com, the Web site was developed to provide EPL insureds with free risk management resources and training tools.

Westborough, Mass. - According to a recent national survey, 54% of organizations have experienced cyber attacks, with 21% of the cyber attacks causing more than $100,000 in measurable damages, and 11% causing more than $500,000 in measurable damages.The 1st Annual Enterprise Security Survey, generated through an online survey of security decision makers spanning a wide range of industries, indicates that a vast majority of businesses are reliant on the Internet to conduct business and have experienced some form of cyber attack in the past year. Additionally, the survey demonstrates a trend in the change in security spending habits due to government regulations such as HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley.

Milwaukee - CIGNA HealthCare will begin offering a debit card to holders of its flexible spending accounts (FSA). The card will be provided by MBI Benefits Inc., an affiliate of Metavante Corp."As a leading provider of FSAs, we chose MBI based on its ability to tailor a debit card product with proven technology that best provides our customers with electronic access to FSA funds," says Jake Biscoglio, head of product development, consumer products, CIGNA HealthCare. "This relationship with Metavante Healthcare Payments opens the door to exploring more healthcare payment services options for our consumers."

Simsbury, Conn. - While a last will and testament is one of the most vital legal documents that can help protect a family's assets, almost 58% of adults do not have a will, according to recent research by legal publisher Martindale- Hubbell.To address this need, The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. is offering EstateGuidance, a new online will preparation service that makes it easy and affordable for Americans to prepare a will. EstateGuidance can be purchased by new customers of The Hartford's group basic and supplemental life policies covering more than 1,000 employees or members.

New York - National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa. (National Union), a member company of American International Group Inc. (AIG), has released a Web-based system allowing brokers to quote and bind PrivateRisk Protector coverages in just minutes. PrivateRisk Protector is a portfolio of management and professional liability coverages designed for private companies.The system, called AIG ePro, was engineered for brokers to simplify the selection of coverages, generate quotations and electronically issue policies for private companies with up to $100 million in revenue or up to 1,000 employees.