Customer experience

Mayfield Village, Ohio - One million consumers have heeded the call of the Drive Insurance from Progressive marketing campaign and visited driveinsurance.com to find out more about the benefits of buying auto insurance through an independent agent or broker, including personal service and advice, competitive rates, and choice.The Web site was introduced in December 2004 as part of the launch of the Drive brand, which promotes the more than 30,000 independent agencies that sell Drive Insurance products across the country. The Drive Group of Progressive Insurance companies is the country's number one writer of private passenger auto insurance through independent agents and brokers.

Brea, Calif. - ChoicePoint and The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. have co-led a $20 million strategic investment that funds the expansion of XDimensional Technologies Inc. in the independent insurance agency market. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.XDimensional's flagship product, Nexsure, is an agency management Internet service for the insurance industry. Nexsure is designed to put information at the fingertips of agents and carriers, delivering a progression of the entire customer/policy life cycle for any and all lines of business, from first contact, to submission, to sale and to in-force policy service.

Hartford, Conn., - Two insurers are partnering to bring advanced workers' compensation services to businesses throughout the Connecticut. The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Hartford, Conn., has contracted with Aetna to offer its customers the Aetna Workers' Comp Access (AWCA) network of health care providers. This arrangement, which became effective Sept. 1, follows a June 1 initiative when

New York, N.Y. - The insurance commissioners of several large states will convene a summit November 15 and November 16 to develop a National Catastrophe Insurance Program, which would more effectively spread insurance risk and help survivors cope with the tremendous financial damage caused by natural catastrophes and acts of terrorism.

Jersey City, N.J. - ISO's guide on state insurance laws and regulations, the State Filing Handbook, is now available in a new Web-based format designed to make it easy for insurers to access the information they need when they need it. The State Filing Handbook is available through ISOnet, ISO's secure Internet platform for delivering information to property/casualty insurers.The online State Filing Handbook features multi-state reports on a broad range of filing topics. Insurers can select a single topic, a type of filing and a number of states -- or choose all states -- and the handbook will generate a table summarizing the requirements for those states. A keyword search feature includes regulations, bulletins and forms to make it easier to locate the exact topic or section.

Los Angeles - In response to unprecedented demands on independent adjusters due to Hurricane Katrina, Marshall & Swift/Boeckh (MS/B), a supplier of local building cost information, residential and commercial property valuation technology and services for the property and casualty insurance sector, has extended its help desk hours. Its fully staffed technical support is now available weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. CST and on weekends from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The help desk can be reached toll free at 888-337-9665.

Boston - New York-based MetLife and Babson Executive Education held their second annual Thought Leadership Conference this week in Wellesley, Mass. The meeting brought together key players in the Internet and multi-channel marketing arena to discuss innovative practices for understanding the multi-channel marketing mindset.

San Diego, Calif. - Mitchell International Inc., a provider of information and workflow solutions to the automotive insurance and collision repair industries, has acquired ClaimIQ, a leading San Francisco-based provider of claims decision optimization applications for insurance carriers.ClaimIQ will join the Mitchell organization as a business unit of Mitchell's medical division. All products of both Mitchell and ClaimIQ will continue to be supported and expanded, and a new set of integrated products that combine the strengths of decision support, bill review, and collision estimating will be introduced.

Redwood Shores, Calif. - Verbalizing its intent to become the number-one CRM applications company, Oracle, announced that it agreed to buy Siebel Systems Inc., San Mateo, Calif., for $10.66 per share. The offer is valued at approximately $5.85 billion, or $3.61 billion net of Siebel's cash on hand of $2.24 billion.

Springfield, Mass. - MassMutual piloted its e4 Wireless Enrollment System with several plan sponsors and participant focus groups early this year, and so far, the results have been significant.In an effort to make retirement planning less overwhelming for participants and more action-oriented, MassMutual engaged Ameranth Wireless Inc., San Diego, to develop e4, MassMutual's custom Electronic Enhanced Enrollment Experience.