Customer experience

In recent years, a combination of poor planning, bad execution and an inability to properly measure results have conspired to undermined customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives, casting doubt on future insurer investments in this space.Despite these missteps, a growing number of insurance companies have realized that best-practices CRM can become a reality if insurers can somehow summon up the ability to re-engineer their CRM strategies and alter their corporate focus.

As the insurance industry continues to focus broadly on growth, cost containment and risk management, new research has identified several strategic initiatives that might provide traction to insurers as they endeavor to improve their businesses.The final segment in a series of six "2004 Perspectives" formulated by Needham, Mass.-based research and consulting firm TowerGroup examines critical business and technology issues and trends that the firm expects will impact financial services.

As a small, regional insurer, Wayne Mutual has been outsourcing its IT operations for 20 years. Formed in 1910 as a mutual protective association for local farmers, the Wooster, Ohio based carrier today provides property/casualty insurance to 30,000 policyholders in "the Buckeye state.""Wayne Mutual has never done its own IT processing," says Tim Suppes, vice president of operations at the company, which reported $16.6 million in net written premium in 2002. "We're not big enough to have an in-house staff of programmers," he says.

Many property/casualty insurers struggle to comply with changes in rates and rules promulgated by insurance bureaus. Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO), the American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS), National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) and state workers' compensation bureaus together send insurers thousands of notices each year changing loss costs, rates, rules and forms in the 50 states.Each company must interpret and code these changes-an expensive, never-ending effort. Insurers also must report policy, premium and claims data back to the same bureaus, another time-consuming task.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Travelers Property Casualty Corp. announces that it will now provide Web-based ability to create and print Ocean Cargo Certificates of Insurance to its Ocean Cargo policyholders and their agents.

JERSEY CITY, N.J.--Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) has acquired Quality Planning Corporation (QPC), a San Francisco-based provider of analytic methods for helping auto insurance companies achieve greater rating integrity. Terms were not disclosed.

Valley Oak Systems, Inc. (VOS), a national provider of claims management software, services and support, has completed development of a new data extraction tool that will streamline the submission of claims data to the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI), a non-profit organization that oversees the PERI Data Exchange, a national database of public sector liability and workers' compensation claims, judgments, and exposures.

Skywire Software, a leading provider of enterprise software, announced today that it has named Karl Schultz as the company's new chief information officer. Schultz most recently served on the company's executive team as Sr. Vice President, Software Development. Schultz will be responsible for leading the development of the company's products, delivering on successful customer engagements, and overseeing the company's information technology operations.

ATLANTA-- 2004 may be a better year for the insurance and financial services industry, say members of the LOMA board of directors. LOMA's Resource magazine recently surveyed LOMA's directors, who represent global leaders in financial services, seeking their industry forecast for 2004. Most of the directors participating in the survey agreed that, with the U.S. economy showing signs of gradual recovery, things are looking up for industry sales, premiums, and profits.

Frimley UK--Candle Corporation, a leading enterprise infrastructure management provider, today announced that Royal Liver Assurance has selected Candle`s PathWAIsolutions to support the development, implementation and management of its IBM WebSphere application infrastructure using Linux. Candle`s PathWAI solutions enable organisations to accelerate application infrastructure development and deployment, ensure consistent performance and enhance management control.