Customer experience

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Beacon Research announced today that it has been selected to provide a customized front-end application for BISYS' producer Web site. The application will enable BISYS-affiliated agents and brokers to easily and quickly select the most appropriate fixed annuities for their clients.

HARRISBURG, Pa.--Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Diane Koken said today that Pennsylvanians may see a reduction in the premiums on new life insurance policies because of a change in the mortality tables used to calculate the insurance premium.

Conshohocken, PA- eMoney Advisor, a leading provider of wealth planning solutions, today announced that First Commonwealth Financial Corporation has selected eMoney's AdvisorPlatform as the basis for its wealth management and planning services offered through First Commonwealth Financial Advisors, First Commonwealth Trust Company and First Commonwealth Insurance Agency. The eMoney system will be used by advisors throughout these affiliates to provide more comprehensive services to their clients.

Member companies of both the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) and the Alliance of American Insurers on January 7 voted overwhelmingly to merge and form a new trade association known as the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). The new organization, which will officially begin operations today, represents more than 1,000 member companies that write 37 percent of the property and casualty insurance sold in the United States .

Combined Agents of America, LLC (CAA) today announced Safeco has signed a master contract with all 28 CAA member agencies. According to the contract, all CAA members gain access to this major company market while also profiting from combined premium benefits. CAA is a managing general agency (MGA) committed to strengthening the independent insurance agency system through profitable growth, quality and service for its member agencies.

First Notice Systems Inc., the leader in claim reporting solutions for the insurance industry, and Guidewire Software Inc., a leading provider of claims solutions to property and casualty and workers' compensation insurers, today announced the formation of a strategic alliance that gives insurance carriers an end-to-end claims reporting and management solution. Customers of both companies can now easily leverage First Notice's expertise and value-added services at first notice of loss and Guidewire's downstream claims processing system to enhance claims handling procedures and improve customer service.

Fallon Community Health Plan (FCHP) will join Insurix's www.BenefitCentral.com on-line quoting and E-Marketplace web site. This will enhance FCHP's quoting and proposal generation capabilities allowing Brokers 24X7 access to FCHP's information. The web site will allow Employee Benefits and Health Insurance Brokers to quickly and easily review FCHP's product options, obtain quotes for Massachusetts' employers with 10 - 50 eligible employees, and review FCHP's provider network.

HARTFORD, Conn.--Travelers Life & Annuity today announced the availability of its Annuity Funded Life and Muni Max products on pTeraDac Corporation's WebStory, a customized Web-based presentation system that links directly from Travelers WinFlex and Travelers Life Illustration Systems. WebStory Advanced Marketing Presentation System provides text, schematics and graphics to help the producer develop and present sales strategies in a format that facilitates the client's ease of understanding.

Last October, when Allstate Insurance Co. developed a plan to best assess damage and settle claims in the wake of the Southern California wildfires, the Northbrook, Ill.-based company reasoned it would be counterproductive to set up operations in brick-and-mortar offices located in the vicinity of the fire's epicenter.With the fire spreading and local residents scurrying to find shelter, Allstate established a unique operational presence to conduct business amid the blazing inferno, dispatching some of its local claims adjusters and a 270-person national catastrophe team to operate out of six mobile response units (MRU) scattered around the area.

Barring another terrorist attack on U.S. soil, or some other catastrophic event, U.S. insurance companies are cautiously optimistic about the economy in 2004. As a result, IT budgets in the industry on average are increasing slightly this year.Research from Celent, Datamonitor, Forrester and TowerGroup suggests insurers will add as much as 10% to their IT budgets this year, with an average increase between 2.5% and 6.7%.