Digital Platforms

United Fire Group has selected the Jarus Mobile solution for the implementation of self-service mobile applications for its agents and policyholders.

The Affordable Care Act has had the unintended effect of boosting developing private exchanges markets where uninsured consumers compare and purchase high-deductible health insurance plans (HDHPs), according to Aite Group. As a result, the U.S. has 75 million HDHP consumers who have a serious reason to be more price-sensitive than traditionally insured consumers, the research firm said in its report, “Transparency in Healthcare: A New Market.”

Osterman Research outlines five basic guidelines for long-term management of archived information that, while not comprehensive, aim at keeping organizations covered from risk and working with data during transitions.

The Association of Professional Insurance Women recognized the Guy Carpenter & Company LLC Global Chief Economist & Risk Strategist at an award ceremony on Tuesday, June 4.

ABI Research outlines radical changes to the auto insurance industry in a new report.

Low interest rates continue to weigh on the annuity industry, but sales of deferred income annuities increased 150 percent compared to last year and set a fifth-consecutive record high in Q1 2013, according to the “Beacon Research Fixed Annuity Premium Study.” Overall, income annuity sales grew 1.4 percent year-over-year.

Insurer elects to use Decision Research Corp. software platform designed to integrate with CIG's legacy policy administration system.

Insurance IT execs and service company leaders sound off on what drives companies to hire third parties and how to make the relationship work best.

In MarketScout’s rate barometer, commercial rate growth holds steady for the third month in a row.

Tornado season peaked in the last two weeks of the May, with several tornado-producing storm systems.

Software deals among all insurers show year-over-year growth in 2012 after three years of slight declines, according to a set of new reports from Celent.

A new survey on claims capabilities benchmarks practices that enable insurers to self-diagnose and prioritize investments in technology spending, process reengineering.

To succeed, Thornton May says IT organizations must focus on offering the benefits of technology, rather than buying it.

AIG has previously stated that it would not oppose such a designation; Prudential has 30 days to decide whether it will appeal the decision.

Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company, an insurer of churches and related ministries, has selected Thunderhead.com, a provider of customer experience management solutions, to support all enterprise customer communications activity.

While forecasts are calling for more major storm events in 2013, A.M. Best believes the industry as a whole is well-prepared to address potential catastrophic activity because insurers in the space have continually, actively engaged in risk management and taken action to address the growing frequency of such events.

Utica will deploy the STG Billing solution on a private cloud in an effort to improve time to production and enable a secure technology infrastructure.

Penetration rates are flat from last year; one-third of businesses said BI solutions were in use by less than 10 percent of employees.

The majority of insurance software sales in Latin America consist of core systems sold to new customers and smaller insurers, according to “Latin American Insurance Software Deal Trends 2013, Life/Annuity/Health and Property/Casualty Editions,” from Celent, an international financial research and consulting firm.

CoreLogic’s 2013 findings reflect a significant increase over 2012 in both the number of total properties at risk, as well as total value.

Laura Martinez brought in to build company’s risk management programs throughout the southeastern United States.

Claims resulting from last week's EF-5 tornado total $85 million in insured losses thus far.

Financial modeling continues to grow, though at a slower pace than in 2011, survey finds.

Single-package policy designed to cover potential losses at high-profile events.

Research firm expects tablet shipments to outpace the entire PC market (portables and desktops combined) by 2015.

P&C operating results improved substantially, however, investment yields declined, as the impact of lower yields on reinvestments offset growth in the industry’s invested asset base.

As technological change accelerates and adoption rates soar, 10 pivotal trends loom large at the top of management agendas.

Ingenie, an auto insurer targeting young drivers, has selected SAS Office Analytics to analyze large volumes of data on driving behaviors and patterns in an effort to improve customer pricing accuracy and insurance premiums.

Specialty insurer chooses rating, underwriting, policy administration and billing software for workers’ compensation line.

Alaskan Governor Sean Parnell has signed two pieces of legislation designed to modernize insurance laws in Alaska and enable more online transactions and interactions.

The Healthnation system is expected to perform various financial management functions, including invoice generation, invoice aggregation, premium collection, premium processing and disbursement.

Several forecasts predict four major hurricanes and 10 or more total.

Upgrade designed to enable the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to track hierarchy, multiple program locations and divisions across all lines of business.

Thirteen insurers join amidst speculation that rates are going to skyrocket in the most-populous U.S. state when exchange enrollment begins on October 1.

Few companies are trying to build community among employees through social tools, and those that do are not impressed.

Insurer looks to use analytics for its $3.5 billion investment portfolio.

Partnership made in anticipation of integration with Vermont Health Connect, the state's health insurance exchange.

The latest damage reports from Monday’s EF-5 tornado solidify speculation it will rank among the most damaging in U.S. history.

New report from Strategy Meets Action outlines the transformation currently underway for portals, underlining the importance of building a robust enterprise-portal-technology platform.

LIMRA finds indexed annuity sales at lowest point in two years; though deferred income annuities sales increased 174 percent.

J.D. Power report ranks auto insurers' websites on shopping and self-service, and finds that web-usability trumps price among customers.

Mobility has moved from being a business convenience to an opportunity over the past two years, and insurers are turning to customer service to take advantage of that.

Smaller U.S. insurers with overseas parent companies are unlikely to be targeted by FSOC; American Council of Life Insurers defends foreign nonbank financial companies.

Kansas-based agency aims to increase operational efficiency with a unified software platform across all locations.

Certus' construction, property/casualty examiners will handle legal, coverage matters for the insurer's construction defect claims.

PCI applauds the passing of "No Play, No Pay" and Workers’ Comp Reform in Missouri; new legislation also permits electronic proof of insurance for consumers.

Moore, Okla., suffered $1.4 billion in damages from a 1999 tornado; experts predict yesterday’s EF-4 will result in similar figures.

Although risk management is important among companies concerned with regulatory pressure, few maintain a clearly defined risk appetite and reward adherence to it.

Research from Conning attributes improvement to increasing premiums and reduction in incurred losses.

New broad coverage designed to include access to risk control, claims and specialty investigations support.

Mortgage insurers are gaining attention after operating income doubled in the first quarter of 2013 while loan delinquencies continued to decline.

Now in its eighth year, INN's Women in Insurance Leadership program has detailed the extraordinary efforts of more than 60 professionals whose leadership has set the standard for the application of technology in the insurance business.