Digital Platforms

Company also opens new regional underwriting offices in Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas.

Robert Hartwig, president and economist of the Insurance Information Institute, outlines four necessary criteria for a hard market, one marked by sharply rising rates in excess of 10 to 15 percent.

J.D. Power found particularly sharp increases in customer satisfaction with policy offerings and interactions with insurers.

Overall, spending barely increases; CIOs lack confidence in budget plans.

For many adults in the United Kingdom, insurance is a “grudge purchase” – bought to insure against the possibility of something unfortunate happening – and the value test is the customer experience at claim time, according to “The Reality and Opportunities in Claims Management: Consumer Experiences in the United Kingdom,” a new report from Celent.

The research firm cut back its expected increase in overall enterprise application spending for this year to 4.5 percent, down half a percentage point from its outlook for the year in Q1 2012. That near-term reduction still amounts to $120.4 billion spent in the business software and solutions marketplace, up from 2011’s total of $115.2 billion in 2011, Gartner stated.

Enterprise content management firm to partner with Volly for the integration of its Digital Mail Gateway software.

A pair of new reports assess the top social media presences within the insurance industry and provide metrics and tactics to effectively harness your social networks.

Survey conducted at America’s Health Insurance Plans Institute 2012 reveals health insurance executives’ opinions on reform, increasing health care costs and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The United States Senate passed the Senate 2012 Farm Bill in a 64-35 vote. The Senate version of the bill would cost $498 billion, save $23.6 billion over the next 10 years and eliminate $5 billion per year in direct payments. The Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) would become the primary risk management tool for farmers.

Rebranded and updated CyberEdge product attempts to stay on top of risk trends, such as cloud computing resources.

SAP report shows companies with mature best practices double operating margins and triple revenue growth.

Winning papers to be published in a special edition of The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Issues and Practices.

In response to concerns raised about land-use restrictions and insurance mandates, the Senate and Banking Committee agree to scale back requirements.

As workers hope to prevent income shortages throughout retirement, insurers turn to new mediums to provide new advice.

While almost half of respondents to a recent survey emphasize that a prolonged low interest rate environment is the greatest threat to their business, 71 percent expect increases in new life and annuity premiums of 4 percent or more in the first quarter of 2012.

Principles intended to provide a framework that aligns investment objectives with the values of society at large.

Insurer also picks up agent self-service and electronic billing software.

Annual report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau outlines the downward trend in thefts as well as the 10 areas with the most vehicle thefts per capita.

Second annual StoneRiver survey indicates a lack of enterprise risk management, readiness for changing regulatory climate.

In the report, entitled “Data Agility: Turning a Liability into an Asset,” Tabb assesses spending and implementation plans at financial firms, and their ramifications with enterprise information sharing and distribution. Tabb found that spending on internal resources will drop to 39 percent of the overall IT budget by 2014, reflecting a 5-percent decline from 2012 and a 27 percent decrease since 2000.

Payment error decreased nearly 10 percent from 2011 to 2012, according to the American Medical Association's fifth annual National Health Insurer Report Card.

Research using the websites of State Farm, Allstate, Progressive and GEICO indicates good drivers who live in moderate-income areas are being quoted higher prices for auto insurance, and rates vary widely across providers.

For the third year in a row, USAA takes the No. 1 spot, while 10 other insurers receive mention in Computerworld’s 100 Best Places to Work in IT.

Professionals agree that predictive modeling has changed the way policies are priced, but what other potential does it have and where does this leave actuaries?

A new report from Celent offers an updated regulatory roadmap and guidance for a systems assessment.

In conjunction with the company’s 20th anniversary, Vertafore recently announced three updates to its ImageRight software. The product enhancements include a new user interface and an added emphasis on collaboration and interoperability.

Encrypting, educating and purchasing cyber-liability insurance are just a few recommendations from ID Experts.

Several announcements this week culminate with the release of Mobile Application Management software.

Alliance to enable deductibles and real-time tracking and monitoring for Chubb customers.

Carrier's implementation of broker connectivity solution from iter8 expands an eight-year partnership between the two companies.

Claims Stream and Customer Stream products are designed to enable web-based, automated operations.

Chairman Jon Ansell and Beth Godlin, CEO, to lead new Fusion Co.

Despite indications that the segment has reached a cyclical bottom, 2011 combined ratio of 117 percent is the worst of any commercial lines segment.

Mobile and microfinance are just two of the technologies transforming financial services, according to recent report.

The market has been driven to a place where insurance-linked securitizations work from a pricing perspective, say experts at a recent S&P conference.

The scholarships were awarded in four categories: Certified Insurance Counselors, Certified Insurance Service Representatives, Certified Risk Managers and Certified School Risk Managers.

Allianz Life, Aviva USA and New York Life are the top three contributors to the increase.

Investment accounting providers see 445-percent growth in insurance clients; CEO credits SaaS approach.

Prices for all standard commercial insurance lines rose for the fifth consecutive quarter, with commercial lines increasing 5 percent in aggregate, according Towers Watson’s “Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey” (CLIPS), which compared the Q1 2012 prices of policies with those of the same period last year.

With a median salary of $49,700 to $51,000, these professionals are in demand by financial services organizations—including insurance—according to finance and accounting staffing firm.

Penalty settles allegations AIG wrongfully tried to avoid paying state residual market assessments and taxes.

Comparatively light catastrophe activity since the beginning of 2012 has strengthened balance sheets for reinsurers, increased already plentiful capacity and moderated pricing trends, according to a briefing from Guy Carpenter, a provider of risk and reinsurance intermediary services.

MiAgents iPad application is designed to enable OMI's agents to spend more time in the field gathering intelligence, which is then analyzed through the app for actionable intelligence.

The year-end figure is comprised of redundancies in personal lines, commercial property and commercial liability, offset by deficiencies in workers' compensation and financial guaranty.

Exigen Insurance Solutions, a provider of core solutions, introduced at this week’s IASA conference an International Business Insurance product designed to give insurers operating in global markets greater product flexibility and agility.

Industry-wide first quarter annuity sales reached $53.1 billion, which is down about 2.5 percent from $54.5 billion the previous quarter, according to the Insured Retirement Institute.

A new report from Novarica anticipates a widening analytics gap between large and mid-sized insurers.

The MarketScout report for May outlines upward adjustments for both personal and commercial lines.

A dynamic atmosphere prevailed at an IASA technology session as insurers debated the challenges and possibilities of innovation.

Students from St. John's University, University of Wisconsin, University of Central Arkansas, East Carolina University and five other schools were named recipients of the 3rd annual program.

Aite Group Senior Analyst Stephen Applebaum outlines the many social media initiatives insurers are embarking upon from this year's IASA conference in San Diego.