Distribution

WHITEHILL ACQUIRES INSYSTEMSMoncton, New Brunswick-based Whitehill Technologies Inc. purchased InSystems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Register, Dayton, Ohio, Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The combined company's critical mass will be nearly 1,000 customers strong, including several hundred insurance companies and more than half of the world's largest law firms, according to Paul McSpurren, president and CEO of Whitehill Technologies. Current InSystems customers should expect business to continue without interruption, according to the companies.

August - the heart of hurricane season.The hurricanes during August 2005 changed the insurance industry. In fact, with experts predicting a number of storms in 2006, carriers are taking action-developing tools and programs-to help their customers through natural disasters, especially hurricanes.

Today's consumer is king. With the ability to find an alternative solution for virtually any purchase in a few clicks on the Internet, consumers clearly have the upper hand. They are demanding more personalized products and services that meet their specific needs, and the ability to conduct business through any channel they choose-in person, online or by phone-without sacrificing service.As a consumer, these requirements are perfectly logical. As a business, they aren't that easy to fulfill in an environment where sales processes differ from channel to channel, and where customer data is historical, generally fragmented, and not always relevant.

24-HOUR ACCESS TO FINANCIAL FITNESSNew York-based Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America launched a proprietary Web-based system designed to help financial representatives enable their clients to instantly gauge their financial health and simplify their personal and business finances. The system enables financial reps and their clients to coordinate accounts from a menu of more than 3,000 financial institutions, access copies of important legal and financial documents from anywhere in the world, and get a comprehensive, up-to-date snapshot of their financial well-being.

Odessa, Del. - Information on search engine marketing, integrated marketing and competitive information on insurance company marketing trends is included in the "Insurance Direct Marketing: The Special Report on the Companies, the Practices, the Standards & the Benchmarks" report, released last week.

Waterloo, Ont. - California State Automobile Association (CSAA) plans to launch a pilot program this summer using telematics technology to improve driving safety. Using the DriveSync GPS vehicle tracking system from Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc. (IMS), CSSA intends to increase the value of AAA membership for itself and other AAA partners, including AAA Arizona, AAA Oklahoma and AAA MountainWest. Rapid vehicle location for roadside assistance and driver safety improvement are some of the areas that will be researched.DriveSync is a GPS vehicle tracking system that tracks vehicle location including the route, mileage and speeds of each trip. As a turnkey solution, IMS manages all aspects of driving data collection, storage, consolidation and reporting using fraud-prevention technology and military grade data encryption to ensure customer confidentiality. The system produces turn-by-turn trip logs, color-coded route maps and driving statistic reports, which can enable drivers to see a clear picture of their driving behavior and habits.

Worcestor, Mass. - The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., a regional property/casualty company, is enhancing its billing capabilities, in an effort to deliver on its promise to make doing business with the company easy. Now, The Hanover is enabling agents to accept payments for new home and auto policies via electronic check, credit card and debit card at point of sale.Through the new enhancements, The Hanover's independent agent partners can accept electronic down payments for personal lines home and auto insurance or a full payment on a new policy during new business transactions. No transaction fees will be charged for this service. In fact, policyholders who pay for The Hanover's popular, multi-variate product, Connections Auto, in full via electronic payment will be eligible for a discount.

Detroit - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, will extend an e-prescribing partnership with the nation's three largest U.S. automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor Company and DaimlerChrysler Corp., the companies announced today. The Southeast Michigan e-Prescribing Initiative (SEMI), which is designed to reduce medication errors and decrease prescription drug costs through the use of e-prescribing technology, will be in effect for an additional year.

Los Angeles - Transamerica Retirement Services, a provider of Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs), has implemented online adoption and acceptance agreement capabilities. The new feature, called "AAA on the Web," is designed to simplify and streamline the process of adding new companies into an MEP by enabling both primary sponsors and adopting companies to review and accept the adoption agreement documents online.Prior to this implementation, the MEP and adopting company had to manually review the adoption and acceptance agreement. Now, the entire acceptance process can be completed online. Additionally, before this online feature was made available, the process of adopting employers into an existing MEP required the same amount of time and resources as a traditional single-employer plan set-up. This new online program can save companies time by limiting the provision approval process to only those that are unique to the adopting company, while the standard MEP provisions are automatically implemented.

Columbia, S.C. - Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company, a Columbia, S.C., business unit of UnumProvident Corp., Chattanooga, Tenn., has launched a new online enrollment platform that offers employers daily enrollment reporting and secure employee data exchange, reports the company.