Distribution

Des Moines, Iowa - The Principal Financial Group has launched an online claim submission form for group long-term and short-term disability customers."Even a brief disability can be difficult to overcome, which is why we stress early intervention and ongoing claim communication throughout the process," says Cindy Ford, claims director, the Principal Financial Group. "Offering online submission is simply one more way we can expedite the process to ensure the best possible outcome for our members."

Hartford, Conn. - Six months after introducing its enhanced Select Accounts products for small businesses, St. Paul Travelers reports the feedback from independent agents has been overwhelmingly positive.According to a survey of more than 1,300 agents, 96% rated the breadth of product eligibility and 88% rated the pricing and coverage features to be the same or significantly better than the competition.

St. Paul, Minn. -- A study of insurance brokers and consultants' attitudes about relationships with group life insurers shows they place high value on technology and good service and little value on freebies."The study confirmed our assumptions about how best to approach benefits brokers and consultants," says Paula Bilitz, marketing manager, Minnesota Life Group Insurance. "Professionalism rules, with a clear focus on how best to serve the employer-client."

Beijing - InsCom, an e-commerce insurance company based in China, has been awarded as one of China's Top 100 Business Web sites of 2005 at the second awards ceremony of the China Commercial Internet Developing Conference. In the five years of the top 100 business Web site award, this is the first time an insurance Web site has won.Rapid development of the insurance industry has led to diversities in the insurance marketing channel. Some traditional channels such as: direct sales, full-time or part-time agents, telephone, correspondence and networking are seeing new changes being gradually introduced in order to modernise roles in product sales and business development for insurance companies.

Columbus, Ohio - Nationwide introduced a new look and feel for its main consumer web site, nationwide.com. The re-design represents the first phase of a multi-year overhaul, the company reports.

Westlake Village, Calif. - The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has been recognized for call center operation customer satisfaction excellence under the J.D. Power and Associates Certified Call Center Program. The Hartford property and casualty sales and service centers are the first in the insurance industry to be certified under the program.Through its direct personal lines business, the Hartford, Conn.-based carrier handled more than 10,000,000 telephone, e-mail and fax interactions in 2004 from its call centers in Southington, Conn., Allentown, Pa., Santee, Calif., and Oklahoma City.

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill extending a federal program that guarantees the government's support of some losses from terrorist attacks, a measure that insurers and property owners call critical to the economy.

Creating economic value from distribution has never been more difficult for life insurers trying to increase business and reduce costs. Balancing the complexities inherent in a competitive marketplace, more than 1,000 U.S. companies currently offering a host of life and annuity products are in a scramble to hold on to representatives from traditional channels and acquire those from nontraditional channels.In the face of a growing market (Baby Boomers looking at retirement strategies now count 77 million), Internet-based customer self-service and a host of alternative distribution channels, keeping traditional, dedicated life insurance sellers on board is no easy task. The number of career life agents dropped to 178,000 in 2000 compared to 238,000 a decade ago, reports TowerGroup, a Needham, Mass., research and advisory firm.

They began in the late 1990s as personal Web sites for hobbyist-authors to climb on their soapboxes, voice their opinions and reveal their daily activities to the whole wide world. Today, there are more than 17 million "blogs"-short for weblogs-and they're making their way into the business world, including the world of insurance."Weblogs have such a strong appeal to Web users," says Julie Ferguson, a communications consultant for Lynch, Ryan & Associates, a Westborough, Mass.-based workers' compensation consulting firm. "They're an important source of information, and if companies do them right, they speak with a more authentic voice than other forms of communication."

How important is your distribution network? Is it the lifeline of your business? What if your distribution network was a finely tuned machine, cranking out more business than capacity allows? As seen in our cover story, carriers agree that technology is the key to solving many distribution dilemmas. In another article in this issue (page 20), we learn that they're not all that excited about investing in technology that enables agents to leverage single-entry, multiple carrier interface (SEMCI) technology. It may depend who you ask, but few would disagree that technology plays a critical role in independent agents' ability to help carriers realize success-across all lines.So, who is ultimately responsible for making sure that happens? In a recent Insurance Networking News virtual trade show, available on the INN Web site, we posed that question to Jeff Yates, executive director of the Agents' Council for Technology for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, a national alliance of 300,000 business owners and their employees.