Distribution

ATLANTA-- Digital Insurance Inc. announced it has signed agreements with five additional employee benefits brokers to enhance the level of day-to-day service and product sales for a portion of their small group benefits business.

Hotel clients of Fireman's Fund Insurance Co, Novato, Calif., can now buy an extended package of online employee safety training that satisfies all OSHA requirements for hospitality industry employees, such as housekeepers, clerks, and bellhops.This service, which includes courses, testing and tracking, is offered by WebFire Training, an e-learning company endorsed by the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute. Fireman's Fund negotiated a month of complementary service for hotel clients of its iCustomer Series coverage when they subscribe to a year's safety training for their employees regardless of the customer's property size or employee turnover rate.

Selective Insurance Group Inc., Branchville, N.J., has completed the rollout of its integrated Web-based commercial lines system. "Web-based CLAS" offers policy quote, issue, endorsement and renewal processing for commercial lines products over the Web, directly from independent agencies."Web-based CLAS provides independent agencies with the speed, convenience and cost-effective power of straight-through processing," says Jeff Kamrowski, Selective senior vice president of business services. "In addition, the system automatically reviews business transactions to ensure consistency with our underwriting guidelines."

IVANS Inc., a Greenwich, Conn.-based provider of networking services for the insurance and healthcare industries is offering a new wireless fidelity solution (Wi-Fi) for insurance carriers that can significantly speed their ability to remotely process claims and improve customer service. The new Wi-Fi service is offered through IVANS business partner, AT&T.As the demand for Wi-Fi technology increases, so does the need for low-cost flexible solutions. According to data provided by The Yankee Group, a communications and networking research and consulting firm based in Boston, 14% of U.S. companies plan to implement the technology within the next twelve months, and another 14% plan to follow suit in the next two years. A recent IVANS study of large and mid-sized insurance carriers indicates that only 27.9% are currently using Wi-Fi technology to allow remote access to their systems by employees, highlighting the growth potential for Wi-Fi technology.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-- Vitria, a leading provider of business process integration solutions, today announced that Premera Blue Cross, a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association independent licensee for Washington state and Alaska, has selected Vitria's Healthcare Solutions as the integration infrastructure to simplify, streamline and automate its transaction management processes.

As part of its effort to simplify and facilitate the insurance placement process for agents serving the small business sector, Zurich is offering online access to a wide range of policy documents through its eZSB Web site at www.ezsb.com.Key forms, such as declarations pages, schedules, forms listings, signature pages and automobile identification cards, can now be obtained and printed on demand. Documents are available within minutes of issuing the policy online.

Seattle-based Safeco Corp. has launched Safeco Now for property/casualty insurance--an online sales platform that integrates personal and small-commercial insurance product. Safeco Now is a streamlined Web site for independent agents and brokers that gives them access to 90% of their daily online work tools with just one click.The highlight of the system, according to Safeco, is the single-platform sales tool that enables distributors to quote and bind--in just minutes--seven major lines of P&C and surety business: personal auto, homeowners, business owners policy (BOP), commercial auto (fleet and non-fleet), workers' compensation, business umbrella, and surety (notary; license and permit bonds; court bonds; public official bonds).

AMSTERDAM and MILAN--Accenture has signed an agreement to acquire Nomos Sistema, a leading provider of life insurance administration and product management software systems in Italy. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Toronto, Canada--DWL, a provider of Enterprise Business Services software, today announced that Empire Financial Group has launched phase two of groupweb - an initiative to achieve proven cost reduction with web-based self-servicing capabilities for group business. Following on the success of Empire's initial implementation of DWL InsuranceT for Group Life and Health, which provides a password protected site for electronic plan administration, phase two of the project now adds full update and enrollment capability in real-time, using version 3.0 of DWL Insurance for Group Life & Health.

TORONTO, April 6, 2004 - SOLCORP, a leading provider of software solutions to the life insurance and financial industries and a subsidiary of EDS, announced today that it is co-sponsoring a global insurance survey in conjunction with partner companies Whitehill Technologies and DSPA Software.