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The life insurance industry recognizes the Internet will be a valuable tool to help it compete in the future. But there is still a long road to travel before life carriers can become true e-businesses.That's the conclusion of a recent study conducted by the American Council of Life Insurers, Washington, D.C. The study, "Life Insurance and Electronic Commerce: Present and Future," examines several key issues related to the Internet, such as electronic signatures and cyber security. The focus was primarily on insurer-to-consumer initiatives.

As the property/casualty industry continues to get hammered by financial losses stemming from rising claims costs and deteriorating margins, Allstate Corp. is realizing that the best growth opportunity lies in the financial services arm, whose main products are life insurance and investment products."The financial industry is growing faster as an industry, so there's more of an opportunity to grow that slice of the business," says Edward M. Liddy, chairman and chief executive officer of the Northbrook, Ill.-based company.

The Web-based design of Kemper's Compete integrated marketing program enables agents to use it from any computer. Once at the site, an agent can choose the prospecting or customer contact campaigns that support their sales objectives, including retention of their most profitable customers.A Kemper agent accesses the Compete program through the Kemper's Auto and Home's agent portal, at www.IFGwork source.com. The agent then views the profiles of the agency's customers on the screen.

Technology upgrades are often characterized by cautious experimentation and taking relative baby steps-especially among insurers.National Grange Mutual Insurance Co. (also known as Main Street America Group) has certainly weathered its fair share of technology trends. Founded in 1923, the Keene, N.H.-based company has established a portfolio worth more than $500 million in premium through its network of 1,100 independent agents. The property and casualty insurer serves the East Coast from Maine to Florida.

Despite many advances in agency automation over the last few years, insurance agents are frustrated with many aspects of the technology designed to make their lives easier. This is a conclusion of a survey conducted early this year by the ACORD User Groups Information Exchange (AUGIE).Nearly 9,000 agents and customer service representatives participated in the survey. And, according to the results, not only are agencies burdened by keeping their agency management systems updated, agents also are irritated by the chore of duplicate data entry and the costs and training issues associated dealing with carriers' proprietary systems.

Most insurance agents will admit that flood insurance isn't an easy sell. Property owners, both individual and commercial, are often aware that their policy covers fire damage, but most don't realize that it doesn't cover flood or mudslide damage.Rarely do these parties investigate the prospects of securing a flood insurance policy, which can cause disastrous ramifications because most floods don't qualify for federal disaster aid. Only floods declared national disasters by the president qualify for federal assistance, which comes in the form of a grant or a federal loan that must be paid back with interest.

Mark Guthrie is flying high-personally and professionally. In April, he completed his first solo flight on a small airplane, and he was selected to replace Hussein Enan as CEO of InsWeb Corp., effective July 1, 2002.Transforming the Gold River, Calif.-based online insurance distributor into a profitable enterprise will require all the skill and determination Guthrie can muster.

When Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts embarked on its customer relationship management (CRM) initiative four years ago, the Boston-based health insurer could find no other healthcare organization to use as a benchmark.Today, insurers thinking about implementing CRM would do well to examine Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts as a model for what can be accomplished with a customer-focused business strategy supported by sophisticated CRM technology.

With 2.4 million members, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has avoided the common errors of implementing customer relationship management (CRM).First and foremost, senior management decided in 1998 that the Boston-based company would adopt an enterprisewide, client-centric business strategy, which it calls Concierge Service Delivery.

The market for supplemental disability income insurance is relatively untapped. Indeed, more than 80% percent of U.S. workers either have no long-term disability coverage or coverage they feel is inadequate, according to a recent study from the Consumer Federation of America and the American Council of Life Insurers.And, a 1997 study by the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association (LIMRA) concludes that less than half of small-business employers (10 to 49 employees) offer any kind of disability income insurance to their workers.