Insurance

STAMFORD, Conn.--The Tillinghast business of Towers Perrin recently unveiled two new software applications to help insurers prepare for impending capital standards for variable annuity products.

SIMSBURY, Conn. - The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., for the third consecutive year, is the No. 1 seller of variable life insurance, posting a year-over-year sales increase of more than 28 percent in 2004.

London--New research by independent market analysts Datamonitor, and leading outsourcing advisory firm Everest Group has found that the average deal size in the $600bn global IT and BPO services sector is shrinking. Based on figures from Datamonitor's "IT Services Contracts Tracker," the average size of contracts announced by IT and BPO services vendors in the first quarter of 2005 fell 18% to $68.9m compared to the year ago period. This means that average deal size has now declined for three consecutive quarters.

WINDSOR, Conn.--The head of LIMRA International, a financial services research and consulting association, is urging the life insurance industry to help American households bridge the wide gap between the amount of life insurance they own and the amount they believe they need for adequate family financial protection.

Internet security is a major concern for independent agents, with 80% saying they're most worried about viruses and worms, and 42% saying it's their second-biggest worry. That's according to a new survey released by IVANS Inc., Old Greenwich, Conn.

Firstlogic Inc, a La Crosse, Wis.-based provider of data quality and commercial mail automation software, has introduced IQ Assurance, a set programs, methodologies, and strategic consulting services that assist a company's initial foray into data quality and offer practices that can be can used as a part of an enterprisewide program.

Fiserv Inc., a Brookfield, Wis.-based provider of software and outsourcing solutions to more than 2,000 insurance customers, has formed a strategic alliance with Lombardi Software, an Austin, Texas-based provider of the business process management (BPM) software called TeamWorks. The goal of the alliance is provide a BPM solution specifically designed for the insurance industry.

Novato, Calif.--Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. will provide identity theft restoration services nationally, offering customers access to a personal counselor who can help identify-theft victims with the legal and logistical burden of putting their lives back together.These services represent one of the first major programs by an insurer to deliver these services as part of an insurance policy. The enhancement comes at no additional cost, and with no deductible, to Fireman's Fund policyholders who have Prestige Home Premier with Added Measure coverage. This service became available effective March 30.

Insurance carriers have been hearing an incessant mantra from independent agents for years now: "Make it easy for us to do business with you." In fact, surveys consistently reveal that, when placing business, aside from price and product features, agents are most influenced by accurate, fast quote turnaround and ease of doing business with carriers through automation.One way carriers can make it easy for agents to do business with them is by building real-time interfaces to various agency management systems. Using XML, carriers and agencies can transfer data back and forth, eliminating re-keying of policy, billing, claims and other information.

After flirting with test pilots, phased rollouts and other levels of adoption, the jury is still out on whether mobile computing will become as ubiquitous to insurers as pen and paper.With claims management activities providing the most compelling impetus for adoption, a select group of insurers have sworn by the capabilities of mobile computing technologies to improve workflow and customer service. But other insurers continue to wait for greater application functionality, dependability and scalability before they commit to adopting the technology.

Data security is much broader than a technology concern for CIOs; it's a topic that's on the minds of many senior executives at U.S. corporations. From headlines about stolen data to federal regulations such as HIPAA to proposed Congressional legislation on data sharing and disclosure when a breach occurs, data security has become a front-burner issue for boardrooms and back-office data centers.Although many of the well-publicized incidents of large-scale data pilfering have involved hackers using computers to breach IT security, two recent incidents of stolen data occurred due to weak policies and procedures. In February, Bank of America confirmed that several data tapes were lost in transit to a backup data center. The tapes contained account and other personal information belonging to 1.2 million credit card holders that are employed by the U.S. General Services Administration.

As independent agents identify the best ways to download files from carriers, a controversy is brewing that pits the established value-added agency download technology against emerging alternatives.Over the past couple years, many property/casualty insurers have used download technology developed jointly by Old Greenwich, Conn.-based IVANS Inc. and Applied Systems, a University Park, Ill.-based agency management system vendor.

The recent disclosure that criminals illegally obtained personal information from ChoicePoint Inc. is prompting the company to take action to improve the security of its insurance databases.Although no insurance-related information was stolen, ChoicePoint executives say, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based company intends to establish new auditing procedures and implement other measures to ensure that a similar policy breach will not occur for databases that house insurance information.

The Internet sometimes is referred to as the "wild, wild West"--a moniker earned by the manner in which the Web represents an open, loosely policed territory where traditional rules and procedures don't apply.In recent years, it became abundantly clear to executives at Penn National Insurance Co. that this relatively new frontier needed some taming-through a higher level of governance and accountability.

Insurers' growth strategies largely are based on their ability to sell more policies; competitive pricing, quicker time to market, effective marketing and new product development are common tactics to achieve that goal.For carriers like Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. that rely on a network of independent agencies, there's the added dimension of improving agent loyalty: Agents are known to steer their business to insurers that are easiest to work with. That's why the Novato, Calif.-based carrier in 2004 implemented a multi-year plan, dubbed Enterprise Partner Integration Program, which is the centerpiece of Fireman's desire to align its IT infrastructure to support more than 3,000 agents working at 59 offices in 26 states.

Although computer technologies have been applied to improve productivity in vast arenas of the American economy, the insurance industry had-until now-limited access to technologies designed to improve the productivity of its highly mobile claims adjusters.Legacy systems in this market are costly and require intense IT support. Even then, they do not address the unique needs of this mobile workforce. Adjusters are rarely stationary: They are in the field moving from site to site and do not have the leisure to write their reports comfortably.

CHICAGO--Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) Consumer Markets Division, as part of its ongoing effort to meet the growing demands of consumer-directed health care, announced today that it is offering two new Health Savings Account (HSA) compatible health plans: the BlueEdge Individual HSA and the BlueEdge Individual HSA 5000.

WESTBORO, Mass.---Ascential Software Corporation, an enterprise data integration provider, today announced that CNP Assurances, the leading personal insurance company in France, has standardized on Ascential DataStage, a core component of Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite, to reduce infrastructure costs, optimize the company's IT system, and achieve a single view of customer portfolios in real time.

WAUSAU, Wis--Midsized companies now have better access to expanded umbrella capacity since Wausau Insurance is more than doubling its in-house individual account coverage limits up to $25 million --the amount typically sought for such programs.

ORANGE, Calif.-- CalSurance, a national insurance sales, service and support organization comprising many diverse and specialized programs, today announced that it has enhanced its specialized errors and omissions program for broker-dealers with 75 or fewer registered representatives. Recently CalSurance and Quanta Specialty Lines Insurance Company teamed up to offer this program.The program enhancement now provides each broker-dealer with its own policy limits without sharing a master policy aggregate with other broker-dealers in the program.