Insure Think

Insurers contemplating integrating mobile platforms into their enterprises must take heed of this disturbing trend and make tough calls.

Insurers fail to pay timely benefits because life and annuities business units’ motives for discovery of insureds’ demises differ and their separate blocks are administered on siloed platforms.

Does this mean that our technology providers have emerged from the economic sweat lodge and are now gathered around the tribal fires chanting “Kumbaya” for your benefit? Probably not.

SOA has seen a resurgence, largely because most insurers are contemplating a move to cloud – public, private, or hybrid – and need the supporting infrastructure to make it viable.

At the ACORD Loma Insurance Systems Forum, speakers presented a compelling vision of how the mobility, the cloud and Big Data are set to reshape the industry.

“Innovate or die” is a phrase often bandied about these days, and for insurance companies, it’s advice to take to heart.

Japanese companies are selling “one-time” policies for risks that are interesting and surprising, thanks to wireless technology.

To compete for skilled IT pros in this reviving economy, insurers will to market themselves as great places to work, and offer open, flexible working arrangements, likely with compensation tied to performance.

The annual insurance technology conference saw shifting trends, but issues from the past remain a challenge.

Adopting social media for business purposes is all the rage among journalists and analysts, but on the ground, it has yet to achieve traction in insurance.

Cloud computing may help meet some the challenges that are arising from Big Data.

A data center industry survey sees operations migrating to the cloud as resources dwindle.

Niche brokers and insurers should view telematics as a market differentiator, and auto insurers should think of as a means to meet impending legislation.

A recent article identifies the types of individuals who are likely to cause internal data security problems, but many such problems are caused by folks who put themselves first.

Most everyone agrees they are needed, but the practicalities are the 800-pound gorilla in the room.

Shockingly, there is a stunning disconnect between consumers who are increasingly concerned about data breaches and the boards responsible for preventing them.

The recent storm surge affecting great swaths of the nation has placed the onus on carriers to demonstrate superior customer service with swift claims handling.

Remember this when creating your strategy: It’s not about how you want to sell, it’s about how your customer wants to buy.

For at least the past decade, some have been predicting the extinction of agents, but there are many reasons why they will continue to thrive.

Idea management systems are just one option for insurers looking to innovate and stay ahead of the competition.

A successful PAS refresh requires the collaboration of individuals representing the program management, business and IT functions.

Financial and political hurdles continue to dog policymakers and serve to create a stalemate that will affect the program’s fate.

A new study demonstrates that most users are unable to focus on a single media channel for very long, so how do we get customers to stop and look?

The emerging social aspect to MDM makes insurers’ strategies around collecting and retaining data gleaned from social media engagements all the more important.

Agents and advisers should be well versed in the facts and fallacies regarding disability income insurance.

There are scores of companies out there ready to sell you a policy admin upgrade or total replacement, but deciding when to move is like trying to pick the Kentucky Derby winner.

While cloud may have turned the IT world upside down, the basics of business continuity remain the same.

In this economic landscape, insurers are looking for solutions that assist measurable achievement of operational goals, and position the company well for profitable growth.

Apple says it will correct “flaws” that enable it to track iPhone users, but what impact will the privacy/location issue have on auto insurance?

Amazon's recent snafu resulting in outages among its EC2 customers' sites raises the question of how insurers should steel themselves for such a situation?

Social media may still be thought of as a separate emerging technology by insurers, but soon it will be the norm.

Technology should enable complete automation of underwriting to the point where getting insured is a simple plug-and-play process, but will that happen?

While the number of records breached dropped from 2009, the overall number of breaches rose to its highest-ever level.

An Innovation in Insurance survey confirms that carriers value the input and advice of analysts, but don’t always trust its objectivity.

Good governance is the key to keeping MDM initiatives on track at Protective Life.

People think seniors' online habits revolve entirely around looking at their grandkids' pics on Facebook, but they're surprisingly active when it comes to advocacy.

A reported decline in PC shipments in the first quarter is blamed on everything from the growth of the tablet market to the Japan tsunami, but perhaps there is a much simpler reason.

Linux revolutionized the software distribution model to the point where we now also have open source databases, middleware, development tools and even business intelligence tools.

Crazy as it sounds, the Department of Justice needed a court order to disrupt a botnet that has been operating for a decade.

Insurers attempting to "boil the ocean" when developing a successful BI initiative will fail every time.

The industry, on the whole, is less profitable than it was 40 years ago. So how do we turn it around?

Through a combination of key technologies and partnering with the business, IT can help insurers achieve profitable growth.

Cloud computing offers a variety of advantages, but security concerns will grow with the technology.

The Epsilon breach should make insurers question how their data is being protected once it’s outsourced.

Ultra-efficient server design will interest insurance technologists looking to trim energy usage in their data centers.

Insurers may be interested to learn about these 5 innovations in auto safety technology.

While the insurance industry has been relatively free of major security problems, a new breach at the Hartford is an ominous sign.

Carriers need to help their agents leverage social media to attract new clients.

Insurers are finding that they must create a new role in their organization—one that merges IT discipline and business know-how.

One insurer has already gone Lean, and is reaping the rewards.

In wake of David Sokol’s exit, speculation mounts surrounding Buffet’s possible successor.

A huge security breach yields only customer names and e-mail addresses, but that’s more than enough to cause significant problems.