In partnership with Celent, this is INN’s fourth annual ranking of technology solution providers to the insurance industry. Winners will be chosen solely by votes from executives and staff from North American insurance carriers, brokers, managing general agents and agents in the property/casualty, life/health, and reinsurance areas. These insurers will identify their preferred technology providers in several revised categories, including vertical solutions (underwriting, policy administration and claims, etc.), horizontal solutions (business process management, ERP, billing, etc.); platform technology and IT services. The 2010 VIP program will provide new depth and breadth of coverage on categories designed to better reflect how insurance technology is purchased, and will reveal specifics on technology and vendor preference by business unit and functional area.
In Part II of the INN VIP Awards program, the top-ranked solution providers will be offered an opportunity to nominate an insurance carrier customer as a “visionary” for its use of a specific technology, and is encouraged to illustrate the role, if feasible, that ACORD data standards plays as part of their business and technology success story. INN’s readers, its Editorial Advisory Board, and Celent’s top insurance research analysts will determine the top-ranked technology best practice in action.
“As the industry gears up for a healthier economy, the ability to make smart technology decisions correlates directly with the ability to remain competitive,” says Craig Weber, senior vice president of Celent’s insurance practice, “We are certain that the enhancements we’ve made to the 2010 VIP Program will produce critical and useful insights that can be used to compete in this new marketplace.”
For readers of Insurance Networking News who depend on the publication as the independent authority on information that pertains to how technology supports insurers' business strategies, the 2010 INN VIP Awards ranking and its accompanying analysis will provide insights into the leading technology solution providers across multiple categories.
“The changes we’ve made to the 2010 VIP Program categories are designed to fortify insurers considering technology purchases,” says Pat Speer, editor-in-chief of Insurance Networking News. “Our exacting approach and factual information will provide insurers with the intelligence necessary to successfully make these critical decisions. Further, as an exclusive provider of an ACORD standards best-practice ranking, INN delivers standards-based insight that will breed further success within the industry at large.”
In partnership with Insurance Networking News, Celent, the most respected source of independent insurance technology and business research and advisory services, will conduct and manage the program’s survey distribution, data collection and analysis.
Winners of this fourth annual ranking will be recognized at an exclusive black-tie event held in conjunction with the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum in Las Vegas in May 2010, and will be featured in a Special Report by Insurance Networking News in its June 2010 issue. This Special Report will include bonus distribution at both the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum in Las Vegas and the IASA Educational Conference & Business Show in Grapevine, Texas.
“We are delighted to once again work with Celent,” says Speer. “Celent’s research and advisory professionals represent exceptional industry acumen, which means our readers and the industry at large will have direct access to the knowledge and expertise generated as part of our collective research efforts.”
With senior-level analysts in the United States, Asia and Europe, Celent’s breadth and depth of insurance technology experience dates back to 2001. Celent is the only analyst firm to publish comprehensive reports on insurance software sales volumes and in-depth rankings of vendor software. Celent also publishes the widely read annual CIO survey and popular Model Carrier report, making the firm uniquely position to understand the buyer’s side of the industry’s highly competitive landscape.
Insurers can participate in the survey by going to:
