XL GLOBAL TO USE INTERCEPT TO MANAGE PROCESSESStamford, Conn.-based XL Global Services Inc., a part of the XL Capital Ltd. group of companies, will use Intercept Studio, a flagship product from Baltimore-based AVIcode, to manage business processes worldwide.
In addition to detecting and diagnosing application problems, Intercept Studio is designed to enable XL Global Services to monitor business processes, "giving us the capability to determine what is happening on any computer that is part of our global system," says Lance Raffa, XL Global Services' Director of U.S. Development. "This can translate into tremendous savings in terms of the time and money that might otherwise be spent troubleshooting problems, and allows us to make certain that applications are being fully utilized and quality assurance is being built in at every step of the business process."
CHURCH MUTUAL CHOOSES PRODUCTAUTHORITY PLATFORM
Church Mutual Insurance Co., Merrill, Wis., will externalize product data and rules in ProductAuthority's central repository where they will be configured, for each product, as a full product specification document. Church Mutual hopes the product from Markham, Ontario-based Camilion Solutions will virtually eliminate the potential risk of business users and IT working from different versions of a product specification when developing products, also ensuring that the products they implement are right the first time.
Church Mutual also licensed IBM's Insurance Application Architecture (IAA) model, which provides product definition templates based on insurance best practices, to accelerate the modeling of products. ProductAuthority supports the IAA model, enabling Church Mutual to further streamline the compilation of their product specification documents.
INVESTIGO SIGNS THREE DEALS
Essex National Securities Inc., a Napa, Calif.-based broker/dealer and leading financial services program manager, has chosen a practice management program from Edina, Minn.-based Investigo Corp., as the underlying technical foundation to support its network of financial institutions. "Our core differentiator in the market is the total product, service, training and support package we deliver to our financial institutions," says Keith Weber, managing director of sales and marketing for Essex National Securities. "In today's world, the representatives of these organizations need a powerful, integrated system to provide the highest levels of customer service, and Investigo allows us to achieve that level of support."
Albany, N.Y.-based Purshe Kaplan Sterling (PKS) Investments-a NASD-registered broker/dealer- selected Investigo's practice management system. "Investigo's practice management system has improved the accuracy and efficiency of these back-office operations with its integrated software suite and its ability to consolidate data for the industry's most extensive range of securities products," says J. Peter Purcell, CEO for Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments.
OneAmerica Securities Inc., an Indianapolis financial services institution, has tapped Investigo to provide a fully integrated solution to support both financial and insurance product data for its network of more than 600 representatives. In September 2006, OneAmerica signed an agreement to deploy Investigo's practice management system as a key service component for its registered representatives. Investigo has since developed and continues to enhance its capability to integrate insurance data into its robust practice management system. "We chose Investigo back in September because their solution offered the right combination of features, flexibility and value to help us achieve that objective," says Nick Filing, president, OneAmerica Securities.
PENN MUTUAL LIFE SELECTS TALENT MANAGEMENT SUITE
The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company selected Talent Management Suite from Santa Monica, Calif.-based Cornerstone OnDemand Inc. to support its organizational learning, performance, succession and compliance initiatives. With a centralized workforce in its Horsham, Pa., headquarters and a remote sales force distributed nationwide, Penn Mutual required a robust and cost-effective talent management solution that could be efficiently deployed to its 1,500 employees.
Moreover, moving from a combination of multiple legacy electronic systems and paper-based processes, Penn Mutual sought a flexible system that would be easy for employees to understand and use and, at the same time, support the company's extensive business initiatives.
QUINN-DIRECT CHOOSES FINEOS CLAIMS MANAGEMENT
Quinn-direct Insurance, Cavan, Ireland, selected Dublin-based FINEOS Corp. to provide comprehensive enterprise claims management for its motor and household product lines. Initially, the system will be rolled-out in Ireland and eventually expanded to cover all claims operations in the UK and Europe.
Quinn-direct will implement FINEOS Claims, part of FINEOS' front-to-back solutions for the insurance industry. FINEOS Claims is designed to deliver a total solution including fully automated claims and case handling, integrated customer relationship management, comprehensive financial management and optimal provider management.
ISO ANNOUNCES WORKERS' COMP REPORTING DEALS
ISO Properties Inc., Jersey City, N.J., signed a licensing agreement to provide Workers Compensation Information Services (WCIS) to Utica Mutual Insurance Co., a writer of workers compensation insurance programs. Utica Mutual, New Hartford, N.Y., is a subsidiary of the Utica National Insurance Group. Under the agreement, Utica will provide transactional workers compensation premium and loss information from its source systems to ISO. ISO's Workers Compensation Information Services will compile the summary reports required by regulators and submit them on the company's behalf to workers compensation rating bureaus and statistical agents in the states where the carrier writes workers compensation business. ISO's service will ultimately need to meet requirements for Utica's policy reporting, unit statistical submissions, and aggregate financial reports.
In other ISO news, the company signed a licensing agreement to provide a wide array of WCIS solutions to Austin Mutual Insurance Co., Minneapolis, for its expansion into the workers compensation market. Austin Mutual will provide transactional workers compensation data to ISO to file and report to state rating bureaus and statistical agents in all states where the insurer writes workers compensation insurance. Under the agreement, ISO will collect and record all workers compensation premium and loss information from Austin Mutual. ISO will develop and compile corresponding unit statistical, policy, and aggregate financial reports from the premium and loss information and submit that information to regulatory agencies.
OPTICAL IMAGE SIGNS FOUR P&C COMPANIES
State College, Pa.-based Optical Image Technology and Town & Country Computer Services LLC from Schenectady, N.Y., announce the recent implementation of software solutions for four Pennsylvania-based property/casualty insurance companies.
The four new sites include Friend's Cove Mutual Insurance, Lehigh Mutual Insurance, Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance of McCandless and Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Marble.
The integration of Town & Country's INS PRO policy administration and claims processing system with DocFinity Web-based digital imaging, automated workflow, and Web services technology is designed to enable these insurers to improve services and maximize efficiency in a highly competitive market.
MASS BLUES DEPLOYS HIPAA COMPLIANCE SOLUTION
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), reports successful deployment of Portico System's NPI Solution, in support of compliance with the National Provider Identifier (NPI) as mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Plano, Texas-based outsourcer EDS and Portico Systems together successfully implemented the Portico NPI Solution for BCBSMA.
"The Portico NPI Solution enabled us to improve our business processes to more seamlessly support our provider community, while establishing a strong foundation for future provider systems initiatives," says Vinny Plourde, senior vice president of Provider Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
ERIE CONSOLIDATES FOUR PLATFORMS TO ONE WITH TAG
Erie Family Life Insurance Co., an Erie, Pa.-based member of Erie Insurance Group providing life insurance and annuity products in 10 states, signed a multi-year policy administration contract with TAG, a Perot Systems Corp. company.
Under the contract, Perot Systems will consolidate Erie's four platforms to one by migrating all products to Perot Systems' LifeSys policy administration system, and will provide a broad range of policy issue and policy management services for active and closed policies while Erie will retain sales service and support, claims adjudication, underwriting and actuarial responsibilities.
UNIVERSAL SELECTS ONBASE FOR CONTENT MANAGEMENT
Universal Group, a $591 million in written premiums insurance firm headquartered in Puerto Rico, selected OnBase from Westlake, Ohio-based Hyland Software Inc., as its enterprisewide content management solution. Universal hopes to provide its employees instantaneous access to data, documents, records, reports and e-mail throughout its organization.
"Before implementing the OnBase ECM solution, manual paper processes were taking a lot of time and resources away from Universal's employees," says Ruth Fisk, director of International Insurance Solutions for Hyland Software. "By automating their business processes and eliminating paper documents, OnBase allows Universal's employees to issue policies and handle claims much faster."
Universal's deployment of the OnBase ECM system is set to be completed by the end of 2007.
INSURER IMPLEMENTS WEB-BASED INTERFACE
Maple Technologies LLC, headquartered in Manalapan, N.J., completed the implementation of its Aspire information system for Positive Physicians Insurance Exchange, a Paoli, Pa.-based physician-driven but professionally managed malpractice insurance organization.
Aspire's Web-based real-time interface will handle electronic application processing, rating, underwriting validation, policy issuance, endorsement processing, premium accounting, reinsurance analytics and claims administration functions for the carrier.
INSURER CHOOSES QUOTE AND PROCESS SOLUTION
Chicago-based Constitutional Casualty Co. selected Web-based services from Sheboygan Falls, Wis.-based First Internet Solutions (FIS) to quote and process their Homeowners and Personal Auto business for Illinois.
The hosted applications include pricing, rating, rules-based underwriting, policy processing and FISPrint and imaging. Constitution Casualty's independent agency force will access the pricing application via FIS' secure Web site issue a complete and accurate quote to the insured. Plans include the automatic ordering of Choicepoint's MVR and CLUE reports.
Upload of the XML-based pricing data stream to the policy processing system completes end-to-end processing. The policy processing application processes all user-initiated and internal transactions required by an insurance company. Utilizing the FISPrint and Imaging application, Constitutional Casualty plans to eliminate paper files, expedite the issuance process, and save filing, mailing and storage costs.
FIDELITY LIFE CHOOSES INSURANCE DATA EXCHANGE
Fidelity Life Association, headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., selected the Insurance Data Exchange (IDX) from Skywire Software, Frisco, Tex. IDX is a centralized data hub that automates real-time data exchange between carriers, brokerage general agencies and service providers for life, health and annuities.
Fidelity will use IDX to automate application upload for new life insurance business and communicate pending case status for some of its products.
AGENCY CUTS RENEWAL ERROR RATE WITH BPO OUTSOURCING
Powter Insurance, a retail insurance agency headquartered in McKinney, Tex., selected New York-based ReSource Pro LLC to provide outsourced business process services. ReSource Pro provides new and renewal policy billing, certificates of insurance, application entries and other data entry tasks for Powter.
According to Powter, by utilizing ReSource Pro, the agency cut the error rate on processing renewals by more than half, while producers now spend two-thirds of their time working with customers, not processing transactions.
