Core systems

SunGard Sherwood Systems, an operating unit of SunGard today announced that Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, one of the largest property and casualty insurers in Canada, has licensed SunGard's FrontTier solution to replace its existing legacy policy, billing, workflow and claims systems.

Reactivity, a Belmont, Calif.-based XML Web services firm, and Grand Central Communications, a San Francisco-based provider of Integration On Demand, have formed a technology and joint marketing partnership to simplify the deployment of privacy-enhanced enterprise integration. Combining the strengths of Reactivity's XML Firewall and Grand Central's Business Services Network, the two companies will offer a rapid and scalable integration solution with the security enterprises need to ensure they are in compliance with government-regulated privacy and security regulations and their own privacy policies.

COLUMBIA, S.C.-- BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina will promote two executives to top positions over BlueCross' major group division and Companion HealthCare when a key senior officer retires in June.

Prudential Financial Inc., Newark, N.J., has introduced an automatic, online licensing application for brokers seeking appointment to sell the company’s insurance and annuity products. The electronic data collection tool, called Online Confidential Data Sheet (CDS), was developed by Indianapolis-based BISYS Education and Licensing Services for Prudential. The Online CDS streamlines the traditional, paper-based appointment process and greatly improves brokers’ speed to market."Prudential’s new electronic application is on the cutting edge in several respects," says George Hanley, senior vice president, chief compliance officer. "The Online CDS makes Prudential easier for brokers to do business with, while taking the company to the next generation of appointment processing and online records management. All are important advantages in today’s environment."

IVANS Inc., Old Greenwich, Conn., has added new features to Transformation Station, which make it easier for carriers and agents to communicate in real-time. The features include the ability to send and receive attachments, receive alerts regarding activities such as claim actions or cancellations, streamline endorsement processing and conduct Web site navigation and sign-on. Transformation Station is an Internet-managed data exchange using Web services and ACORD XML to enable real-time transactions between insurance carriers and independent agents and brokers."The Web services based, real-time model allows us to provide our agency, company and vendor partners with new, innovative types of transactions that will have a positive impact on agency-carrier workflows," says Janice Sheffield, divisional vice president for IVANS. Transformation Station is currently growing at a rate of 28% per month in transactions, and growing to the level of what it took 10 years for batch transactions to reach.

Philadelphia-based Aetna has selected The Training Camp to provide IT training for Aetna staff scholars as part of an employee scholarship program."We want to ensure our network performs at its best, while we maintain maximum security for our customers and their data," says David Wetmore, distributed Support manager at Aetna. "We chose The Training Camp because the instructors were experts in their field, but understood our business as well as the particular IT needs within the health industry. Our staff will gain the knowledge and skills to install, configure, support, and troubleshoot Windows-based networks, with the focus on security that we need."

DriveCam Video Systems, a San Diego-based developer of fleet safety technology, has published a white paper titled, "Bringing Down the Cost of Vehicle Crashes: The Impact of the DriveCam Driving Feedback System on Insurance Costs for Commercial Fleets." Intended for insurance executives, risk managers and fleet operators, the white paper analyzes the costs and examines the root causes of motor vehicle crashes, especially as they pertain to commercial fleets.According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motor vehicle collisions cost the U.S. more than $230 billion each year. For fleets, the costs include both insured and uninsured expenses. In examining these costs, the paper describes the relationship between losses and insurance rates, the effect on worker's compensation costs, and preventative actions taken by fleets. It also includes two case studies involving fleets that use the DriveCam Driving Feedback System to reduce collisions.

Enterprises that purchase Sarbanes-Oxley targeted solutions in 2004 will retire or replace those systems by the end of 2005, according to Gartner Inc., Stamford, Conn."Enterprises that choose one-off solutions for each regulatory challenge that they face will spend 10 times more on compliance projects than their counterparts that take a proactive approach," says French Caldwell, research vice president at Gartner. "Although there are times when adopting a 'quick-and-dirty' solution may be necessary to meet deadlines, enterprises should avoid committing too much time, effort or data to such systems."

S2, a new service offering from CBC National Inc., Saddle River, N.J., and ARI (Automotive Resources International), Mt. Laurel, N.J., was launched as part of a strategic partnership between the two subrogation recovery and salvage/remarketing industry players. According to the companies, the new venture was built on the premise that no company should let money slip through its fingers.Responding to the needs of the insurance industry, the rental car industry, and a variety of other self-insured and government entities, S2 provides clients with aggressive subrogation resale services that are designed to positively impact their bottom line.

SIMSBURY, Conn. -- The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. today announced that Internet-based self- service reporting is now available nationwide to its group life and disability insurance customers, providing them immediate online access to standard reports that help them monitor and manage their group benefits plans.

ATLANTA-- Digital Insurance Inc. announced it has signed agreements with five additional employee benefits brokers to enhance the level of day-to-day service and product sales for a portion of their small group benefits business.

Hotel clients of Fireman's Fund Insurance Co, Novato, Calif., can now buy an extended package of online employee safety training that satisfies all OSHA requirements for hospitality industry employees, such as housekeepers, clerks, and bellhops.This service, which includes courses, testing and tracking, is offered by WebFire Training, an e-learning company endorsed by the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute. Fireman's Fund negotiated a month of complementary service for hotel clients of its iCustomer Series coverage when they subscribe to a year's safety training for their employees regardless of the customer's property size or employee turnover rate.

Selective Insurance Group Inc., Branchville, N.J., has completed the rollout of its integrated Web-based commercial lines system. "Web-based CLAS" offers policy quote, issue, endorsement and renewal processing for commercial lines products over the Web, directly from independent agencies."Web-based CLAS provides independent agencies with the speed, convenience and cost-effective power of straight-through processing," says Jeff Kamrowski, Selective senior vice president of business services. "In addition, the system automatically reviews business transactions to ensure consistency with our underwriting guidelines."

IVANS Inc., a Greenwich, Conn.-based provider of networking services for the insurance and healthcare industries is offering a new wireless fidelity solution (Wi-Fi) for insurance carriers that can significantly speed their ability to remotely process claims and improve customer service. The new Wi-Fi service is offered through IVANS business partner, AT&T.As the demand for Wi-Fi technology increases, so does the need for low-cost flexible solutions. According to data provided by The Yankee Group, a communications and networking research and consulting firm based in Boston, 14% of U.S. companies plan to implement the technology within the next twelve months, and another 14% plan to follow suit in the next two years. A recent IVANS study of large and mid-sized insurance carriers indicates that only 27.9% are currently using Wi-Fi technology to allow remote access to their systems by employees, highlighting the growth potential for Wi-Fi technology.

Results International Systems (RIS) will provide an end-to-end, Web-enabled policy processing system Partners Mutual Insurance Co.'s personal and commercial lines of business. The RIS solution will deliver a policy processing system with integration to claims, billing, rating and form printing. RIS will provide the hardware, software, systems personnel, systems security, back-up and disaster recovery.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-- Vitria, a leading provider of business process integration solutions, today announced that Premera Blue Cross, a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association independent licensee for Washington state and Alaska, has selected Vitria's Healthcare Solutions as the integration infrastructure to simplify, streamline and automate its transaction management processes.

As part of its effort to simplify and facilitate the insurance placement process for agents serving the small business sector, Zurich is offering online access to a wide range of policy documents through its eZSB Web site at www.ezsb.com.Key forms, such as declarations pages, schedules, forms listings, signature pages and automobile identification cards, can now be obtained and printed on demand. Documents are available within minutes of issuing the policy online.

Seattle-based Safeco Corp. has launched Safeco Now for property/casualty insurance--an online sales platform that integrates personal and small-commercial insurance product. Safeco Now is a streamlined Web site for independent agents and brokers that gives them access to 90% of their daily online work tools with just one click.The highlight of the system, according to Safeco, is the single-platform sales tool that enables distributors to quote and bind--in just minutes--seven major lines of P&C and surety business: personal auto, homeowners, business owners policy (BOP), commercial auto (fleet and non-fleet), workers' compensation, business umbrella, and surety (notary; license and permit bonds; court bonds; public official bonds).

AMSTERDAM and MILAN--Accenture has signed an agreement to acquire Nomos Sistema, a leading provider of life insurance administration and product management software systems in Italy. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Toronto, Canada--DWL, a provider of Enterprise Business Services software, today announced that Empire Financial Group has launched phase two of groupweb - an initiative to achieve proven cost reduction with web-based self-servicing capabilities for group business. Following on the success of Empire's initial implementation of DWL InsuranceT for Group Life and Health, which provides a password protected site for electronic plan administration, phase two of the project now adds full update and enrollment capability in real-time, using version 3.0 of DWL Insurance for Group Life & Health.