Customer service

Insurers are better prepared to face the hurricane season this year, after the harsh 2004 season forced them to learn how to more effectively interpret the information they get from catastrophe (CAT) modeling systems, according to Risk Management Solutions (RMS), a Newark, Calif., provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk. At press time, RMS estimated that losses from Hurricane Dennis were likely to be between $1 and $3 billion.The two million claims produced from the 2004 season were a catalyst that encouraged companies to improve their understanding of the models, much like Hurricane Andrew in 1992 pushed catastrophe modeling into the mainstream, says Kyle Beatty, meteorologist with RMS.

Dublin, Ireland - The U.S. insurance industry has fully emerged from a rough patch at the early part of the decade, according to Research and Markets, a Dublin research firm. Both life and non-life carriers are currently experiencing a period of relative stability, and have reassessed their technology opportunities. In its report, which examines how U.S. insurance technology strategies have evolved over the past 18-24 months, Research and Markets asserts that claims processing will continue to be the focal point of IT spending for non-life insurers through 2008. Overall spending growth will moderate around 2007 as the bulk of costly system rationalization and standardization efforts will be either underway by then, says the firm.

Springfield, Mass. - In its latest effort to provide women with comprehensive financial education, MassMutual Financial Group is targeting females with an online financial seminar designed to help them assess their personal finances and develop a long-term financial strategy.

Hartford, Conn. - Specialty Risk Services LLC (SRS), a property-casualty third party administrator for workers' compensation and general liability claims, is offering its clients access to a suite of tools to monitor their program's performance on its newly redesigned Web site.In SRS' password-protected Employer's Toolbox, clients have secure access to resources, including industry statistics, employee training materials, libraries of legislative and industry updates, loss control and safety tips, and links to national and industry Web sites.

Hartford, Conn. - Aetna is launching an online customer service program that lets consumers find out what they can expect to pay at the doctor's office before going in for a visit. The service will allow consumers to better estimate their out-of-pocket health care expenses by having online access to the actual discounted rates for up to 25 of the most common office-based services offered by their own primary care or specialist physician. The program will initially be piloted with information for approximately 600 distinct procedures provided by 5,000 individual physicians and physician groups in Cincinnati, Dayton and Springfield, Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana.

Stamford, Conn., - While property and casualty insurers need to implement the same standards to provide real-time transactions for brokers and agents, survey results by Gartner, Inc. show that many insurers have been slow in offering the technologies necessary to implement these transactions.A Gartner survey of 72 members of the Council of Independent Agents and Brokers (CIAB) conducted between January and April of 2005 showed that agents and brokers prefer to do business with insurers that provide real-time transaction capabilities to better service policy holders. However, adoption of single-entry multiple-carrier interfaces (SEMCIs), which enable distributors to send and receive data seamlessly, continues to lag among insurers and distributors.

Hartford, Conn. - If small businesses always maintained the same workers, locations, fleet vehicles or inventories, then reporting changes for their premium audits would be easy. Reality, however, is quite different. The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has introduced an online Premium Audit Reporting tool that dramatically simplifies the process of submitting information to reconcile insurance premiums.Most commercial insurance premiums are provisional, calculated at the beginning of the policy year based on estimates of the business operations throughout the year. At the end of the policy year, the business's records are audited for changes that may affect the premium, including increases or decreases in payroll and sales. When the audit is complete, the premium is modified accordingly.

Brea, Calif. - XDimensional Technologies Inc., the provider of Nexsure, the Internet insurance agency management solution, and The Ohio Casualty Insurance Co., Fairfield, Ohio, have extended the inquiry services available on Nexsure."Our company is committed to providing cutting-edge technology to agents in order to help them succeed in the competitive marketplace," says John Kellington, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Ohio Casualty. "We work with innovative, proven vendors to help us achieve this goal. For example, agents using Nexsure from XDimensional Technologies and leveraging extended services are able to access a wider variety of information exactly when they need it, to speed business along. Specifically, Nexsure users are able to access selections of loss run and document retrieval information through this process. This provides an advantage over the traditional process, yielding a timely, accurate and convenient solution."

Northbrook, Ill. - Allstate Financial Corp. has launched a new illustration system for its variable annuity product line called ClearCast Illustrations. This new illustration system enables producers to create hypothetical views of the entire variable annuity product suite.ClearCast walks the user through the process of selecting features, riders and subaccounts. The system has several unique characteristics that include:

Jersey City, N.J. - ISO has acquired eLIENS, a unit of Xtria LLC. eLIENS provides lien holder and mortgagee notification services for insurance carriers. Xtria is an information technology and services company. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.Lending institutions that finance the purchase of autos, homes and other property typically require borrowers to maintain minimum levels of insurance coverage. As a lien holder or mortgagee to the property being insured, these lenders are entitled to receive many of the same notices that are sent to policyholders. The result for insurance companies is often a very paper- and labor-intensive notification process.

Newark, N.J. - Prudential Financial Inc. has launched a Women & Finance section on its consumer Web site. The new section of the company's site provides information and tools designed to help women address the unique financial issues they face."Bringing education to the online experience is just one way we hope to provide women with the tools they need to help secure their own financial futures," says James Brett, vice president and head of eBusiness Development for Prudential. "In today's fast-paced world, a great way to provide knowledge is through the convenience of the Internet."

Hinsdale, Ill. - In the past few years, organizations with contact centers have been at risk of a multi-million dollar exposure due to a phenomenon known as Katz telecom licensing fees. To help educate enterprises regarding their options in this area the Opus Group LLP, an operational performance management firm has published a white paper that describes the benefits of performing a telecom operational analysis after receiving a so-called "Katz letter."Ronald A. Katz telecom licensing fees are assessed for the use of technologies covered under a variety of patents. Most of these patents cover technology that ties telephone and online/computer equipment together, a practice that is almost universal in today's contact centers. The Katz letter estimates the fees owed based on public records and standard industry practices. Until now, organizations have had to choose whether to pay the fees as stated or fight them in court. To date, according to a research note from Saddletree Research analyst Paul Stockford, the Katz organization has never lost a case.

Mississauga and Toronto, Ont. - Chubb Insurance of Canada, a subsidiary of the Warren, N.J.-based property and casualty company Chubb, has implemented MS/B's IntegriClaim property claim estimating technology as a desktop application into Chubb's property claims management process. Chubb Insurance of Canada, located in Toronto, will use the Los Angeles-based company's technology to help facilitate its continued development in the Canadian market.IntegriClaim is a suite of property claims solutions for the P&C industry. It is designed to deliver more consistent and accurate estimates reflective of localized costs by using total component data researched from nearly 100 unique cost locations in Canada.

Greensboro, N.C. - DataDelta Inc. has launched its first "Single Customer View Accuracy Survey" in partnership with market research firm The CDI Institute. Burlingame, Calif. The purpose of the survey is to measure single customer view accuracy that results from customer data integration (CDI) projects.The initial survey results will be presented at the 17th Information Quality Conference hosted by Larry English and The International Association for Information and Data Quality (IAIDQ) September 19-23 in Houston, Texas.

Los Angeles - While most believe insurance is important to protect assets and, in the case of life insurance, their families, Los Angeles-area Latino consumers in general under-utilize insurance, according to a study released today by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) at the University of Southern California.The study, made possible by a grant from Allstate Insurance Co., Northbrook, Ill., used focus groups and a telephone survey to assess Los Angeles-area Latino resident's attitudes toward three types of insurance: auto, property (homeowners and renters) and life. The study also examined how these consumers make decisions about insurance purchases and gather information about insurance. Among the key findings:

Oak Ridge, Tenn. - Diversified Product Inspections Inc., a provider of independent product failure analysis, air contamination and fire investigations for the insurance industry will now send its clients product failure analysis reports electronically via a secure PDF file format.Warren Wankelman, vice president of marketing says, "Effective Monday, August 8, 2005, DPI started transmitting reports, pictures, and invoices electronically, which will replace the reports being sent via U.S. Mail. These reports will be in a secure encrypted Acrobat Reader format with access only with a password. Subrogation managers, claims managers and adjusters will access this new system via the DPI Web site by registering and setting up an account. While adjusters will only be able to access or view their own claims, managers will be able to view all their company's reports that have been completed."

Phoenix - AlohaCare, a non-profit Hawaii health plan serving state QUEST members, has selected an enterprise application and professional services application from Quality Care Solutions Inc. (QCSI) to administer claims and accommodate future growth. QUEST is a state program that provides health insurance for more than 150,000 Hawaii residents, provides comprehensive medical care for those who cannot afford their own commercial insurance coverage and do not qualify for other programs.AlohaCare has been successfully running its claims administration using QCSI's product suite since August 2000, and was previously under contract with a third-party vendor for support and hosting services. AlohaCare recently upgraded to a more current version of QCSI software, in order to achieve its desired business outcomes and maximize its information technology investment.

Northbrook, Ill. - Allstate Insurance Company has engaged ProcessClaims, Manhattan Beach, Calif., to develop and test new claim-related quality assurance technology. The software is being designed to streamline quality assurance processes and ensure accuracy in vehicle estimate preparation. The companies are also exploring broader new technology approaches to drive e-business in the rapidly evolving collision repair inter-industry. ProcessClaims is a provider of software connectivity and business process automation for the property and casualty industry.

New York-As the next step in its efforts to automate the sales and processing of life insurance policies, The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has launched its pilot program for InsurExpress, New York. Leveraging DTCC's infrastructure and established network of connectivity, InsurExpress integrates key insurance industry service providers to support communications between insurance companies and participating distributors of insurance products, providing necessary functionality for life insurance application processing.Firms participating in the initial pilot testing include Genworth Financial, Richmond, Va., and Piper Jaffray, Minneapolis. In the coming months, DTCC intends to expand the program to include multiple financial advisors in various geographical locations, together with an expanded product set and carrier list.

The decision to send IT operations overseas is often viewed in the pejorative by IT line personnel, who feel they must continuously "skill up" or face the unemployment line. Though carriers are often reluctant to publicize their strategies, sources indicate it's definitely a topic of executives' conversation.IT offshore outsourcing, i.e., offshoring, has intensified, and from a business driver perspective, its discussion is becoming more commonplace in the boardroom, where it holds less controversy.