Customer service

Answering the market's call for security, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company of New York introduced Manulife New York Survivorship UL-G, the Company's first survivorship universal life insurance product to offer lifetime guaranteed coverage.

Madison, Wis.-based CUNA Mutual Group is using a high performance database engine from Objectivity Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., for its credit union member database. The Objectivity-based service provides CUNA Mutual with an improved ability to track customer records and help its sales staff cross-sell financial services products.Called Objectivity/DB, the engine has enabled CUNA Mutual to build a scalable application that generates a unified, consolidated view for each individual credit union member. With Objectivity/DB, CUNA Mutual provides an integrated set of product offerings tailored for each individual. The system enables CUNA Mutual to access comprehensive credit union member histories as well as provide members with products and services customized for their individual circumstances.

Noodle Specialty Brokers (NSB), a new division of Chicago-based e-broker InsuranceNoodle Inc., has been created to offer professional liability and specialty small commercial property/ casualty insurance products nationwide using technology developed by InsuranceNoodle.Based on InsuranceNoodle's proprietary single entry (SEMCI) technology, Noodle Specialty Brokers provides retailers and wholesalers online access to specialty small commercial products not available from national standard lines small commercial P&C carriers. NSB will offer admitted and non-admitted products as a program manager for nationally recognized carriers.

AIG Technologies Inc. (AIGT), Livingston, N.J., has expanded its Web-based Automobile Liability Insurance Reporting (ALIR) system to support South Carolina's recently announced automobile liability reporting mandate.AIGT's ALIR system enables insurance carriers nationwide to electronically report personal and commercial automobile insurance verification and cancellations.

For most insurers, there's a natural inclination to settle claims swiftly, particularly to satisfy customers who might take their business elsewhere. But as insurers improve claims processing time, ironically, many are paying a high price.To their chagrin, efficiencies surrounding claims settlement can actually produce negative results. Ultimately, many carriers find themselves dispersing dollars that shouldn't have been paid in the first place, due to claims fraud.

Like many insurance operations, the Alternative Markets division of Great American Insurance Co. faced a mountain of inefficient workers' compensation claims processing tasks. Simply put, the division needed to selectively apply modern information technology to become more competitive and improve customer service while working within the limitations of its legacy claims system.The claims system, for example, couldn't handle electronic data interchange (EDI) between Alternative Markets and any of its outside vendors. Therefore, routine payments to both medical service providers-doctors, hospitals and physical therapists-and bill review vendors were locked in a time warp of old-fashioned snail mail.

eAutoclaims Inc., an Oldsmar, Calif.-based claims management services company, has executed the final closing of approximately $2.5 million in new financing. Of the $2.5 million, $2.25 million was a sale of equity to multiple investors at $0.28 per share and $250,000 was an 8% convertible debenture from one of the company's directors.Both the equity and convertible debentures include warrant coverage. This represents additional capital of $900,000 from the company's previous announcement on May 5, 2004. Noble International Investments acted as placement agent on a material portion of this raise and will continue to advise the Company as its investment banker.

BOSTON--John Hancock today introduced a new, highly competitive variable universal life policy for small- to mid-sized businesses, called Performance Executive Variable Life (VL). The product focuses on high early cash values and offers strong cash value accumulation. It has an outstanding selection of investment options, and benefits and features that are among the most comprehensive in the industry.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The process of proofreading 17-digit automobile VIN numbers or lists of property coverages can consume as much unproductive time for an insurance agency as recording account information with a quill pen. New tools are needed to match the insurance business with the competitive needs of a new century. Thanks to one major insurance company, agencies will soon find they have more time to devote to managing customer relationships, time which used to be spent knee-deep in paperwork.

CHICAGO--Aon Corporation and Computer Sciences Corporation have agreed to negotiate the outsourcing of the majority of Aon's U.S. information technology (IT) infrastructure. The transition to CSC would begin in fall 2004, subject to completing a final contract.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-- Sprint announced plans today to launch Sprint Mobile Claims Adjustor, a mobile solution that will allow insurance claims adjustors to process claims on-site using wireless handheld devices.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -Sun Microsystems, a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services, and Brixlogic, a provider of industry-standard Web Services solutions for the financial services industry, today announced that the two companies are partnering to deliver the first integrated solutions for the ACORD messaging standards.

BLOOMFIELD, Conn.-- CIGNA HealthCare and WebMD Health today announced a multi-year agreement that will offer help to millions of CIGNA HealthCare members in making vital health care decisions and in understanding and using their health care plan. Under the agreement, CIGNA will integrate WebMD Health's comprehensive suite of online health information and decision support tools into myCIGNA.com, the personal health benefits Web portal for CIGNA HealthCare members.

Uniondale, NY--OnlineBenefits Inc., provider of Internet-based HR solutions, announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Captiva Systems, a producer of agency management software for group insurance brokers.

Atlanta--Jacada Ltd., a provider of solutions that accelerate business improvement, today announced Jacada Fusion, a first-to-market solution that delivers The Perfect Interaction between people, process, and information.

NEWARK, Calif.-- Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the world's leading provider of products and services for the management of catastrophe risk, today announced that it has released a new data formatting tool called the RMS Data Wizard. The tool is designed to help clean up and convert data about insured locations into a common format for use by insurance buyers, agents, brokers, insurers, and reinsurers.

NEW YORK--AIG Technologies, Inc. (AIGT), a member company of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), today announced the launch of WINS Now, a Web-based insurance processing system designed to streamline policy administration and increase speed to market for Managing General Agents (MGA) and small property-casualty companies, including start-up and virtual insurers.

ProMutual Group, A Boston-based provider of medical malpractice insurance in the Northeast, has introduced a new Web site for policyholders. All policyholders will be receiving a letter within the next week announcing the site and providing each of them with their own individual username and password.This site is designed to be a source of medical malpractice and company information. A key feature of the site is the ability to link to online continuing medical education (CME) programs developed by ProMutual Group and offered in conjunction with the Massachusetts Medical Society. ProMutual Group-insured physicians can receive CME credit by taking an online test at the same discounted rate offered to Massachusetts Medical Society members.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.-- MassMutual Retirement Services unveiled new aged-based asset allocation options that allow defined contribution (401k) plan participants to select an automatically-adjusting investment strategy based on their anticipated retirement date.

The Agents Council for Technology (ACT), which is affiliated with Alexandria, Va.-based Independent Agents & Brokers of America, has published Guidelines for Effective Agent-Carrier Technology Agreements, a report that can help independent agents and brokers as well as carriers identify issues to address in technology agreements.These agency-carrier technology agreements supplement agency agreements by detailing electronic interaction expectations between agents and their insurance company partners.