Data and information management

As IT budgets begin to recover, storage and file recovery are hot items.

EagleEye Analytics Inc., a provider of predictive analytics solutions to the insurance industry, has appointed Roger Burkhardt as president and CEO. EagleEye says that, after successfully establishing itself in the market, the company now is launching into the next phase of growth and bringing in a proven CEO to lead this effort.

Credit and information management firm TransUnion released end of third-quarter results of its proprietary Auto Insurance Risk Index, noting a slight increase of 0.03 percent after four consecutive quarterly declines. The index now registers 98.85, three basis points higher than Q2 2011; 31 basis points lower than a year ago at this time; and 73 basis points lower than its recessionary peak in Q2 2009.

The National Transportation Safety Board said today that texting, emailing or using a cell phone while driving has been proven to be too dangerous to be allowed anywhere, and recommends that all states impose a total ban, except for emergencies. The recommendation would also apply to hands-free devices, the federal safety board said.

On the heels of reports coming out of Washington on the government’s scramble to protect the country’s power grid from cybercriminals, CSC reports the launch of an Insurance Cybersecurity Advisory Council for life insurance and annuity providers and property/casualty insurers. The goal of the council is to facilitate the development of best practices and technology strategies that effectively mitigate the risk of cyber attacks on the insurance industry.

National Western Life Insurance and Celent analysts discuss the intersection of business infrastructure and technology implementation, and how the path to speed and agility begins there.INN is pleased to present, with permission, occasional videos from Celent, a research and consulting firm and a member of the Oliver Wyman Group. These videos originally appeared on Celent's website as part of the firm's educational offerings.

Risks continue to outweigh the benefits when it comes to implementing technologies of convenience behind the wheel.

Given the tough pricing environment, skittish capital markets and litany of catastrophe losses seen in 2011, it’s hard to regard the present as a golden age for reinsurers.

Humana Inc. has acquired Anvita Health, a health care analytics company. Humana uses Anvita's Insight engine currently; Anvita Health will continue to operate independently as a subsidiary of Humana.

Experts say thanks to a dearth of Federal support, it isn’t a stretch to imagine a power grid cyber attack that takes out the Internet, grinding communications and businesses to a halt in the process.

ingenie is a new online car insurance brand targeting young drivers in the United Kingdom, aged 17 to 25, who have been priced off the road by rocketing car insurance costs. Those costs have seen the 17 to 22 age bracket now paying a typical annual premium of £2,431 ($3,805), up 64 percent when compared to 2010 figures.

In 2012, the U.S. life and annuity insurance industry will be challenged to find ways to manage both capital and risk in an economically and politically uncertain year, while continuing to lay the groundwork for future growth, according to Ernst & Young's new Global Insurance Center U.S. Outlook report.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued a final rule to make available standardized extracts of Medicare claims data to facilitate measuring the performance of providers and suppliers. The rule has significant changes that enable use of clinical data along with the claims data.

As a teetering Euro threatens more disruption in world financial markets, a new survey reveals widespread concern among those responsible for risk management at U.K.-based insurance companies.

One-third of office-based physicians have a "basic" electronic health records or electronic medical records system, according to preliminary figures from the federal 2011 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

Even though they know it’s dangerous and, depending where they are, against the law, drivers continue to text behind the wheel, and Allstate Insurance Co. and Manitoba Public Insurance are doing their part to put an end to it.

Property/casualty insurers may well be relieved that the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially ended this week. This year, the season counted 19 tropical storms, 7 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes (Category 3 or above on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) resulting in insurance claims.

To fully exploit business analytics, carriers must supplement their internal policy-level data with a variety of data points derived from external sources. To get a sense of how insurers can best harmonize exogenous data with existing business processes, Insurance Networking News checked in with Bill Madison, SVP insurance data solutions for Lexis/Nexis.

1. Risk Management/ Climate Control

With the onslaught of Big Data and more sophisticated business intelligence and analytics, data quality will be more important than ever to insurers in 2012. The experts say you can't get there without clean, accessible data. Poor contact data affects a variety of operations, from underwriting to policy service. But from a cost perspective, inaccurate contact data can have a significant impact on insurers. In a September 2011 report "Why is Data Quality Important for Insurers?" Deloitte lists four reasons: