Digital distribution

LifeApply designed to provide flexibility to respond to carrier’s business needs.

Small agencies are growing faster than their larger counterparts, in part because of greater investments in mobility and other technologies, according to a new survey from Vertafore.

A watershed year is shaping up for insurers and their use of technology, and IT/business relations are more important than ever.

Board members should raise nine critical questions when discussing technology strategy with IT and business managers.

The Hartford has launched Private Choice Ovation, a package policy for private company management liability, extending coverage to private securities fundraising techniques, reimbursement for notification costs and expenses related to a data privacy breach and optional defense cost sublimit for wage-and-hour violations

General liability is most likely to be purchased online, workers’ comp is the least likely, according to a new study from Deloitte; majority of shoppers expect modest discounts.

Product designed to enable life/annuity insurers to automate processing of insurance applications that include natural handwriting.

United Fire Group has selected the Jarus Mobile solution for the implementation of self-service mobile applications for its agents and policyholders.

The Affordable Care Act has had the unintended effect of boosting developing private exchanges markets where uninsured consumers compare and purchase high-deductible health insurance plans (HDHPs), according to Aite Group. As a result, the U.S. has 75 million HDHP consumers who have a serious reason to be more price-sensitive than traditionally insured consumers, the research firm said in its report, “Transparency in Healthcare: A New Market.”

Low interest rates continue to weigh on the annuity industry, but sales of deferred income annuities increased 150 percent compared to last year and set a fifth-consecutive record high in Q1 2013, according to the “Beacon Research Fixed Annuity Premium Study.” Overall, income annuity sales grew 1.4 percent year-over-year.

Software deals among all insurers show year-over-year growth in 2012 after three years of slight declines, according to a set of new reports from Celent.

FormsinMotion designed to be compatible with tablets.

HCC says the Construction Property Risks Division will expand the company's specialty focus by developing its underwriting capability in builder's risk insurance.

Cross Insurance, subsidiary of Cross Financial Corp., announced Hugh Devlyn has joined the company as a benefits producer. Devlyn is charged with building a world-class employee benefits practice for middle market employers, the company said, and providing clients with a full range of employee benefit services and solutions, including, health care cost containment and data analytics, population health management, compliance, communication, benchmarking, benefits administration and human resource services.

The majority of insurance software sales in Latin America consist of core systems sold to new customers and smaller insurers, according to “Latin American Insurance Software Deal Trends 2013, Life/Annuity/Health and Property/Casualty Editions,” from Celent, an international financial research and consulting firm.

Partnership with ARX enables cloud-based electronic transaction solutions.

Ingenie, an auto insurer targeting young drivers, has selected SAS Office Analytics to analyze large volumes of data on driving behaviors and patterns in an effort to improve customer pricing accuracy and insurance premiums.

While automated underwriting and insurance bundling is a likely future for the industry, AIG Casualty SVP Salvator Branca says there are several attendant concerns.

The Healthnation system is expected to perform various financial management functions, including invoice generation, invoice aggregation, premium collection, premium processing and disbursement.

New report from Strategy Meets Action outlines the transformation currently underway for portals, underlining the importance of building a robust enterprise-portal-technology platform.