Policy adminstration

Over the years, a number of oxymora have established their place among the most popular in the American lexicon-among them "airline food," "jumbo shrimp" and "working vacation."These terms are all regarded seemingly as incongruous or contradictory. So is "business intelligence"--at least in the manner that it relates to the insurance industry.

Agent extranets that don't support quoting, issuing and servicing policies are like dinosaurs: plodding, cumbersome and heading toward extinction.Grange Insurance executives understood that merely pushing information through a portal to its agents would fail to meet its standards of service.

Life insurers continue to face resistance in their quest to sell more polices at banks, a condition largely marked by a lack of technology standardization between banks and insurers, as well as a lack of simple awareness on the part of bank customers.This ongoing struggle was detailed in a recent study by Washington, D.C.-based American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). The report, titled "Catalyst for Change: Next Steps in Bridging the Cultural Divide Between Banks and Life Insurers," offers specific proposals designed to support the growth of a vibrant bank insurance marketplace. "Creating the successful bank life insurance blueprint involves a series of detailed and precise actions, procedures and processes," states the report, which offers 21 marketing and distribution recommendations for enhancing life sales in bank branches.

For realtors, it's all about location. It's also true that insurers can benefit from understanding the geographic dimension of their data.Writing flood insurance policies is one common way that insurers have applied geographic information systems (GIS), but a new report suggests there are other areas where the technology can be applied to benefit carriers.

In the fiercely competitive direct-to-consumer insurance market, the ability to mine prospect data-and act quickly on that information-is critical to success. That was the challenge Savings Bank Life Insurance Co. of Massachusetts (SBLI) faced as it launched an aggressive marketing effort that would eventually bring in tens of thousands of new inquiries from potential customers.Specifically, SBLI, which is based in Woburn, Mass., needed to move several gigabytes worth of data through a system that not only could help identify hot prospects, but also would more proactively track the status of pending customers moving through the application process.

In December 2003, a handful of insurance execs interested in starting their own business venture came up with an idea: an Internet-based distribution network that could cut application processing time and expense for carriers, give agents a more efficient and profitable way to write policies and provide consumers with competitive, lower-cost health insurance.Almost one year later, their dream became a reality in the launching of America's HealthCare/Rx Plan (AHCP), a subsidiary of Chicago-based Insurance Capital Management. The Web site, www.ameri-choice.com, has resulted in more than 5,000 new major medical insurance applications worth more than $10 million in premium revenue since its full launch last June. In addition, more than 2,000 independent insurance agents are writing health policy business for the site's principal carrier partner, Continental General Insurance, a division of Ceres Group, Cleveland.

The dynamics of marketing and selling insurance are rapidly changing. Savvy Generation X members who use the Web to comparison shop for insurance typically have different insurance providers for their auto, life and home. Baby boomers question how much insurance is too much.Given the diversity of today's insurance market, how do you reach your target customers? What do you do to stay ahead of the competition and secure long-term clients for all of your lines of business?

Challenging market conditions, led by accelerating price competition, are causing insurers to look more closely at streamlining their underwriting procedures to defend or improve their profitability. Inevitably, this is creating a new focus by senior executives on data, technology and process management.Although underwriting is a basic building block of the insurance process, traditional methods often are slow, inefficient, inconsistent and inaccurate.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans may begin working with banks to offer Blue-branded debit cards to their members who participate in tax-favored health savings accounts (HSAs) as well as flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs).

Jersey City, N.J.--Reducing underwriting costs through technology is a key goal for insurance organizations in 2005, according to analysis undertaken by Jersey City, N.J.-based ISO.

Tempe, Ariz.-The Progressive Group of Cos. is opening what it believes to be the only insurance group-owned commercial auto claims training facility in the U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO--A new study that details due diligence considerations for institutions seeking an identity theft solution provider has been released by Identity Theft 911, the nation's recognized leader in identity theft resolution, defense, and education. The study examines issues that are too often overlooked by financial institutions, insurance firms, and other organizations as they sift through the diverse offerings that have emerged in response to the identity theft crisis.

JERSEY CITY, N.J.--ISO has acquired AppIntelligence, a provider of Web-based analytic tools designed to identify and detect fraud in the residential mortgage industry. More than 600 customers of the Weldon Spring, Mo.-based company use AppIntelligence solutions in the prequalification, processing, underwriting, quality control/quality assurance and compliance phases of the mortgage-lending process. Customers will not experience any service disruption from the transfer of AppIntelligence's control, both companies stressed. Terms were not disclosed.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--Computer Sciences Corporation today announced that five U.S. healthcare consulting organizations have licensed the Johns Hopkins Adjusted Clinical Groups Predictive Model (ACG-PM) software. Encompass Medical Management, Salem Health Solutions, Wakely Consulting Group and two other providers of healthcare management services will use ACG-PM to improve the performance of health plans offered by their employer-group clients.

Addison, TX--Universal Conversion Technologies (UCT), a provider of insurance industry data conversion solutions, today announced it has been selected by CUNA Mutual Group to assist with CUNA Mutual's data conversion project. The conversion involves the migration from two legacy policy administration systems to an existing system used by CUNA Mutual to support its current and future operations. In addition to their proven conversion software, UCT will provide expert conversion services.

AQS Inc., a Hartland, Wis.-based provider of commercial policy administration solutions to the property and casualty insurance industry, has been acquired by Grey Mountain Partners, a New York-based private equity firm. The transaction closed January 12, 2005.

NEW YORK--Vettro, a leading provider of mobile enterprise applications, today announced that Phoenix Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of The Phoenix Companies, Inc., has selected Vettro RainMaker to empower its sales managers and wholesalers with always-available access to Salesforce.com via BlackBerry from Research In Motion (RIM).

PARSIPPANY, New Jersey--MFX Roanoke Inc. has acquired Atlantic Mutual's data center facility in Roanoke, Virginia. Under the arrangement, which became effective January 1, MFX provides complete, on-site data center processing services to Atlantic Mutual from MFX's new operation. Atlantic Mutual will continue to maintain its technology and customer service center in Roanoke, Virginia.

WASHINGTON--As the Internet becomes an increasingly important resource for informing decisions about health and health care options, a new national survey of older Americans by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that less than a third (31%) of seniors (age 65 and older) have ever gone online, but that more than two-thirds (70%) of the next generation of seniors (50-64 year-olds) have done so.

HARTFORD, Conn.--The convergence of regulatory environments for the financial markets and the banking industry have created a friendlier climate for multinational life insurers, according to a new study by Conning Research and Consulting, Inc.