Rising somewhat like the Phoenix, an alternative bill that would provide compensation for workers injured by exposure to asbestos clawed its way through Congress in mid-October.Accepting a proposal drafted by Senate Majority Leader William Frist, R-Tenn., and his aides, insurers and defendants accepted a proposal on Oct. 16 to seed a trust fund projected to have enough capacity to settle $115 billion in claims over 27 years.

Forty years ago, mischievous adolescents got their kicks by calling people on the phone and asking them, "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" Today, they concoct computer viruses and worms designed to knock out the networks of global corporations.

One of the consequences of merger and acquisition activity is that insurers inherit a variety of legacy systems. And, in the case of IT systems, more isn't necessarily better. Duplicate maintenance and system support, disjointed business processes, and increased overhead expenses are just a few of the challenges compounded by multiple systems.Consequently, many insurers are searching for ways to minimize operational complexity, integrate and consolidate systems, and reduce associated costs.

One of the core activities regularly performed by insurers-its telemarketing efforts is about to undergo modifications now that the federal Do Not Call (DNC) list has been given the green light for national enforcement.In October, a federal appeals court ruled that the Do Not Call registry-a list that currently includes about 50 million phone numbers-was within the legal boundaries of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

After a prolonged lull in activity, consolidation in the insurance industry--marked by a new wave of proposed mergers and divestitures--appears to be gathering newfound momentum, with two major developments illustrating the potential changes that loom ahead.In late September, the board of directors of Boston-based John Hancock Financial Services Inc. and Manulife Financial Co., based in Toronto, unanimously approved a tax-free, stock-for-stock merger of the two financial services giants.

Information technology strategy plays a critical role in the success of American Modern Insurance Group Inc. (AMIG), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Midland Co., Amelia, Ohio.The provider of specialty personal lines insurance products has an average annual premium of just $450 across its book of business. So having information technology in place "so that the business can flow relatively untouched by human hands is critically important to us. There's not enough money in a $450 premium for us to have to fondle each file," says John Hayden, CEO and president of The Midland Co., and president, CEO and chairman of AMIG.

Never has the need for retirement planning been as great as it is today. Traditional sources of income such as Social Security and pensions will fail to meet the spending needs of future retirees.These factors portend a market of investors that will increasingly demand advice and guidance on the complexities inherent in retirement income planning.

"Garbage in, garbage everywhere." That's a twist on the old adage, "garbage in, garbage out," courtesy of Firstlogic Corp., a La Crosse, Wis.-based data quality software provider. "We say, 'garbage in, garbage everywhere' because so many systems share data that bad data in one spot can easily propagate across the entire organization," says Chris Colbert, industry marketing director, at Firstlogic.Bad data can also spread across organizations, as David Jokinen discovered when J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. identified him as deceased in its systems-instead of his mother, who passed away in April 2001.

In a California intellectual property lawsuit that could have sweeping implications over the way insurers and vendors approach software licensing agreements, a federal judge in late August granted a preliminary injunction barring San Diego-based Arrowhead General Insurance Agency from using insurance pricing software developed by a La Jolla, Calif.-based software solutions provider.In ruling against Arrowhead, a privately-held managing general agency, Chief Judge Marilyn Huff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California prohibited Arrowhead's unlicensed use of the software in online insurance applications, including its Web-based distribution platforms, Arrowhead Exchange and YouZoom.com.

Privacy advocates will have to pin their hopes on Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., if they want to see national privacy standards enhanced through legislation extending provisions of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) that expire at the end of this year.The House in September passed its version of FCRA legislation, via the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, using the measure more as a vehicle to provide citizens with increased protection from, and remediation for, identity theft.

Advocates of the use of credit scores in personal lines underwriting and rating could be excused if they are feeling a bit under siege lately.The industry has been generally pleased with the actions of state legislatures that have supported carriers' use of consumers' credit information for approving policies and setting policy rates.

Acordia Inc., the insurance agency arm of Wells Fargo & Co., sent a clear message in September that its integration with Wells Fargo is complete and it is once again an active buyer of agencies.Last month, Acordia announced three deals for agencies in Texas, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. These purchases came on the heels of the purchase of a fourth agency, in Omaha, Neb., in August.

Insurers long ago developed tools to perform risk modeling for natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. But Aon Corp. has launched a different kind of venture to help its clients reduce workplace violence.Realizing the great amount of pressure on its corporate clients to understand the dynamics that contribute to workplace aggression, Aon in July aligned itself with the Center for Aggression Management (CAM), a Winter Park, Fla.-based organization dedicated to identifying, measuring and preventing risks related to workplace aggression and violence.

Historically, data management and data quality have been internal issues within an organization. But the world has changed with so much electronic data interchange occurring between business partners, says Mele Fuller, interface architect at Seattle-based Safeco Corp. "The scope of data management and data quality is much broader now than it was 20 or 30 years ago."As a result, the industry needs data standards to share data more efficiently. And ACORD XML is fast becoming the standard. "There's no question that ACORD standards are the way to share data in insurance industry," says Fuller, who sits on the P&C steering committee and serves as co-chair of the commercial lines working group for ACORD, the Pearl River, N.Y.-based nonprofit insurance standards developer.

Although the federal government granted the healthcare industry an extra year to comply with the transactions and code set rules mandated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), experts say a procedural mess is set to occur on Oct. 16.That's the date for the HIPAA deadline-which originally was set for Oct. 16, 2002-for health plans, providers and clearinghouses to cease processing proprietary transactions and use only standardized transactions that comply with the 1996 law.

AnnuityNet Inc., the top-selling Web-based annuity distribution provider, has worked diligently over the past two years to distance itself from its nearest competitor-Info-One/VARDS.Deploying a dynamic front-end Internet distribution platform emphasizing "paperless accuracy," Herndon, Va.-based AnnuityNet has leveraged its technology to enable it to increase its sales of both fixed and variable annuities from 164,500 by the end of 2002 to 243,000 by the end of July.

Insurers are becoming insular with information technology maintenance and investment priorities. Referring to it as internal "housecleaning," Cary, N.C.-based Sapiens International Corp. states that U.S. insurers are shifting gears to emphasize internally-driven IT efficiencies as a better way to control costs.Findings from a recent survey conducted by Sapiens, a global IT solutions provider, reveal that externally focused activities, such as business process outsourcing (BPO), customer relationship management (CRM), and standards implementation-such as ACORD XML, now rank significantly lower on the IT priority scale than internal initiatives.

In today's tough economic climate, insurers are striving to increase productivity and efficiency while keeping expenses in check. And, due to escalating competition, they are also doing more to retain existing customers.As a result, many employees are overwhelmed by the challenges of finding and delivering the right information to customers when, where and how it is needed.

No one would argue against the fact that the insurance industry has been engulfed in a perfect storm over the past few years. Consolidations, monumental loss experiences, economic turmoil and investment declines have conspired together as never before.Faced with a hard market, staff and training reductions, and stagnant capital and IT budgets, insurers are under greater pressure than ever to work smarter, faster and more efficiently.

Most insurers rely on external guidance to help them map out information technology strategies. Over the years, they've derived such support from vendors, consultants, analysts and even state and national associations-all of whom possess a unique role in the grand scheme of IT strategizing.But a fledgling group that's touting itself as an "IT advisory and research firm" for property/casualty insurers is providing yet another alternative. The question is: Will P&C carriers embrace the concept widely enough to enable it to succeed?