Cambridge, Mass. - In the 1980s, with a few exceptions, CEOs perceived information technology/business technology (IT/BT) as an important underpinning of company operations, but not as a critical strategic tool, according to George Colony, chairman of the Board and CEO at Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc.

New York - A group of companies from around the world, including Swiss Re, Allianz, ING, Marsh & McLennan Companies and Munich Re, endorsed a statement for affecting climate change at the levels of policy and industry, particularly in regard to creating sustainable energy systems necessary for achieving economic growth.

New York - Look for accelerated growth this year of the outsourcing trends that predominated in 2006: Expansion of business process outsourcing (BPO), the maturing of the offshore market and more multi-sourcing at the expense of single, one-off “mega-deals.”

New York - As the oversight role of the corporate board in enterprise risk management (ERM) expands, companies feel the need to fill a knowledge gap on effective risk governance practices, according to a major new study released today by The Conference Board Inc."The concept of correlating risk management and strategy in an enterprisewide structure first appeared in the midst of merger frenzy in the late 1980s," says Matteo Tonello, who focuses on corporate governance at The Conference Board, New York, and is the author of the study. "At the time, many executives and strategists acknowledged that the enormous amount of risk undertaken through a series of corporate combinations was often not justified by a sound analysis of long-term prospects. In the 1990s, the debate continued and increasingly drew the attention of the business community, only to be obfuscated by the more exclusive focus on financial risks resulting from the scandals of the Enron era. A few years into the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, corporations are now ready to leverage their experience with mandatory internal control procedures to establish a more comprehensive ERM infrastructure."

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. – Buyers of managed information technology (IT) services will focus on security, storage and disaster recovery services in 2007, according to research commissioned by Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Computing Technology Industry Association Inc. (CompTIA) and conducted by Rochester, N.Y.-based Harris Interactive Inc.

Dublin, Ireland - Business process outsourcing (BPO) in India is growing within the insurance industry, driven by increasing comfort with BPO vendors and the need to reduce costs, reports Research and Markets, a Dublin research firm. Though the adoption of BPO for core insurance services is progressing slowly, the market has grown to almost U.S.$3 billion by 2006, says a new Research and Markets report.

Disposal represents one of the biggest points of failure in computer asset management because companies just don't know how many assets they have, where they are located, who's using them or what specific data resides on them, says Gartner analyst Frances O'Brien."Unless you know that information you're at risk from Day One," O'Brien says.

Forget the stereotypes--ASP isn't just for small, IT-challenged carriers any more, and many of the ASP problems that gave insurance companies pause only a few years ago are being solved. Dollar savings and fast time to market are still big pluses for ASP, but today there are a lot of other reasons to consider it.The market among insurance carriers for ASPs, or application service providers, is growing by about 10% a year-slower than in most other industries-according to Marc Cecere, vice president and principal analyst for Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. From a supply-side perspective, that's partly because of the structure of the insurance industry and partly because of the regulatory scene for insurance companies.

CANAL SELECTS TRUMBULL FOR SUBROGATION MGT.Canal Insurance Co., Greenville, S.C., entered an agreement with Trumbull Services, Windsor, Conn., to use Trumbull's Subrooutsource, an internally developed, advanced system designed to enhance subrogation recovery activities for all lines of business nationwide. Trumbull, in conjunction with an experienced subrogation team, will manage the entire subrogation process, leveraging the system's abilities to increase recoveries through effective resource allocation, automated workflows and a continuous improvement model.

Dublin, Ireland – Many of the services required by businesses including human resources, billing and transactional processing, may be entirely peripheral to its core competencies, according to research from Dublin, Ireland-based Research and Markets. Using a business process outsourcing (BPO) provider can help reduce costs while at the same time allowing the enterprise to focus on its core business.

Around the world, CEOs at insurance companies are slowly coming to the conclusion that they need smoothly running IT departments if their companies are to remain competitive. As a result, IT projects and budgets are getting some respect and are becoming less likely to fall victim to arbitrary cuts, according to analysts in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.The newfound respect is coming at a time when IT departments face intense regulatory pressure in Europe-and tamer but still formidable rules in the United States, China and Japan, according to reports from Boston-based Celent LLC. Pressure also arises from the need to service customers and distributors in real-time transactions and with rapid information flow, Celent says. Those functions can strain internal legacy systems, prompting insurers in mature markets, such as the United States, Europe and Japan, to update communications systems and core data environments.

The road seems less bumpy these days for insurance carriers that use state-of-the-art automated compensation to calculate and track agents' commissions. A single streamlined third-party system can replace a hodgepodge of legacy software and manual processes, users say, helping to reduce clerical work, increase accuracy and improve reporting. Moreover, carriers report that the software opens up a whole new world of analysis that pinpoints the true sources of profit and helps identify and retain the best agents.The accuracy rate for commissions at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, for example, has improved from 80% before introducing up-to-date automated compensation to 95% after the implementation, says Linda Lamb, BCBSF vice president of sales business management. The remaining errors arise from data entry miscues or software problems outside the system, she says.

RECORDING SOFTWAREWitness Systems Inc., a Roswell, Ga.-based global provider of workforce optimization software and services, enhanced its Impact 360 IP Recording solution, featuring tripled channel capacity, unified recording management and a centralized administration tool. Designed for interactions in enterprise and contact center environments, Impact 360 now features TDM and IP recording under a single management tool. The software operates across IP, TDM and mixed telephony networks, designed to help customers ensure all their calls are recorded, whether for compliance and liability, sales verification or quality assurance purposes. Impact 360 IP Recording allows the recording of SIP-based calls. Also new to Impact 360 IP Recording is tripled channel capacity, which results in fewer servers. The solution introduces centralized administration capabilities, which provide access to all the vital Impact 360 IP Recording configuration settings, enabling customers to centrally manage all of their Impact 360 recorders regardless of location.

It's the same old adage: a penny saved is a penny earned. For many insurers, that means a boost in 2007 outsourced services. But for an up-and-coming group of carriers, that penny translates to a one-pence, kroner, deutsche mark or Euro.Across the globe, interest in business process outsourcing (BPO) services continues to increase, chiefly because insurers must continue to seek ways to achieve operational efficiencies and take advantage of growth opportunities.

Fantasy: convinced by your technology vendor that its bleeding-edge policy administration system will seamlessly integrate with your existing network and infrastructure, slide like butter down your users' palates and establish record turnaround time for processing efficiencies, you sign on the dotted line. You even astutely craft your acceptance speech for your company's upcoming "Highest ROI" award. Everyone loves you—even your agents.Reality: Two years later, implementation continues to slog at a snail's pace, the systems won't talk, your team is overworked, the vendor has been bought by a behemoth that has lost you in the shuffle, and your boss, users and other stakeholders are screaming. You are stuck.

GRAIN DEALERS UPGRADE POLICY ADMIN CAPABILITIESGrain Dealers Mutual Insurance Co. upgraded its policy administration capabilities with Policy Decisions from Insurity, a Hartford, Conn.-based ChoicePoint company. Policy Decisions is designed to incorporate complete policy-lifecycle administration services-from application intake to rating and underwriting, from policy issuance to renewal and reinsurance-on a single Web services platform. Grain Dealers looked at competing systems that promised improved access, says David Patterson, assistant vice president and director of Information Services for the Indianapolis-based property-casualty insurer, but Insurity had several advantages that clinched the deal. At first, agents will access it to do their own quoting for commercial policies. The longer-term plan is to provide self-service access to agents for policy maintenance.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The nation may remember 2006 as the year the Democrats won the mid-term elections, Gerald Ford and James Brown died, and data breaches made an indelible mark on American business in general and the insurance industry in particular.

Chicago - Chicago-based insurance broker Aon yesterday became the latest in a series of companies to participate in technology mergers as it announced its intent to acquire Valley Oak Systems (VOS), a San Ramon, Calif., provider of claims management software, services and support for the insurance industry. The acquisition reflects Aon’s desire to supplement its risk management portfolio. Valley Oak, winner of the IASA 2006 Technology Achievement Award, is best known for its iVOS system, which includes medical bill review, policy underwriting, case management, billing and event management capabilities. "Aon's acquisition of Valley Oak Systems continues Celent's predicted roll-up of the insurance software industry,” says Donald Light, senior analyst with Boston-based Celent, LLC. “While most acquisitions of independent insurance software vendors have been by larger software vendors, such as Milwaukee-based Fiserv buying Insureworx, Oakland, Calif., this time it is a major broker doing the deal.” The purchase InsureWorx, a policy and claims administration technology provider, gives Fiserv an end-to-end policy and claims administration offering for workers compensation. Other recent mergers in the insurance technology space include the San Diego-based Websense Inc., acquisition of PortAuthority Technologies, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., and Ra'anana, Israel, for approximately $90 million in cash. PortAuthority will combine its information leak prevention technology with the "ThreatSeeker" malicious content identification and categorization technology from Websense. The deal will create a single source for companies looking to prevent the unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential data while simultaneously protecting users and data from external malicious threats. The Aon-VOS merger will benefit Aon’s unique position as a large brokerage firm. By integrating and sharing data with RiskConsole, Aon’s RMIX offering, the Aon-VOS deal enables the Chicago broker to create what the companies claim to be the only end-to-end browser-based offering in the marketplace. The acquisition of VOS follows a similar deal cut in 2004 by Aon’s with Risk Laboratories, LLC (RiskLabs), Marietta, Ga. Aon expects to consummate the VOS deal by January 31, 2007. Light believes that, from a marketing and sales perspective, the acquisition makes sense. “Valley Oak's customer base includes a great many risk management units in large employers who self-insure workers' compensation,” he says. “Aon's brokerage business targets that same group of risk managers. Aon's challenge will be to give Valley Oak the resources and freedom to keep its offering fresh and valuable to self-insured employers, as well as other customers such as insurers and third party administrators." Sources: Aon, Celent, INN archives

Dallas – Boston-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) has decided to use Premium Payor Services from Zix Corp. (ZixCorp). ZixCorp's Premium Payor Services provide access to future value-added services and deliver enhanced reporting for both payors and providers, aiding in analysis for incentive program initiatives.The Premium Payor Services funding model, which is in addition to the annual subscription fee per prescriber, is typically one dollar per qualified script processed or, as in this case, a flat fee license based on historical usage patterns calibrated to yield a similar amount.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is urging Congress to create a Natural Catastrophe Commission that could establish a disaster fund, strengthen and enforce building codes, and provide community support.