Mayfield Village, Ohio - The Progressive Direct Group of Insurance Cos. is providing a text messaging service to its customers. Progressive customers can sign up to receive up-to-date information about their auto insurance policies through text messages sent directly to their cell phones. Customers can opt-in to receive Progressive Direct Mobile Alerts including payment reminders, sent in advance of billing dates; payment confirmations, sent once payment has been received; and other payment information."A Mobile Alert sent directly to a cell phone makes it easy to know when a payment is due and when it has been made. The beauty of it is the customer gets the information instantly - without having to be connected to e-mail," says Toby Alfred, Progressive customer experience general manager.

Boston - Cutting-edge concept illustration software is at the heart of a new program at the Advanced Markets unit of John Hancock Life Insurance Co. to enable producers to create a presentation of a Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) specifically tailored to their client's situation.

Tampa, Fla. Arbitration Forums Inc. (AF) is introducing its E-Subro Hub System, a Web-based paperless network that acts as an electronic clearinghouse for subrogation workflow between insurance carriers and other parties involved in subrogation.The Web-based network, to be launched in September, was developed by AF, a provider of inter-insurance dispute resolution services, to streamline the subrogation process and reduce costs for thousands of insurers, self-insureds, third-party administrators (TPAs) and claims service organizations. The E-Subro Hub is expected to handle millions of transactions annually.

Chicago - Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans has created a database of claims information (with no personal identifiers) from 79 million lives. Called Blue Health Intelligence (BHI), this resource is designed to help to improve health care quality through sharing critical health information initially with employers, and in the future, with consumers and providers.The secure, HIPAA-compliant database is significantly larger than existing healthcare databases, which may strengthen the movement to greater health care transparency by ultimately providing unmatched detail about health care trends and best practices.

Brookfield, Wis. - A wave of insurers will update their core processing systems in 2006 and early 2007, according to the results of an online survey on property and casualty insurance technology. The survey, conducted by Fiserv Insurance Solutions, a unit of Fiserv Inc., a Brookfield, Wis. software and services provider, revealed that interest in improving processing capabilities and offering better customer service underlies the emphasis on overall business process management and data accessibility.

Armonk, N.Y. - In its third acquisition in less than 15 months specifically tied to its service oriented architecture (SOA) strategy, IBM, Armonk, N.Y., today announced it acquired Webify Solutions, an Austin, Texas-based privately held provider of industry-specific software and services for building service oriented architectures (SOA).

Boosting productivity and cutting costs in insurance contact centers is a bit like walking and chewing gum at the same time. It's not so difficult. But boosting productivity, cutting costs and improving customer service is much more challenging.Companies that are achieving the hat trick are moving their contact center operations to the next level and standing out from the more pedestrian crowd.

WHITEHILL ACQUIRES INSYSTEMSMoncton, New Brunswick-based Whitehill Technologies Inc. purchased InSystems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Register, Dayton, Ohio, Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The combined company's critical mass will be nearly 1,000 customers strong, including several hundred insurance companies and more than half of the world's largest law firms, according to Paul McSpurren, president and CEO of Whitehill Technologies. Current InSystems customers should expect business to continue without interruption, according to the companies.

August - the heart of hurricane season.The hurricanes during August 2005 changed the insurance industry. In fact, with experts predicting a number of storms in 2006, carriers are taking action-developing tools and programs-to help their customers through natural disasters, especially hurricanes.

What could a college campus possibly have in common with a health insurer's operation centers? Very little, but a telecommunication technology common throughout college campuses has improved one health insurer's business.Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BCNEPA), a health insurance provider with its headquarters, an operation center and a technology center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., recently saw growth in its employee base; so much so, that its 20-MB-per-second, point-to-point corporate network link was not handling the workload between headquarters and the operation center.

Telecom giant Sprint used National Cell Phone Courtesy Month (July) to re-release its 2004 "Wireless Courtesy Report," which pretty much confirms what we already know: We are annoyed with rude cell phone users, yet we don't think we are among them.Based on a nationwide survey of 723 adult wireless subscribers, the Sprint 2004 study's major finding was: Although Americans felt people were less courteous than five years earlier, they themselves were not at fault. Additionally, 80% of Americans think wireless callers have become less courteous, but 97% don't think they're part of the problem.

24-HOUR ACCESS TO FINANCIAL FITNESSNew York-based Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America launched a proprietary Web-based system designed to help financial representatives enable their clients to instantly gauge their financial health and simplify their personal and business finances. The system enables financial reps and their clients to coordinate accounts from a menu of more than 3,000 financial institutions, access copies of important legal and financial documents from anywhere in the world, and get a comprehensive, up-to-date snapshot of their financial well-being.

Late spring 2005, the world learned that a crime ring that included call center employees of an Indian outsourcing company stole more than $300,000 from Citibank customers by tricking callers into giving up their PIN numbers.The news sent shockwaves through the industry, as India was the premier destination for business process outsourcing in the world.

It's often said that insurers suffer from the "not-invented-here" syndrome, but the fact is: At least in North America, insurers are most likely to look for a vendor solution before embarking on a custom build.In Celent's most recent insurance CIO/CTO survey, more than half of the respondents said they preferred to buy rather than build whenever possible. However, a high level of frustration remains among insurers with availability of appropriate vendor solutions-and identifying and selecting an appropriate vendor partner is still a time-consuming and challenging process.

On the first anniversary of the California Uninsured Help Line in May, Phil Lebherz, founder and initial financier of the free call line looked at national studies and became convinced the uninsured numbers could be cut in half in all states if people knew about the public programs available to them. As a result, he plans to make the help line operable in all 50 states by this fall. This initiative can take the pressure off insurers, he claims, who receive much of the blame for the rising number of uninsured in the United States.INN: What is the California Uninsured Help Line? How does it work?

Odessa, Del. - Information on search engine marketing, integrated marketing and competitive information on insurance company marketing trends is included in the "Insurance Direct Marketing: The Special Report on the Companies, the Practices, the Standards & the Benchmarks" report, released last week.

Washington, D.C. - The House is considering a bill calling for a bipartisan commission to help guide the federal government in its national disaster response management. If H.R. 5891, the Catastrophic Disaster Risk and Insurance Commission Act, is enacted, a 17-member panel (membership comprised of at least one independent agent) would be empowered to recommend to the lawmakers disaster management policies cost mitigation, and fraud reduction.

Detroit - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, will extend an e-prescribing partnership with the nation's three largest U.S. automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor Company and DaimlerChrysler Corp., the companies announced today. The Southeast Michigan e-Prescribing Initiative (SEMI), which is designed to reduce medication errors and decrease prescription drug costs through the use of e-prescribing technology, will be in effect for an additional year.

Los Angeles - Mercury General Corp., a Los Angeles-based auto insurer, is using a new interactive destination Web site to highlight its recent advertising campaign—Mercury Theory.The campaign features a suite of 10 30-second TV commercials and the interactive Web site www.mercurytheory.com.

Newark, N.J. - Chronically ill Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey members and emergency room physicians can now access health histories and records, along with other important information, with a quick scan. The Newark, N.J.-based insurer announced a two-year collaboration with Hackensack, N.J.-based Hackensack University Medical Center, its physicians and the VeriChip Corp., Delray Beach, Fla., to implant FDA-approved microchips in chronically ill patients enabling emergency room physicians to access those patients' medical record electronically. The microchips provide immediate access to family contact information and information about the patients' medical histories.Horizon BCBSNJ will make the new technology, developed by VeriChip, available to select members with chronic conditions. Those members who participate in the program will agree to have an implantable radio frequency identification device (RFID), the size of a grain of rice, placed under their skin.