Gilsbar Inc. has had a detailed disaster recovery and business continuity plan in place since 1996. The New Orleans-based third-party administrator, which handles claims for about 150,000 members, employs a certified disaster recovery specialist. And, the company's executives and technical staff go through tabletop disaster recovery scenarios at least twice a year.Like many other insurance companies, Gilsbar is prepared for catastrophes. However, when Hurricane Katrina hit last year, insurance executives were caught by surprise and had to act on their feet and respond to a bevy of unexpected circumstances.

He ain't no Oprah; but he's definitely a force to reckon with. At Aflac, at least, he's the senior vice president and CIO-and, like Oprah, he likes books. In fact, Gerald Shields likes books so much he established a lunchtime book club several years ago for his entire IT leadership team. Every week, some 50 or so Aflac IT executives, directors and managers attend the one-and-a-half-hour meeting."It's more than just a book club," says Shields. "It's a way for me to invest in our people." Shields has been CIO at Aflac since last July. And, before that, since 2002, he was vice president, information technology-enterprise services at the Columbus, Ga.-based insurer best known for its lovable quacking duck.

In a sign of the major benefits to be won by insurance firms that accentuate Web-based and electronic solutions, the Blue Bell, Pa.-based insurer PMA Insurance Group received superlative ratings in customer service in a recent survey conducted by an independent researcher.In the survey, J.P. Murphy and Co., a Malvern, Pa.-based marketing and opinion research firm, asked approximately 500 of PMA's active clients about the quality of customer service that the insurer offered in areas including claims processing, risk assessment, risk management and cost control.

Despite reeling from the worst year in history for claims losses, pundits say the insurance industry plans to increase its spending on claims technology in 2006. For some, the idea of stepping up to new technology sounds like the perfect way to address inefficiencies that continue to plague claims processing. To others, it's yet another Band-Aid that may or may not be effective in solving what has become a hushed, off-the-record issue: claims leakage."Claims leakage is the difference between what you spent on a claim and what you should have spent," says one East Coast health insurance claims executive, who, like many sources interviewed for this story, asked to remain anonymous.

According to the coalition Against Insurance Fraud, insurance fraud is an $80-billion crime wave. Unfortunately, most insurance carriers have neither the processes nor technology they need to stop fraud.Even so, as fraud schemes become more sophisticated, insurance carriers must examine an even wider array of data to identify fraud trends and detect fraudulent claims. To do this, they must institute a set of technology best practices and techniques to automatically detect fraud and abuse early in the claims process.

Seoul, Korea - In what is being called the largest deal of its kind for the financial services industry in Korea, Kyobo Life Insurance has contracted IBM to operate and manage its IT infrastructure.Under the terms of the 10-year agreement which has a total contract value of approximately 340 million U.S. dollars, IBM will provide IT strategy consulting services to help develop and advance Kyobo's IT vision and strategy. IBM will also manage the company's servers, storage systems, network and desktop computers and operate its data and disaster recovery centers. Additionally, IBM will provide IT skills development and IT management training services, called 'IT University', for Kyobo's employees.

Bowling Green, Ohio - Sky Financial Group Inc. has hired Zahid Afzal as executive vice president/chief technology officer. He will report directly to Les Starr, corporate executive vice president of technology and operations.Afzal comes to Sky from Bank of America, where he was a senior vice president and chief information officer of the consumer banking division. While at Bank of America, Afzal directed the consumer banking information technology initiatives and successfully implemented several programs, which reduced expenses while growing the business organically and through mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Bank of America, Afzal was the chief information officer for Broadslate Networks and a senior technology executive for Citicorp.

Okemos, Mich. - Sircon Corp. and Efficient Forms LLC, Littleton, Colo., have formed an exclusive partnership designed to build on each other's products and customer bases to create an online platform for agent hiring, contracting and licensing for insurance agents, carriers and regulators. The partnership is a step toward creating a single online community where insurance carriers and their distribution partners can collaborate through an integrated, coordinated network, according to the two companies."This combination provides online capabilities that can transform processes between insurance carriers and their distributors," says Gary Gummig, vice president of business development at Sircon. "By integrating online services that will automate transactions and workflow, and virtually eliminate paperwork, this creates opportunity for unprecedented process breakthroughs."

Bettendorf, Iowa and Edison, N.J. - Fraud Resource Group, a business, insurance and identity fraud investigative and consulting firm, is using StrikeForce Technologies' products to launch a Web-based identity validation and authentication service, called the Trusted Customer program, which is designed to help prevent fraudsters from setting up fraudulent accounts and stealing high-value vehicles, goods and rental equipment.Construction equipment theft is a $1 billion annual problem, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and only 10% to 15% of stolen equipment is ever recovered, according to the National Equipment Register. Fraudsters, posing as customers and contractors, use false credentials and stolen credit card data to "rent" vehicles, tools, and construction equipment. The rental stores lose equipment and potential income until a replacement arrives, and the legitimate credit card holder is left to dispute the charge.

Jersey City, N.J. and Oakland, Calif. - ISO and InsureWorx have formed an alliance to integrate ISO's Workers Compensation Information Services (WCIS) solution modules with the policy and claims administration software applications from InsureWorx.Under the agreement, customers of ISO's workers' compensation products and the InsureWorx PowerComp offering will be able to access and exchange policy and claims data seamlessly between the two companies' applications. This combination of InsureWorx's workflow processing software with ISO's data management and analytic tools is designed to provide workers' compensation carriers with a more comprehensive end-to-end solution.

New York - At more than $40 billion in insured losses, Hurricane Katrina is the costliest hurricane on record. Insurers have tallied most of the property damage and business interruption losses, but Katrina's financial effects will continue to be felt for a very long time.Floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina bathed New Orleans and surrounding areas in a "toxic soup" of infectious organisms and hazardous chemicals. Ruptured oil tanks and pipelines covered portions of the area and nearby waters with an estimated 8 million gallons of oil. A resulting large number of environmental-related lawsuits have been filed, potentially exposing the insurance industry to billions of dollars in addition losses.

Hartford, Conn. - Aetna has enhanced its suite of consumer tools and information designed to enable members to more easily track and manage their health care expenses. Aetna members now can download their claims information to their personal computer via Aetna Navigator, Aetna's password-protected member Web site, enabling them to manage the information in a data file or spreadsheet. The option to keep claims information in a personal file is particularly relevant at tax time, when consumers often need to create a record of their medical expenses for tax deduction purposes."While Aetna members have long had the opportunity to view their claims activity on our Web site, this enhancement allows them to electronically 'grab' the information, save it in a file or spreadsheet, and sort it to best suit their individual needs," says Christine B. Skelly, head of health-related financial solutions for Aetna.

Boston - Each year in conjunction with the IASA Annual Educational Conference & Business Show, IASA's Executive Education Program presents two executive roundtable events designed specifically for chief financial officers and chief information officers.In 2006, the CFO and CIO roundtables will take place on Tuesday, June 6, at the Sheraton Copley Place Hotel in Boston, and the programs will focus on helping insurance company financial and technology executives "Navigate a Changing Landscape."

Branchville, N.J. - Selective Insurance Group Inc. has appointed Richard F. Connell senior executive vice president and chief information officer of Selective Insurance Group, Inc.,and Selective Insurance Company of America.In this position, Connell is responsible for Selective's technology strategy, automation system development and e-business technology, data processing operations, and voice and data communications.

Wakefield, Mass. - Darwin Partners Inc., a provider of a range of IT services to Fortune 1000 companies, and Suzsoft Co. Ltd., a China-based provider of outsourced application development, quality assurance, and localization services, have announced plans to merge.Founded in 2001, Suzsoft is privately held and has grown rapidly to become a leading IT outsourcing platform in China specializing in several industry verticals, including financial services, health care, technology, insurance and telecommunications.

Boulder, Colo. - Carriers may need to prepare for a storm that has the capability to affect GPS systems and create blackouts. Using a computer model of solar dynamics, scientists at the Boulder, Colo.-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are predicting the next sunspot cycle to be 30% to 50% stronger than the last one and begin as much as a year late. Predicting the sun's cycles accurately, years in advance, will help societies plan for active bouts of solar storms, which can slow satellite orbits, disrupt communications and bring down power systems.

Glastonbury, Conn. - Open Solutions Inc., a provider of integrated, enterprisewide data processing technologies for banks and credit unions, today announced that it has completed its acquisition of the Information Services group of New Jersey-based The BISYS Group Inc., a provider of outsourced solutions to investment firms, insurance companies and banks.Open Solutions believes that this transaction will enable it to expand its product offerings, further increase its presence in the financial services marketplace and extend its client base to include the healthcare, insurance and corporate finance industries. Under terms of the completed agreement, Open Solutions purchased the Information Services group for a total cash consideration of approximately $470 million, subject to adjustment.

Today, various high-tech systems, such as GPS and online map services, help people navigate the physical world, taking the guesswork out of the task of getting from point A to point B.People can now go online, type in some address criteria and a map is generated instantly, detailing critical intersections, which way to go and when to turn. What the claims world needs is an analogous system-one that helps the claims adjuster navigate the complex terrain of business and regulatory requirements.

Everyone loves a story about the "little guy" who succeeds. From the children's classic The Little Engine that Could to numerous business books that describe how a couple of college buddies put a couple of bolts together in their garage and invented something that turned them into millionaires, tales of human perseverance and redemption touch a deep chord in the soul.This is one of those stories. It's about a group of four IT people at CUNA Mutual Group who faced what seemed an almost impossible feat. They were charged with custom-building a customer relationship management system in six months with a budget of $1 million.

The insurance industry, long saddled with paperwork-intensive processes, has become prime turf for enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. ECM is the catchall phrase for what was originally a plethora of solutions, ranging from imaging systems to records management.To carriers seeking to expand their business lines and speed up processing at as little additional cost as possible, content management may be more than some glitzy new technology; it may fundamentally change the nature of the insurance business.