How important is your distribution network? Is it the lifeline of your business? What if your distribution network was a finely tuned machine, cranking out more business than capacity allows? As seen in our cover story, carriers agree that technology is the key to solving many distribution dilemmas. In another article in this issue (page 20), we learn that they're not all that excited about investing in technology that enables agents to leverage single-entry, multiple carrier interface (SEMCI) technology. It may depend who you ask, but few would disagree that technology plays a critical role in independent agents' ability to help carriers realize success-across all lines.So, who is ultimately responsible for making sure that happens? In a recent Insurance Networking News virtual trade show, available on the INN Web site, we posed that question to Jeff Yates, executive director of the Agents' Council for Technology for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, a national alliance of 300,000 business owners and their employees.

Since 2000, when the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill made it possible for banks to enter the insurance business, the selling world has seen an invasion of financial institutions, such as Wachovia and BB&T, who have bought insurance agencies or created their own to sell life, disability and other products.Now, the insurance industry seems to believe that turnabout is fair play. In addition to a number of insurance companies, including MetLife, State Farm and Allstate, that created their own banks several years ago, one firm, InBank, is going so far as to offer insurance companies "private-label banking," which executives say allows insurers to sell banking products without the attendant capital costs and regulatory responsibility.

In this age of Blackberries and instant messaging, insurance carriers and agents alike are focused on finding high-tech solutions to conduct their businesses. Enter: Single Entry Multiple Carrier Interface-also known as SEMCI.The concept of SEMCI technology sounds simple. Vendors create applications that enable independent insurance agents to access one site, hopefully through their own agency management system, enter data once and then communicate with multiple insurance carriers to obtain real-time quotes.

When you've got a lemon, make lemonade. That's basically what Medical Mutual of Ohio did when the Cleveland-based health insurer decided it was time to ditch its 15-year old phone system.While installing a new private branch exchange (PBX) and automatic call distributor (ACD), the company took advantage of the new technology's advanced functionality to bring its two call centers up to award-winning status.

Kansas City, Mo. - Representatives of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the United States Department of Treasury will be attending the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Winter National Meeting in Chicago during the Antifraud Task Force meeting on Monday, December 5, to present two final rules that will affect certain insurance companies.

In a new report, Celent, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, predicts how new technologies are impacting the future of the insurance industry.

Washington, D.C. - The American Insurance Association (AIA) is urging insurance regulators to go slow in considering a national catastrophe insurance program, affirming support for catastrophe modeling technology but discouraging federal and state governments from storming through private sector business practices.

New York, N.Y. - Financial services companies are currently capturing less than one-third of the potential cost savings offered by offshoring operations, according to a study by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT).

Jersey City, N.J. - ISO and claims technology provider First Notice Systems (FNS) have entered into an agreement to deliver a new first-notice-of-loss (FNOL) fraud-detection solution to the property/casualty insurance marketplace.

Warren, N.J. - Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Warren, N.J., has released its Business Recovery Planning Guide, a CD-ROM designed to help businesses create site-specific plans. The interactive CD-ROM features revised editable questionnaires and checklists to help companies analyze their current exposures and develop a business-recovery plan.

Brookfield, Wis. - Fiserv, Inc. has acquired Xcipio, Inc., a Web-based insurance rating and automation solution provider. The acquisition will allow the Brookfield, Wis., company to provide Web-based comparative insurance rates directly from insurance carriers to producers in real time. Details of the transaction, which closed November 1, were not disclosed.

McClean, Va. -- Insurance companies that have not already implemented business process automation technology, including straight-through processing, integrated client information systems and service-oriented architecture (SOA) for customer service and administration functions, can improve efficiency by doing so. That's according to a report, titled "How To Create A Platform for the 21st Century Insurance Firm," released by BearingPoint Inc. a global management and technology consulting firm.In fact, the resulting increase in efficiency and productivity can mean greater capacity and as much as 30% costs savings contributing to overall better profitability, according to BearingPoint.

The market for insurance in China is huge. With a population of 1.3 billion-that's 20% of the people in the entire world - China's insurance premiums are projected to grow from $60 billion this year to $100 billion by 2009 (see "Chinese Insurance Premiums," page 13).That's because between 1949-when the People's Republic of China was established-and the 1980s-when Deng Xiaoping opened the market to private insurers, there was no insurance industry in China. The government took care of the people, from the "cradle to the grave."

For many years, building computer software applications was the modus operandi in the insurance industry. "No one knows our business," was the common refrain.Since then, software vendors customized their products for the industry, and buying prepackaged software applications has become the preference.

All this talk about merging business goals with IT seems to have reared its ugly head. With the best possible intentions and following the ultimate in best practice methodology, insurance CIOs are trying to make the marriage work. Is their time and effort well placed? Are they being successful?Not according to a recent report issued by Aberdeen Group, a Boston-based research firm, which cites the two most powerful "disruptors" to the CIO's mandate for 2005: the need to provide better solutions in a business environment of growing risk and uncertainty, and changes in the technology landscape.

With new research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Va., finding that drivers using cell phones are four times more likely to get in a crash serious enough to injure themselves, auto insurers are beginning to educate drivers about the risks of driving while talking on cell phones.Dan Cohen, a spokesperson for 21st Century Insurance Group, says the study underscores the need for insurance companies to encourage their clients not to drive and call at the same time.

Contrary to public opinion, the IT department typically can't foretell the future. IT teams usually can analyze the effectiveness of an existing systems implementation, but for some, rather than using a crystal ball, it's more a matter of acknowledging what works and what doesn't.Thanks to growing requirements and a fundamental technology shift, an insurance consortium faced such a challenge when the implementation of a policy administration system dragged on for years.

Offloading non-core functions to an outsourcer, and thereby relieving your company of the responsibility of maintaining expensive equipment and escalating personnel costs, is increasingly seen as not only a viable option but in many cases the best or most logical way to go.The Robert Plan Corp. (RPC), an auto insurance carrier and underwriter specializing in urban automotive markets, was facing such a choice several years ago.

Seattle - PEMCO Insurance, provider of auto, home, boat, life, and umbrella insurance to Washington state residents, has launched a teen drivers Web site designed to educate parents, teachers, and teens about the dangers young drivers face. The Web site can be found at http://www.pemco.com/teen_driver/index.asp."Teens have the highest car-crash death rate of any age group," says PEMCO spokesperson Jon Osterberg. "The main reason is, they're inexperienced drivers, and only experience can sharpen their skills. PEMCO wants to help teens grow into experienced, safe drivers."

Santa Ana, Calif. - The principal subsidiary of The First American Corp.--First American Title Insurance Co.--has formed a strategic alliance with Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., for early testing of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 using First American's FAST Transaction System (FAST) database.FAST is an integrated title and escrow system that unifies disparate systems into a centralized database and is currently one of the largest SQL Server 2005 implementations with more than 4 terabytes of data. Microsoft encouraged First American's FAST development team to test SQL Server 2005 against one of the largest and most complex databases available. Using a version of FAST with all personal information removed, Microsoft was able to validate SQL Server 2005 and improve system capabilities, ensuring that the new release of SQL Server will be "FAST Certified" at the product launch on Nov. 7, 2005.