Most Americans will never forget where they were when they first heard news of the September 11th terrorist attack. For 62 Allstate claim handlers, they will remember they were attending training workshops at the carrier's

When the World Trade Center came under attack, David Annis was thousands of miles away from The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.'s offices at Seven World Trade Center. In fact, Annis, the company's group senior vice president and CIO, was not able to return to the United States for more than a week to oversee recovery efforts.However, thanks to the combination of disaster planning, vendor support and quick work on the part of the carrier's crisis management committee, all 330 employees who worked for the five Hartford business units were working at alternative sites the following Monday.

Disaster preparedness is subject most often discussed in the aftermath of a major natural or manmade disaster.Although most major corporations have comprehensive disaster recovery plans in place, the unprecedented events of Sept. 11 clearly demonstrate importance of updating and testing those plans frequently.

In late August, Chicago-based global insurance brokerage and consulting firm Aon Corp. redesigned its corporate Web site so customers, employees and other affiliates could more easily and quickly find content and navigate the site.As part of the project, Aon's portal team also implemented a set of Web development techniques that would enable internal Web designers to reduce the turnaround time to post new and pertinent data and graphics onto the site, located at www.aon.com.

Unlike other types of insurance claims, individuals who file a homeowners claim know that cash reimbursement is imminent. Even the promise of a claim payment within 48 hours isn't swift enough to satisfy an individual who has been forced from their home.

When one of its Web or application servers crashes, executives at Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. may have to cope with business down-time, but they can at least eliminate one major headache-they won't have to repair it.That's because the Novato, Calif.-based property/casualty insurer inked an agreement in October that some consider a watershed event-an outsourcing pact involving an internally operated information technology division.

As the financial cost of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., continues to rise, the ramifications for insurers remains unclear. Indeed, while carriers certainly have the financial reserves to cover estimated losses, industry observers say the wounds suffered from the devastating attacks will take many months to heal."While the hit to the economy will obviously put expense pressure on many companies, I think the disaster itself will have the effect of changing company priorities," says John Hodge, chief information officer for NAC Reinsurance Corp., Stamford Conn. The company is a subsidiary of XL Capital Ltd., which estimates its losses from the attacks at $700 million (see chart).

It's been a tumultuous year for Safeco Corp. In January, former CNA executive Mike McGavick was named Safeco's new president and CEO. In July, Michael LaRocco was appointed president and chief operating officer of the insurer's $2.6 billion personal insurance business. And in September, Yom Senegor, from Accenture, was named CIO.

It began as a mail-order business in 1922, providing automobile insurance to U.S. military officers who moved often and could not get coverage from other carriers. Today, United Services Automobile Association, better known as USAA, ranks as one of the best companies in America for providing customer service.With 4.5 million customers and $62.5 billion in assets, USAA placed first as the most reputable financial services company in America in the Financial Services Reputation Quotient study conducted by Harris Interactive, American Banker (a Thomson Financial publication) and the Reputation Institute. USAA also recently received top awards in the life, auto and home insurance categories from readers of Worth magazine.

r some insurance carriers, the Year 2000 compliance aftershocks are still lingering. But one such carrier, Charlotte, N.C.-based Royal & SunAlliance USA, hopes a court ruling in July spells the last Y2K trembler it will have to absorb.A Delaware Superior Court dismissed a lawsuit filed in August 1999 by Unisys Corp. The Blue Bell, Pa.-based computer giant, which has a commercial general liability (CGL) policy through two Royal & SunAlliance co-insurers, sought to recover more than $35 million in Y2K expenses to bring its computer networks into compliance.

Mark Popolano compares the difference between being CIO and being chief technology officer at American International Group this way: As CTO, he was the navigator of technology; now he is the technology pilot."As CTO, you have to be very savvy to understand the nuances of technology," he explains. "The CIO has a greater responsibility across the organization to help steer the direction of technical processes."

When Atlantic Mutual Cos. moved its back-office operations from New York to Roanoke, Va., in 1977, David Mitchell was working on school redistricting as a programmer for the Roanoke City schools.Tipped off by IBM Corp.'s local representative about Atlantic Mutual's plans, Mitchell jumped at the opportunity and was hired by the New York-based insurer as a senior programmer.

It's solid. It's established. It's "the rock." And despite a 125-year history and $371 billion in assets that could have slowed it down, Prudential Insurance Co. of America has defied inertia and rapidly transformed itself into a 21st century operation determined to hold its own in the high-speed New Economy. Two recent strategic IT initiatives have contributed significantly to Prudential's transformation. They stand out not only for their scope, but also for the speed with which they've been implemented.Namely, the rollout of the $130 million LaunchPad laptop program, which was initiated three years ago to equip Prudential's entire field force of 12,000 with IBM ThinkPad notebook computers, has been recognized as a phenomenal achievement. "That's just mind-boggling-to roll out thousands of PCs on a very concerted basis," says John McFadden, chief technology officer of Loyola College in Timonium, Md.

When a global financial services behemoth such as Zurich Financial Services Group decides to merge three commercial property/casualty businesses into one regional unit, it would be reasonable to assume that consolidating their IT resources into one common platform would take longer than nine months.After all, large corporations aren't usually nimble and quick, insurance companies are known for their cumbersome legacy systems, and mergers of any kind are difficult to implement.

If you want a tip on selecting technologies that will enable your company to achieve its business goals, here's a good one from Stephen Wiggins, CIO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina: Don't chase it. Let the business tell you what to do."We do not develop technology for technology's sake here," Wiggins says. "Our basic philosophy is leverage what you have. As long as what you have is flexible enough to meet your business needs, then build on it-because it retains knowledge from the past."

Insurance companies have lagged behind Corporate America in adopting the Internet as a distribution channel. But over the last two years, carriers have directed IT and advertising resources toward developing the technology and promoting their Internet sales strategies.

Insurance executives apparently are unfazed by the dot-com meltdown of 2001. Business-to-business e-commerce clearly dominates the IT efforts of insurance carriers as they seek to increase online product delivery and data exchange with business partners, according to the findings of a recent survey of 73 carriers, agents and brokers conducted by Insurance Networking.

Conseco Inc. has undergone rapid change in Gary Wendt's brief tenure as chairman and CEO. In 10 months at the helm of the Indianapolis-based insurance and consumer finance company, Wendt has overseen the disposal of $1.7 billion of assets-including a $122 million stake in the Argosy Gaming riverboat-and the elimination of 2,000 jobs at Conseco Finance.In April, the company stepped up its efforts to rein in expenses by announcing plans to shift some of the company's call center servicing and back-office processing to India. Related to this decision, Conseco is acquiring exlService, a firm specializing in these functions which is based in Hyderbat, India.

When colleagues describe Robert V. James, there's no mistaking him for the tradition-bound stereotype of an insurance executive. Instead, they use such adjectives as progressive, creative and charismatic.Co-workers credit his high energy for rapid changes at Chicago-based CNA Insurance Cos. As executive vice president of CNA's Technology Solutions Group, James has attracted top talent to his team, launched an eBusiness initiative from scratch and revolutionized the way the insurer communicates with its agents.

Last year, the Connecticut FAIR plan purchased a software package to create, print and mail policies for property coverage. But that turned into a near-nightmarish experience of extensive problems with setup and testing of the software and lengthy delays waiting for technical issues to be resolved.