Insurance & Technology: The Blog

Health Insurance Consumer Demand Could Shift Towards Mobile Functionality

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:41:11 -0500

There has been no shortage of health insurers who have made news over the past few years by embracing a more customer-centric business strategy and, as a result, rolling out several customer-facing online tools. The next step though, I believe, center around how insurers make those tools available to members (and, in some instance, potential members) on mobile devices. It�s something that I�ll write about in an upcoming Update story about a recent project at WellPoint.

Big Vendors Affirm Insurance Opportunity

Tue, 13 May 2008 11:57:04 -0500

As if to validate last week's Editor's Note, major horizontal vendors have demonstrated its introductory hypothesis, perhaps best summarized by the words of the notorious Willy Sutton. When asked why he robbed banks, Sutton famously replied, �That�s where the money is.�

The Test of Relevance: Ed Zore, Northwestern Mutual

Tue, 06 May 2008 01:27:01 -0500

Anthony O'Donnell, Senior Editor of Insurance & Technology, speaks with Edward J. Zore, one of I&T's 2008 Tech-Savvy CEOs, about the need to balance opportunism and prudence in technology investment in pursuit of business success.

The Virtues of Virtual: Ron Boyd, Midwest Family Mutual

Tue, 06 May 2008 01:24:33 -0500

Anthony O'Donnell, Senior Editor of Insurance & Technology, speaks with Ron Boyd, one of I&T's 2008 Tech-Savvy CEOs, about his role in driving paperlessness and remote work while expanding Midwest Family Mutual's geographic business footprint.

Eyeing the Competition: Thomas C. Godlasky, Aviva North America

Tue, 06 May 2008 01:19:45 -0500

Nathan Conz, Associate Editor of Insurance & Technology, speaks with Thomas C. Godlasky, one of I&T's 2008 Tech-Savvy CEOs, about Aviva North America's technology turnaround, the carrier's foray into Second Life and the importance of looking outside the industry.

Fast Company: Stephen Sills, Darwin Professional Underwriters

Tue, 06 May 2008 01:17:04 -0500

Kathy Burger, editorial director of Insurance & Technology, speaks with Stephen Sills, one of I&T's 2008 Tech-Savvy CEOs, about how five-year-old Darwin Professional Underwriters is shaking up the specialty liability insurance segment by bring straight-through processing and self-service to a traditionally unautomated, paper-bound business.

The Utilitarian: John Leonard, MEMIC

Tue, 06 May 2008 01:08:59 -0500

Nathan Conz, Associate Editor of Insurance & Technology, speaks with John Leonard, one of I&T's 2008 Tech-Savvy CEOs, about his role in defining technology philosophy at MEMIC, the importance of a strong CIO and his work on board of industry standards group ACORD.

Real Opportunity or Hype?: Video Games and Insurance

Mon, 05 May 2008 17:27:38 -0500

As a member of the I&T editorial team, I�m constantly inundated with new product announcements, story pitches and press releases -- with each e-mail or phone call assuring me that the product or concept in question is revolutionary, industry-changing or both. As a result, a big part of our job here at the magazine is to cut through the hype and find out what really works -- not in theory, but in practice.

Why Tech Savvy Matters to CEOs � And To Those Who Judge Them

Mon, 05 May 2008 15:20:38 -0500

Every once in a while, when acquaintances jocularly question the economics of a trade publication dedicated to the subject of insurance IT, I ask them to guess how much the largest insurance carriers spend annually on IT. My interlocutors typically answer, "I dunno; maybe $10 million?" I laugh in a way reminiscent of the characters responding to Dr. Evil's pathetic ransom demand in the first Austin Powers film and say, "Try again." They give their second answer, sure that this time they vastly overshoot the mark: "OK, one hundred million!" I laugh some more.

Insurance Web Portals and Online Self-Help

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:38:31 -0500

Even considering wikis and social networking and user generated content, I still think the most important development to emerge from the Web 2.0 movement has been users increased tendency to go online for self-help and to seek educational opportunities to handle their everyday problems.

Predictions: More Hurricanes in 2008, Ice Age to Follow

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:50:43 -0500

The P&C industry has enjoyed a respite over the last couple of Atlantic hurricane seasons, following two successive record-breaking years that resonated in the public imagination not only because of the politically charged dimensions of Katrina but also the notion that global warming was contributing to increasing frequency and severity of the storms. While 2008 is unlikely to rival 2004 and 2005, it nevertheless poses the greatest natural risk faced by insurance companies this year, according to EMB, a San Diego based actuarial consulting firm.

EMB substantiates that claim in part by citing the latest report by Colorado State University�s Dr. William Gray, co-authored by his colleague Philip J. Klotzbach. The authors state in the report�s abstract:

Information obtained through March 2008 indicates that the Atlantic hurricane season will be much more active than the average 1950-2000 season. We estimate that 2008 will have about 8 hurricanes (average is 5.9), 15 named storms (average is 9.6), 80 named storm days (average is 49.1), 40 hurricane days (average is 24.5), 4 intense (category 3-4-5) hurricanes (average is 2.3) and 9 intense hurricane days (average is 5.0). The probability of U.S. major hurricane landfall is estimated to be about 135 percent of the long-period average.

MassMutual Creates New Workplace Environments To Match IT Transformation Effort

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:11:43 -0500

Greetings from Massachusetts, where I�ve just completed a series of face-to-face interviews with several technology and business executives at MassMutual for an upcoming Carrier Confidential feature.

The Springfield, Mass.-based carrier is in the midst of an ambitious and far reaching technology transformation effort and while the nuts and bolts of that initiative (including SOA and ECM implementations) dominated many of the conversations, MassMutual�s technology leadership made sure that the topic of workplace culture was discussed as well.

Alignment From The Top: Great CEOs and CIOs

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:10:39 -0500

As the editors of Insurance & Technology work on this year's Tech-Savvy CEO (June) issue, our thoughts have been turning to the qualities of both individuals and company culture that make for IT/business alignment -- which in turn drives the greatest impact for each technology dollar spent. One would like to think that the SOA craze and associated developments are helping to forge a common business and technology language, but the consultants and analysts I speak to remain skeptical. For now, what appears to matter most is the relationship that CIOs have with line-of-business heads and the CEO, and how well the latter understands the utility of IT to his or her company's strategic goals.

MassMutual Attracts New Agents, Dispels Common Insurance Myths Using Web Site

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:47:48 -0500

One of the nice things about writing a blog, in addition to writing for the print edition of Insurance & Technology, is that I get to do this:

Survey Says Wall Street Likes Insurance IT Spend

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:44:34 -0500

In the not too distant past, it was reasonable to question whether senior insurance executives adequately appreciated the difference that forward-looking technology investment could make in corporate performance. While that appreciation may remain imperfect -- at least to the mind of most insurance CIOs -- a sign that progress has been made may be discerned in some very interesting findings of a recent Accenture study of the opinions of equity analysts. The short version is that these guys are not only aware of the importance of technology to insurers' success but they rate technology investment as one of the best ways an insurer can put its capital to use.