 COVER STORYInsurers Seek Balance in Web 2.0 ProjectsInsurers including Humana and Esurance seek Web 2.0 success by soliciting user-generated content and leveraging social networking concepts in ways that are nonintrusive to their customers and other end users. FEATUREThe Architecture of Adaptation: Enabling Flexibility With Business Architecture and BPMBusiness process management (BPM) — in combination with business architecture and service-oriented architecture — enables insurers' rapid response to a changing marketplace by pulling processes and functionality out of legacy code and legacy thinking. Sidebar Keys to BPM Success Successful BPM requires breaking with traditional ways of looking at systems and processes and adopting new approaches. CASE STUDIESKryptiq's Choreo Powers Regence's Contract Management Across the EnterpriseKryptiq's Choreo Suite gives Portland, Ore.-based Blue Cross Blue Shield insurer Regence a single-system solution for contract management, providing the carrier with provider data connectivity, storage and workflow management to meet its growing needs. Information Builders Offers Everest National Business Users a "Single Version of the Truth" Everest National Insurance leverages Information Builders' enterprise data warehouse and WebFOCUS front-end interface to empower end users to mine data to guide business decisions. UPDATEEconomy Portends Insurance IT Budget CutsThe sudden economic downturn owing to the subprime lending crisis will likely blunt insurers' IT investment plans during the next budget cycle, if not sooner, but transformation initiatives will be regarded as essential rather than discretionary. AXA Equitable Rolls Out Online Tracking of Variable Products AXA Equitable's new state-of-the-art online analytical and research tool Performance offers financial advisers enhanced, customizable information management. Medical Mutual of Ohio Seeks to Discourage Fraud Before It Occurs Medical Mutual of Ohio leverages ViPS' Star Sentinel software to better identify potentially fraudulent claims activity and discourage fraud before it begins. Chubb Standardizes and Automates Producer Appointment Process The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies has implemented ACORD's standard producer appointment form and data standards. NAMES IN THE NEWSSecurian's Couillard Champions Ease of UseAs Securian Financial's manager of field retention, Christopher Couillard collaborates with IT to maximize the quality of the carrier's relationship with distribution partners. Safeco, Chubb, MetLife Appoint CIOs Robert Ingram replaces Bill Jenks as Safeco CIO; former Chubb claims CIO Jim Knight takes corporate role at Chubb; Jeanette Scampas becomes MetLife's enterprise CIO on Steve Sheinheit's retirement. |
FROM THE EDITORNo Surprises in Insurance Industry's Mixed Reception for Treasury Department's Endorsement of Optional Federal CharterConcerns about competitive advantage inspired not only the life insurance industry's welcome of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's call for an optional federal charter as part of broad regulatory reform proposals for financial services, but also the lack of enthusiasm from many property/casualty companies and independent agents.
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