Mitchell releases total loss solution

Mitchell International (www.mitchell.com) took another stabat the auto market with InTotal.com, a Net-based applicationdesigned to spin verified data into accurate valuations forsettling total loss vehicle claims.

Hosting the solution online allows for real-time, any-pointaccess by authorized people to claims management features,including comparable vehicle data with digital images, open valuecalculations, and detailed analyses from Mitchell's dataspecialists.

But Mitchell believes InTotal's real value is its ability tooutput up-to-date reports with supportable settlement values thepolicyholder can easily understand.

Steve Yin, Mitchell's senior vice president of marketing andproduct management, said total loss claims are some of the mostcontentious, often resulting in policyholder loss and increasedlitigation.

“InTotal creates settlements that claims adjusters can explainand the vehicle owner can understand and accept because they arebased on real comparable, verified vehicles. This translates intocost savings in the form of field adjuster productivity, retainedpolicyholders, and less chance of litigation,” he said.

Inskey launches Quad

In attempts to make policy processing more cost effective,Inskey (www.inskey.com)developed Quad, a front-end system that's Web-enabled, based on aJava and XML platform, and customizable. The company claims it canbe easily integrated with existing host systems, allowing carriersto process and deliver insurance products to multiple saleschannels.

“Quad's modular, component-based design allows carrier ITdepartments to maintain direct management control of theirsystems-purchasing, and integrating different…components on anas-needed basis,” said Alan Zall, Inskey CTO and co-founder.

Addressing issues from data redundancy and eligibility toinstant policy issuance and rate revision integrations, Inskeyclaims the product can be integrated with a carrier's processingsystem at a cost of less than half of a percent of writtenpremium.

Aviator and Ociter deliver documentmanagement

Aviator Software (www.aviatorsoftware.com) andOciter Enterprises (www.ociter.com) have released Documentsin Context (DiC), an insurance-specific document managementsolution. By consolidating raw customer information, DiC merges thedata with existing accounts systems to create a complete customerprofile.

According to Aviator (which usually works with managementtechnology for the Lotus market) and Ociter (an IT solutionsprovider), insurance industry trends in document management involvecostly information classifying, finding, reconciling, handling, andstoring.

“More than half of the customer's information is not sharedeffectively,” said Morgan Palmer, CEO of Aviator. “The cost of lostopportunities and unresolved problems, [and] loss in productivity,is astronomical.”

Docucorp launches IPPS, enhances Form Spot

Enterprise information solution provider Docucorp (www.docucorp.com) has releasedInternet Policy Product System 3.0 (IPPS), Net-based software thatallows remote creation and review of insurance policies.

The company hopes IPPS will encourage carriers and MGAs toextend the reach of their products and services to the Internet.Docucorp believes features such as XML and other formats for dataexchange, new application navigation schemes, the ability to saveincomplete work, and an Internet-viewable archive of completeddocuments are the lure.

Version 3.0-with a dynamic toolbar for selecting differentdocument views, and a 'shopping cart' document search function-wasdesigned, according to the company, to save carriers and MGAs time,printing, and delivery costs. Data from IPPS documents can also beexported to third party solutions.

Some of IPPS's functions overlap in Form Spot (www.formspot.com), Docucorp's otherproject. Made to automate insurance form and production processes,it's an aggregate of more than 400 electronic ACORD forms.Formspot.com claims to have the most updated industrydocuments.

RMS enhances weather system

Risk Management Solutions (www.rms.com) has upgraded its Climetrixweather risk management system (accessible at www.climetrix.com) to version 2.4,adding a virtual blizzard of new features.

Portfolio managers, weather derivative traders ('I'll swap youone thunderstorm for two F1 tornados'), and the everyday end userwill notice enhanced individual contract pricing tools, streamlinedcontract entry and analysis, contract support based on the averagetemperature index, expanded range of weather risk modeling,temperature-based contracts, and RMS-published data format forseamless data transfer within Climetrix and between the solutionand back-end systems.

According to RMS, the Net-based application provides integrateddata access, advanced pricing tools, and portfolio managementcapabilities for “successful participation in the weathermarket.”

The market for weather risk has become prominent because of thecyclical global shift in climate and weather.

Consider the financial protection necessary to float hugeendeavors such as hydroelectric generators, consumer-drivenbusinesses such as ski resorts, not to mention governmentalfunctions. Each can be affected by inclement patterns:hydroelectrics are considerably less revenue prone during droughts;ski resorts suffer when the snowfall comes up short; meanwhile,snow removal services tax municipal finances.

According to RMS, the weather market was “introduced as a toolfor energy providers to hedge weather-related fluctuations in thesupply and demand of energy.”

CGI, IMRglobal merge

CGI Group and IMRglobal merged, forming what the new company-tokeep the CGI name-calls “the fourth largest independent IT servicescompany in North America.”

According to Serge Godin, chairman, president and CEO of CGI,“IMRglobal…positions CGI as a competitive alternative for companiesseeking a dedicated, cost-effective partner that understands thebusinesses within which they operate.”

Satish Sanan, former CEO of IMRglobal, will serve as presidentof the U.S. and Asia/Pacific divisions of CGI.

Penn automates claims

Penn National Insurance (www.pennnationalinsurance.com)is overhauling its claims division through the wonders ofautomation. The project-dubbed E-Claims-is being built bycomponents, the most recent of which is imaging.

The company's goal is to scan incoming claims and convert theminto digital images for electronic storage and distribution. Indoing so, Penn bets instant access to documents from anywhere andeasy integration with E-Claims will follow. In the pilot-testingphase, Penn selected ImageRight software (www.imageright.com) from AdvancedSolutions to enhance claims service workflow, and exposepossibilities for imaging component implementation in underwritingand support.

The old workflow consisted of individual mail-reception anddistribution centers sorting and delivering in each of the sevenclaims service offices. Now, all incoming claims go to a centralimaging unit at corporate HQ, where the correspondence is sorted,converted to digital format, and delivered electronically to theappropriate adjusters.

With the new component, authorized users can view fileinformation from any location, and view the contents in real timewith associates at the home office. And any information submittedby claimants, policyholders, or agents will be available for onlinebrowsing.

Insurance for technology

If your ASP is in a sling, fear not. The ASP Industry Consortium(ASPIC, at www.allaboutasp.org) might havethe answer. The group has developed an insurance program withWeb-based enterprise risk protector InsureHiTech (www.insurehitech.com) just forapplication service providers.

Actual coverage is provided by American International Group'snetAdvantage (www.aignetadvantage.com),which, according to ASPIC, addresses almost all potential risks,including media liability, professional liability, securitybreaches, extortion, compromised data assets, and even provides a“crisis management fund” that handles up to $50,000 in PR expensesrelating to a covered claim under the policy.

Premiums are determined by size of ASP's assets, existingsecurity measures, policy limits, security, and deductible. So far,policy limits range from $1 million to $25 million; deductiblesstart at $50,000.

JPEG2000 implemented

A new version of the venerable JPEG image standard has debuted,offering better image quality in a smaller file size. JPEG2000 uses“wavelet compression” to crunch file size while maintainingsuperior image quality.
Claims and inspection information manager Scene Genesis hasdeployed JPEG2000 to increase image retrieval speed on its back-endsystems. According to Robert Blake, Scene Genesis's CTO, photosconverted before transmission will save between 20 percent and 50percent of total transmissions time, compared to that of standardJPEG formats.

DataFlux upgrades dfPower Studio

Building on its point-and-click controlled data quality,consistency, and usability solution, DataFlux has added newfeatures to dfPower Studio, now version 4.1.

According to the company, current users with existingmaintenance subscriptions will be sent the upgrade at no cost,giving them a cost-effective way to enjoy the improveddeduplicating function that includes “the ability to adduser-defined business rules for determining the 'survivingrecord'.” Users can also interactively remove records that havebeen determined to be false matches.

Other new features include SQL support, which enables a captureand view of SQL errors and reports generation; updated ODBC engine,redesigned for portable data access; and more.

Claims standard initiative coming

ACORD (www.acord.org) andRIMS (www.rims.org) are stakingout standards for claims data. Industry perception is that thesestandards would be too complex, according to RIMS, and as such,have been avoided. Until now.

The organizations cite several benefits associated with claimsdata standards, including faster exchange of information, improvedbenchmarking activities on cost of risk retention and risktransfer, and improved XML for data transport across incompatiblesystems.

But perhaps one of the more appreciated functions will be theharmonized data dictionary, designed to work happily with otherdictionaries from organizations such as the Insurance DataManagement Association. The organizations anticipate widespreadparticipation in the plans for standardized claims data.