Online Sales
Safeco Expands Web Product Options

Safeco has expanded the product breadth available on itssingle-platform online sales center, Safeco Now. The company hasintroduced functionality allowing independent distributors to quoteand issue commercial multi-peril (CMP) policies in as fast as fiveminutes.

Were offering split-rated property and liability coverages overthe same system agents currently use to sell seven other Safecoproducts, says Mike Hughes, senior vice president of SafecoBusiness Insurance. The introduction of 96 product classes ontoSafeco Now is modest compared with the approximately 1,000 classesof packaged business the company provides. More classes will beintroduced in 2005. However, the initial rollout contains classesnever before covered by Safeco, including home-based businesses,consultants, and manufacturers representatives.

Each of the products can be quoted and issued in five minutes.Because they reside on the same sales platform, a distributor cantransfer information from one P&C policy application toanother, improving ease of cross-selling. Independent agents in 13states received access to the new functionality. Two more phases ofrollout are scheduled for Jan. 25, 2005, and March 22, 2005.

Electronic Submission
The Hartford Facilitates Online Marine Business

Electronic application submission, rating, quoting, and bindingfrom The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., has found its wayto the carriers marine business, allowing agents to place marinecoverage in minutes instead of days. The Hartfords new Quote Marinetechnology tool allows agents to sell, service, and manage BuildersRisk accounts from The Hartfords Electronic Business Center (EBC)portal.

Builders Risk is the first of a series of marine products thatwill be available through this electronic tool, according to ScottShapiro, vice president of marine at The Hartford. Builders Riskinsurance is an inland marine coverage that protects the value ofproperty as it moves from breaking ground to completion. BuildersRisk generally covers the building under construction, buildingmaterials (in transit or storage), and certain loss of rent.
Agents and brokers who write marine coverages want to spend theirtime managing customer relationships and bringing in businessinstead of wading knee-deep in paperwork and follow-up phone calls,says Shapiro. Weve streamlined the process so agents canconcentrate on what really matters to their business.

Quote Marine enables agents to submit an application bycompleting as few as five concise screens. While the client waits,agents also can test the effect of different deductibles and otheroptions on premium. If the account meets online underwritingguidelines, it can be bound and the sale completed before theclient hangs up the phone or leaves the agents office. Theelectronic rating, quoting, and binding capability applies to newconstruction projects with up to $15 million in completed value.Wood-frame construction projects are not eligible. An applicationthat does not meet online underwriting guidelines is sentautomatically to a marine underwriter for consideration, and theapplicant will receive a response within two business days.
We created an inclusive product that is fast and easy to sell,service, and manage electronically through our Electronic BusinessCenter, says Shapiro. So, whether its writing a policy at six inthe morning, checking on a claim at 10 p.m., or reviewing acommission statement on Sunday afternoon, doing marine businesswith The Hartford can be quick and convenient. This is all part ofour approach to be the company of choice for marine business.

The Hartford has pioneered a host of technology breakthroughs tomake it easier for agents to write personal lines and smallcommercial business and, more recently, middle market business.Quote Marine is the insurers first electronic submission tool for amarine product, and the company has begun development to extendsimilar electronic capability in 2005 to other marine products.

Online Claims Submission
AIG Workers Comp Unit Expands Productivity

AIG Specialty Workers Compensation, a division of theproperty/casualty insurance subsidiaries of American InternationalGroup, Inc. (AIG), has expanded its Partners in Productivity Website (www.aigswc.com) to enable its small-business policyholdersand their brokers to report claims online as well as to request andreceive loss runs electronically.
With the launch of the new online functionality, customers andtheir representatives can submit claims to AIG Specialty WorkersCompensation claims adjusters for review. By providing directelectronic access via the Partners in Productivity Web site, AIGSpecialty Workers Compensation will reduce processing time forindividual claims and engage claims management capabilities on atimelier basis. These new system functions were designedspecifically to respond to a major priority ofpolicyholdersenhanced communication and re-sponse to claims,according to Jim Roberts, president, AIG Specialty WorkersCompensation. The abilities to streamline the claim reportingsystem and provide online loss runs are important next steps forimproved customer service, he says. These features combine with theAIG RiskTool System, our online loss prevention and risk managementplatform, to offer a comprehensive set of resources that will helppolicyholders improve workplace safety.

As part of the launch, the new Partners in Productivity Web siteenables insureds to download loss runs in Adobe PDF or MicrosoftExcel format.

Whos Using What

CommInsure, the insurance arm of the Commonwealth Bank ofAustralia Ltd., has decided on FINEOS Front Office to support itssales and servicing operation, including new business and claimsmanagement.

Vesta Forsikring, part of TrygVesta, the second-largest Nordicinsurance group, has increased the number of customer-servicerequests closed the same day by 20 percent in 12 months usingSiebel Insurance from Siebel Systems, Inc. By synchronizingcustomer portfolio information across every channel of interaction,this insurance carrier also has increased the percentage ofone-call resolution cases and improved its cross-selling andup-selling capability.

The Hartford Financial Services Group turned to Risk ManagementSolutions, a provider of products and services for the managementof catastrophe risk, to implement the risk analysis for asecuritization of U.S. hurricane and earthquake risk.

Lincoln Financial Group has chosen Accenture to manage Lincolnsprocurement function in a five-year contract aimed at helping thecarrier reduce the cost of purchased goods and services. Under theagreement, Accenture will manage a full suite of procure-to-payservices for Lincoln.

Dana Point Financial, Inc., has reached a contract agreementwith Insurity Inc. to deliver comprehensive insurance policyservices on an outsourcing basis, including rate/quote,underwriting, issuance, claims administration, billing,reinsurance, compliance management, bureau and regulatoryreporting, data warehousing, and management reporting.

New Mexico Mutual Group has installed Ravello SolutionsCompQuick Version 4.0, the latest release of the CompQuick system.CompQuick streamlines NMMGs policy administration processes andmarkedly increases the companys level of agent and customerservice.

Manulife USA has implemented Pyxis mPlatform wireless salesforce solution, mWholesaler, for its variable annuity wholesalers.Pyxis offers wireless software that promotes asset growth for theinvestment industry.

Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society, one of the largestfraternal benefit societies in the United States, has opted forPureEdge Solutions e-forms to increase efficiencies and streamlinethe processes used by insurance associates across the country intheir core customer-facing activities (policy applications, formupdates, quotes).

Frances largest life and health insurer, CNP Assurances, hasselected its flagship software, Prima Platform, from PrimaSolutions and started to implement two new service-orientedinsurance applications leveraging its IT legacy assets.

Penn National Insurance has made the decision to utilizeWebsense Enterprise from Websense, Inc., to comply with theGramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act by safeguarding confidential consumerfinancial data from new Web-based attacks.

Merastar Insurance Company, a specialist in employer-sponsoredpersonal automobile and homeowners insurance, has chosen GuidewireClaimCenter from Guidewire Software, a provider of solutions toproperty/ casualty and workers compensation insurers, as its newclaims system. ClaimCenter will support the end-to-endclaim-handling process for the entire claims organization.

Old Mutual Financial Network has gone live as an outsourcingclient of McCamish Systems, LLC. McCamish began the implementationof four annuity products on its VPAS Life Policy Administrationsystem in June. All four products will be administered in McCamishsAtlanta outsourcing center.

Concord Group Insurance, a regional, multiline insurer in NewEngland, has picked the Dialogue software from Exstream Software,Inc. Concord is transitioning its document development from amainframe environment to a Web-based system and plans to useDialogue to handle the more than 1.9 million customercommunications created annually.

Indiana Farmers Mutual Insurance Company announced the totalconversion of all download activities to TEAM-UP Download fromConnective Technologies, Inc.

Pacific Life has selected outsourcing solutions provider BISYSto support individual(k) plans offered by the Californiainsurer.