The research and analysis firm Celent names its 2012 Model Insurers. Insurers are identified for their best practices in the use of technology across various area of the enterprise. The report also names Nationwide Insurance the Model Insurer of the Year.

Best practices in the use of technology span key areas of the product and policyholder life cycle, including product definition, distribution, underwriting, policy administration, service, claims, and infrastructure. The report also reviews IT best practices and measurable business results used in evaluating the Model Insurer Components.

"Innovation is a common theme for many of the projects profiled in this year's report. The Model Insurer Components highlight several innovative uses of technology in insurance," says Karen Monks, analyst with Celent's Insurance group and author of the report. "Insurers have stepped up their use of emerging technologies and have had successes in doing so."

Nominations were accepted throughout 2011, and the Celent insurance team selected the winning initiatives based on the business benefits provided.

The list of the Model Insurers in this report includes:

• AEGON NederlandN.V.: AEGON chose the Informatica data integration platform to build the solution, and Oracle was used as the database for the warehouse. With HCL’s technical consultation, AEGON recently completed the implementation of the data warehouse for the life line of business.
• AIG Chartis: Using business analytics software to automate strategic risk analysis, Chartis developed a Strategic Risk Analysis team to create systems that take into account the business strategy and the data available to create automated solutions for challenges in underwriting, risk management, and accounting functions.
• American Safety Insurance: Integrating all underwriting units under a common system, ASI chose Accenture Duck Creek’s policy administration system as the backbone of the system modernization program and at least three other vendor products and several internal systems were involved, as well as ASI's implementation partner, Syntel, Inc.
• Canal Insurance Company: Leveraging technology to open up new markets, Canal chose a combination of commercially available technologies along with technology developed in house. The core commercial solutions deployed included ISO Rating Service, AQS Designer Access, and AQS Quote Access. The solutions were integrated with Canal’s iQuotes portal and back end systems.
• CNA: CNA Small Business collaborated with SeaPass Solutions to leverage ACORD XML technology and built a solution that enables agents to create ACORD XML quote and issuance requests that integrate with CNA’s systems regardless of the agency technology or workflows being used.
• The Co-operative Insurance: Expanding into a strategically important distribution channel, Co-operative implemented SSP Select Insurance components, covering contact management and policy administration to build direct Website and call center interfaces.
• Courtesy Insurance Company: Courtesy worked with The Innovation Group to implement a new Web-based claims management system, GAP Smart, using Innovation Group’s Insurer Claims. It is a distributed claims handling application used primarily by claim handlers and their managers to process claims.
• Direct Asia Insurance: I.D.I Technologies Ltd implemented the SOA solution, which includes an end-to-end policy administration, claims, and billing software with web services directory for process integration with DirectAsia.com’s Web portal layers and other third parties.
• Erie Insurance: Using iPipeline’s iGO e-App as a cloud-based solution to support the agents’ application processing, the e-App is accessible through a single sign-in via Erie Family Life’s Website, and when used with e-signature and e-submission, the application simplifies the completion of applications.