Tech Decisions March 2006
Cover Story
Beat the Clock
Many factors contribute to an insurance carrier's ability to attain market leadership. Getting products out on the street quickly is certainly one of them. To achieve speed to market, carriers must
Features
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A Bigger Bang
Buried deep in silos, like long-range weapons that are relics from the Cold War, the information insurers have been storing for decades is surfacing. But now carriers have discovered the best way to m
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Targeting Excellence
The loud buzz that once surrounded "business reengineering" has been silenced by the practice not delivering on its promise, but some of the core principles live on as the "process improvement" compon
Columns Editor's Note
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Fast Forward?
The notion of speed in the insurance industry today is a bit schizophrenic. When referring to bringing new products to market, it's viewed as a good thing--the reason being a first mover leverages the
Columns Trends & Tech
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About That Free Lunch
Last week I was trading e-mails with my daughter about a marathon we were thinking about running in Nashville this spring. I was using my Gmail account. Gmail is by far the best "free" Web-based e-mai
Columns CIO Chronicles
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The New Insurance CXO
One of my long-standing observations is the insurance business culture undervalues operations and IT. To be fair, this bias seems pervasive throughout all economic sectors. In all industries,
Columns Automated Exec
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Andy Maier, Zurich North America
Finding top talent is a key challenge in any IT organization. For Zurich North America, whose parent company Zurich Financial Services recently outsourced application development and maintenance for
Columns Stats Watch
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Online Buying Clicks With Consumers
Personal auto insurance has developed a look and feel that makes it relatively easy for carriers to market on their Web sites. Despite the advances, though, Craig Weber, senior analyst and author of
Departments Industry Intelligence
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Progressive Redesigns Web Site for Drive Brand
ForAgentsOnly.com, the password-protected Web site from Progressive Insurance that agents and brokers use to quote and service their customers through the carrier's Drive brand, has unveiled a new
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Chubb System's Electronic Applications No Longer "Wet"
Applications for professional and management liability insurance products from the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies now can be submitted entirely online with an electronic signature. Previously,
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New Online Feature Aids Colonial Plan Administrators
Plan administrators dealing with Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company will benefit from a new service on Colonial-Connect for Plan Administrators, the carrier's Web site. The service, known as
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Who's Using What
California State Automobile Association (CSAA) has expanded production use of the Apogee platform from Steel Card. CSAA has introduced a six-month lower-cost preferred personal auto product and
Departments Business Solutions
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Surprise Package
Out-of-the-box functionality is what most companies seek when they implement a vendor solution, but sometimes outside-the-box thinking can make an implementation even more meaningful. Penn National
Departments Top Tech
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Company: OpenConnect Systems
OpenConnect Systems has launched soa-Solution, a mainframe-to-service-oriented-architecture (SOA) suite designed to transform business process knowledge used throughout the extended enterprise into se
News
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march--ednote
The notion of speed in the insurance industry today is a bit schizophrenic. When referring to bringing new products to market, it's viewed as a good thing--the reason being a first mover leverages the
