Deb Smallwood

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  How Mobile and Cloud Technology Kept an Agency Running During Sandy

  By James Lawson  |  April 1, 2013

  Catastrophes like Superstorm Sandy accelerate the growing role of mobile and cloud technology for agent-customer-insurer connectivity. And for an industry that’s traditionally averse to embracing technology, it’s a game changer.

• Insurance IT Vision Test

  February 1, 2013

  Stephen Applebaum compares the movement in insurance IT to newer, more agile systems to that of a huge ocean liner.

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  How Well are Insurers and Agents Connected?

  By Deb Smallwood  |  January 30, 2013

  The industry has been working on insurer/agent electronic linkage since the mid-1980s, trying to manage the complexity of numerous systems in the agents’ offices that need to talk to many different insurance systems. In order to examine the state of connectivity and explore how insurers and agents are directing their...

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  Finding the Right Tech Combination for Insurer-Agency Relationships

  By Robert Regis Hyle, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  January 18, 2013

  Eventually, the connection between insurance carriers and the independent agents that sell their products will become simpler, but until the two sides agree on what’s best for each of them—individually and collectively—there remains a level of complexity in distribution management, according to Deb Smallwood, founder of Strategy meets Action (SMA)....

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  Start All Over Again: Policy Admin in the 21st Century

  By Robert Regis Hyle, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  January 7, 2013

  If, like me, you are tired of reading (or in my case writing) articles on core systems replacement, you may have to rethink your attitude about what is going on in the insurance industry, particularly with policy administration systems.

• The Efficiency Mantra

  By Michael P. Voelker  |  September 4, 2012

  Improving underwriting efficiency tops the to-do checklists of carriers in both personal and commercial lines.

• Think Big, Act Small

  By Deb Smallwood  |  September 4, 2012

  Carriers need to drive dynamic distribution channels.

• CIO/CTO Roundtable Looks Ahead at the Future of IT

  By Robert Regis Hyle, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  June 5, 2012

  You have to give people a reason to come,” says Ernie Pearson, director of the CIO/CTO Roundtable. He believes the key topic for this year’s roundtable—a look to the future—will satisfy the insurance IT leaders in attendance.

• CodeObjects Introduces Cloud-based P&C Insurance Processing SaaS Solution

  By Staff Writer  |  June 4, 2012

  CodeObjects announces the introduction of its InsuranceEnterprise offering, an insurance processing management solution running in the cloud and available via Software as a Service (SaaS). InsuranceEnterprise offers policy, claims, billing, and rating components and has the capabilities to address ancillary functions and systems required for end-to-end insurance processing.

• At ACORD LOMA, Insurers Explore the Imperative to Automate

  By Michael P. Voelker  |  May 28, 2012

  When it comes to insurers’ attitudes toward underwriting automation, it shouldn’t be a matter of “if and when” but rather “what and how,” says Deb Smallwood.

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  Good Conference? It Depends What You Put Into It

  By Robert Regis Hyle, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 17, 2012

  “Have a good conference.” It was a familiar salutation heard throughout the last three days of the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum. For one thing, it shows the friendliness of the insurance community. They compete like warriors for business, but they value friendships, particularly for those on the IT side...

• Insurers Explore the Imperative to Automate

  By Michael P. Voelker  |  May 17, 2012

  When it comes to insurers’ attitudes toward underwriting automation, it shouldn’t be a matter of “if and when” but rather “what and how,” says Deb Smallwood.

• Equal Standing for Strategic Planning

  By Robert Regis Hyle, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  May 1, 2012

  SMA research recommends carriers think more holistically to achieve innovation.

• SMA: Commercial Insurers Need to Embrace Automated Underwriting

  By Robert Regis Hyle, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  April 12, 2012

  Automation implies labor-saving steps, which is usually followed by layoffs. So it should come as no surprise that some underwriters don’t look kindly on automated-underwriting solutions, since they foster the perception that the underwriter’s role is shrinking.

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  Embracing Automated Underwriting

  By Robert Regis Hyle, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  April 9, 2012

  Automation implies labor-saving steps, which is usually followed by layoffs. So it should come as no surprise that some underwritersdon’t look kindly on automated underwriting solutions since the perception that has arisen is that the role of the underwriter is shrinking.

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  Equal Attention Needed for Strategic, Tactical Planning

  By Robert Regis Hyle, PropertyCasualty360.com  |  February 15, 2012

  Insurers have to balance strategic initiatives with operational and tactical changes in order to succeed in 2012. That’s the “call to action” presented by the research and consulting group Strategy Meets Action (SMA) in the latest in its Insurance Ecosystem Research Series.