Web Seminars

Upcoming Web Seminars

• Pinpointing Wildfire Risk Exposure – A New Model for Better Underwriting

  February 23, 2012 2:00 pm ET

  Join us for this informative webinar as Mark Breading, partner with SMA, Lamont Norman, Product Director with Pitney Bowes Software, and Chris White, co-founder of Anchor Point Group, discuss the importance of wildfire risk data in today’s changing landscape and explain how insurance carriers can utilize new wildfire risk models to more accurately identify, assess and mitigate risk exposure from these catastrophic events. In particular, you’ll learn how this model can: locate properties that are in or near wildland areas but have low risk, define nationwide risk scores by coupling wildfire loss data and wildfire risk, and calibrate wildfire risk with historical loss data to predict portfolio exposure. Using state-of-the art information-gathering and verification for fuels, elevation, aspect, weather and probability of ignition, this wildfire model will help carriers underwrite in high value areas where their competition cannot.

• Improving Risk Management with Condition Hazard Best Practices

  February 28, 2012 2:00 pm ET

  Risk management is the core function for writing profitable homeowners business in today’s price competitive market; a market made more and more financially volatile by the impact of adverse weather patterns, rapidly increasing labor costs and unanticipated increases in material costs. As many carriers turn to enhanced pricing and risk selection models to compete in today’s new business market, similar approaches have not yet hit the mainstream of enhanced risk management of the in-force book of business and inspection ordering process. Preventing a loss is the single most valuable service a carrier can provide to both its insureds – sparing loss of property and resources and minimizing inconveniences to the policyholder—and its policy holder value-- decreasing claim frequency and severity and building policyholder loyalty and retention. Please join us for an informative webinar that will help you augment your existing risk management approach with new best practices and industry insight.

Archived Web Seminars

• Marshall & Swift/Boeckh and Symbility - Teaming Up to Create the Industry’s Finest Claims Solutions

  February 02, 2012 2:00 pm ET

  By joining forces, Marshall & Swift/Boeckh and Symbility are offering the P&C Industry comprehensive claims solutions that will provide unrivaled property data, building intelligence and technological advances. To explain this new combination and outline what it means for the future of the property claims sector, Marshall & Swift/Boeckh CEO Chris Cartwright and Symbility CEO James Swayze will be hosting an informational webinar on February 2.

• Cyber Risk in 2012: Is Your Head in the Cloud?

  January 25, 2012 1:00 pm ET

  Technologies continue their relentless pace of disruptive innovation and breathtaking proliferation. So it’s no surprise that cyber security ranks among the top concerns of insurers, leaders, and risk managers heading into 2012. On top of continually expanding use of tablets and other mobile devices, business data and applications are now being moved aggressively into the cloud. These trends add new concerns to an already daunting list of cyber security-related risk factors that range from data breaches, cyber-crime, lost laptops, and improper disposal of sensitive information to viruses, malware, violations of privacy regulations, and personal injury arising out of online content. There’s no question that today's information security and privacy threats and exposures should be perceived with the same level of concern as traditional property and casualty exposures. Kicking off with an overview from nationally recognized cyber-crime and IT security expert Hemanshu Nigam of SSP Blue, PropertyCasualty360’s panel of leading experts not only will highlight the latest emerging risks that insureds face, but also outline the steps needed to protect valuable data and mitigate risks of financial and other losses.

• Business Case: Managing the Enterprise to Meet Business’ Agility and Speed to Market Needs

  December 15, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  When hasn't “Faster, better, less cost.” been driving IT? While legacy replacement has been a constant buzz word for years, replacement strategies often stop at that first layer of administration systems without realizing the benefits afforded to addressing a business agility strategy. What would it mean to your business to have a comprehensive yet simple and cost effective enterprise approach to quickly supporting not just entries into new markets, but also M&A, new distribution channels and channel partners, and system consolidation while delivering better decision making and planning opportunities? What if you could get there without replacing everything you already have and at a pace you set? You might think it was just crazy talk, but there are new solutions available that help carriers to achieve business agility while operating multiple systems and technologies. During this webinar, you’ll hear about some strategies, features and solutions that can help carriers get there.

• Strategic Advantages Enabled by Modern Billing Technologies

  December 13, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  This web seminar will allow attendees to gain insight on what billing and collection issues are impacting the P&C insurance sector and how insurers are differentiating themselves from competitors by implementing modern billing solutions. Attendees will engage with leading analysts from Celent, Novarica and Strategy Meets Action to learn what’s happening in the billing market place today and how to overcome both business and service challenges with modern technologies.

• Controlling Workers’ Comp Costs at Manufacturing Facilities

  December 07, 2011 11:00 am ET

  Industry-leading experts in managing workers’ compensation programs at global manufacturers will share their most successful strategies for controlling costs. Topics to be covered include: * developing a corporate culture of safety; * using cutting-edge technology to reduce risks and incidents; * claims-management tips; * effective return-to-work tactics; * issues to be aware of when temporary workers (a rising trend at many manufacturers) make WC claims; pricing trends; and more.

• Reducing Paper in the Digital Age: New Competitive Advantages for Insurers

  November 17, 2011 12:00 pm ET

  Transitioning from paper to digital is creating a competitive advantage for insurers – not just in cost savings, but improved speed to market and enhanced customer communications – resulting in a direct impact on growth and profit. Join us for a webinar to learn where the opportunities are, what insurers’ plans are, and how you can create new advantages by reducing paper, improving workflows, and enhancing communications. SMA research reveals that there is a shift in spending as insurers focus on the business value of digitizing documents and correspondence, and increasing e-delivery. Strategy Meets Action will reveal the results of a new research study, based on a survey of Tech Decisions insurance industry subscribers including insurers, agents, and MGAs in North America.

• Advantages of the Programs and Captives Models: Recognizing Opportunities In Your Business

  November 10, 2011 1:00 pm ET

  If an opportunity to expand your business presented itself, would you take it? If it came in the form of a Program or Captive, would you recognize it? Join this web seminar to gain new perspective on Programs Insurance and Captives Solutions, and how these two models can completely transform your business. Zurich Insurance specialists will demystify these two models.

• Improving Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Across the Distribution Chain

  November 09, 2011 1:00 pm ET

  In an environment of continued economic uncertainty, current customers can be more valuable than new customers. Insurers need to cement their existing customer relationships and leverage every customer interaction as a potential opportunity for growth. How many times have you heard companies tell their employees, “We are all in sales”? Yet very few insurers empower their employees, agents or distributors with the tools they need to drive sales at every touch point. Sales growth and customer retention of even a percentage point can be a huge competitive advantage in today’s insurance market. Can you afford to let those opportunities go untouched? This web seminar will discuss how you can empower your staff to boost sales across the value chain – from customer service representatives, to agents and brokers, to third-party service providers.

• Applying New Change Detection Solutions to Enhance Portfolio Performance and Profitability

  November 08, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  As the next step in MSB’s research series on using new sources of risk information to enhance profitability in the P&C industry – join us to find out how new Change Detection solutions can help Commercial and Residential property writers proactively monitor and keep current with the 5-10% of their portfolio that is changing every year. In light of today’s tough economic times, and historically low levels of new home construction and home sales many consumers have opted to reinvest discretionary income into renovating or upgrading their current property. Residential remodeling activity indicators are reaching new heights of activity, and, in some parts of the country, are at a seven-year high.

• Critical Issues in Workers Comp

  November 07, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  Over the past several years, declining economic conditions have conspired to place new pressure on workers compensation results. As a result, two of the main pillars of the workers comp industry—claims frequency and medical costs—have come under increased scrutiny. Two of NCCI’s top subject matter experts will present on these two industry hot topics, offering the latest available data and their forecast for future market developments.

• New Path to Success: Best of Breed Suite with Key Attributes … Common, Single, Depth and Breadth

  November 02, 2011 12:00 pm ET

  What makes best-of-breed suites with stand-alone components unique is that they have a common architecture and UI, single data model, out-of-the-box integration, common rules and process engines and single configuration toolset. The key words are common, single, depth and breadth. When selecting a best-of-breed suite solution, insurers must consider these key words, because many vendors do not meet these criteria. During this event, attendees will learn what business value do best of breed suites offer that can accelerate progress toward strategic goals, while delivering increased business value, market position and return on equity (ROE). Also, what key attributes differentiates best of breed suites and how a best of breed solution can provide lower total cost of ownership and operational risk.

• Technology and Independent Agent Walletshare

  October 27, 2011 12:00 pm ET

  With a prolonged soft market, what do agents expect from their top carriers? Agents expect the most change over the next three years to come in the form of increasing their customer accessibility by expanding customer web transactions, expanding use of mobile technology and increasing more tech automation. But which technology-enabled capabilities are most critical in attracting and retaining the most productive agents? This web seminar, based on recent proprietary survey data from Novarica, looks at what top agents expect from their top carriers, how they prefer to work with these carriers, and the role technology plays in driving relationships and the placement of business. It also delves into agents' future plans for increased production.

• Improving Homeowners Profitability through the Application of Emerging Geospatial Risk Intelligence

  October 06, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  According to Marshall & Swift/Boeckh’s latest research findings, over 90% of the Homeowners Insurance Market is focused on profitable underwriting versus growth initiatives. Insurance companies are trying to stay ahead of the adverse selection cycle by establishing more sophisticated methods of competing on information and intelligence. Driven by the condition of the real estate market, carriers are focusing on understanding the risk exposure of their existing books of business and working on initiatives to properly underwrite and price that risk. This webinar is the latest edition in the Marshall & Swift/Boeckh series about delivering competitive advantage to the industry through a new suite of information solutions. Detailed location intelligence, combined with cutting-edge technology, assists carriers in competing on information through more advanced risk assessment and exposure identification. Moreover, the right location information applied in a strategic manner generates actionable information for underwriting decision support and risk mitigation, while cultivating positive customer relationships. In this session, Marshall & Swift/ Boeckh and partner CoreLogic will review existing and emerging trends in geospatial exposure risk information and discuss best practices around its application and delivery into the underwriting workflow to yield measurable bottom line improvement.

• Legacy Replacement: What About the Data?

  September 29, 2011 12:00 pm ET

  Insurance carriers are spending millions of dollars to escape the clutches of old and brittle legacy systems. Yet many fail to recognize one of the toughest challenges and greatest opportunities of the replacement process, which is how to carry forward, integrate and leverage the data from both the legacy and replacement systems. Most carriers plan only for a one-time, throw-away data conversion rather than creating a broader and more rewarding data strategy. Join us to hear from an industry leading CIO and consultant as to how to not just “convert” the data but leverage it.

• Preparing for Political Unrest: How to Limit Exposure, Select Coverage, and Recover Quickly

  September 27, 2011 1:00 pm ET

  The streets of London and Athens. Cairo, Tripoli, and other capitals across the Middle East and Africa. Thailand, Myanmar, and other nations across Asia. Leadership uncertainty in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America. Wherever you, your company, and your clients do business, recent news events remind us how quickly major cities and countries—including those considered stable—can descend into political turmoil that poses risk to overseas employees, interrupts business operations, and causes serious, even debilitating damage to a policyholders’ property and other critical assets. In this very topical educational session, a leading expert in political risk management will discuss what to be concerned about, how to prepare adequately, and what companies can do to quickly get back on their feet after the storm of protests has passed. This is can’t-miss training for any risk manager operating on a global basis—or for any agent or broker whose clients have an international presence. Attendees to this web seminar event will discuss and explore answers to key questions

• Getting More from Core: Turning Policy Administration into Business Acquisition in a Flat Market

  September 21, 2011 12:00 pm ET

  In today’s turbulent market, many factors are at play working against your business growth. Nervous consumers, cannibalized organizations, and a stagnating marketplace serve to reinforce the need for sustainability, extensibility, and innovation. The basic capabilities of yesterday’s core systems are no longer enough to provide reliability let alone deliver competitive edge. Any industry consultant or analyst will tell you the silo walls are coming down and systems today need to be flexible, with capability to manage and leverage data sources (both internal and external) holistically across the enterprise. Organizations require transparent access to the shared data sources to ensure the right actions at the right time while providing ease of use, speed to market, automation, and innovation to continuously provide new products that open and reach new channels. Join our panel of industry innovators for their perspective and thoughts about delivering more from core.

• Total Exposure Management: Valuing Property, Contents and Business Interruption Exposures for Commercial Property Insurance

  September 13, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  Commercial Property Carriers that write Business Owner Policies (BOP) and Commercial Package Policies (CPP) provide coverage for multiple areas of exposure for their clients. Properly valuing these exposures is the key to understanding risk and executing upon the underwriting strategy of the carrier. For property insurance to value (ITV), the industry has standardized on the methodology behind the exposure valuation. For commercial contents and business interruption, however, there is currently no standard practice. This lack of standardization has led to inconsistencies in underwriting results. Using predictive estimating methodology, carriers can apply a standard valuation methodology to their underwriting process, while preserving no-touch flow through processing. Using a variety of data, predictive estimating eliminates the arbitrary assignment of exposure values and assures that each risk is being evaluated on a consistent, statistically accurate basis. This webinar will discuss the total exposure view, as well as how the predictive estimating methodology can quickly improve your organization’s operating procedures, enhance client and agent relationships and improve your bottom line results.

• Underwriting on the Move: How Mobility Can Streamline the Underwriting Process

  July 27, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  Mobility and wireless solutions play a valuable role in many areas of the insurance business – from smart phone applications that help consumers become safer drivers, to wireless-enabled laptops that support claims adjusters in the field. But what can mobility do to improve underwriting? Join our outstanding lineup of experts with hands-on experience using mobility to streamline the underwriting process. Attendees of this highly informative and thought-provoking web seminar will learn how mobility can support these and aspects of the underwriting process.

• Redefining Insurance Operations with Mobile Solutions

  July 20, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  Mobile technology is transforming how business gets done by maximizing each of their technologies (mobile computing and mobile printing). Join industry experts from two of the leading manufacturers in the Insurance Market in Mobile Technology including Panasonic and Brother Mobile Solutions for a discussion on how insurance operations are being redefined by mobile solutions. Attend this web seminar and you will learn: - Ways Mobile Solutions make Insurance Operations more efficient - Keys for a successful mobile deployment - How to calculate the ROI for a mobile deployment

• The New Edifice of Vacant Property: Protecting Asset Value as Commercial Real Estate Slowly Recovers

  July 12, 2011 1:00 pm ET

  A decade ago, the term “vacant properties” generally meant tumbledown buildings and polluted brownfields that pose a public hazard – or at best, underperforming “grayfields” properties with a few tenants hanging by a thread as vandals gain the upper hand. Today – thanks to recession and a battered commercial real estate (CRE) market – vacant property more often involves valuable, often prime real estate assets that need protection until new or replacement tenants are found. Join us as our panel discusses the ins and outs of managing and mitigating risk in today’s soft commercial property marketplace.

• IBM Insurance Webinar: Using Analytics to Optimize Claims

  June 29, 2011 11:00 am ET

  Some argue that Claims is the product that insurers sell – given it’s the largest expense and has the greatest impact on customer satisfaction. As a result, how you manage the claims process is crucial to your bottom-line. Today’s smarter insurers are using analytics to balance the claims equation of cost and customer service. In this webinar, you’ll hear how one of these companies – Infinity Insurance – is using predictive analytics to evaluate claims and reinvent the processing workflow.

• Claims Transformation – Positioning for the Future

  June 23, 2011 12:00 pm ET

  One might say that the future we have been dreaming about is just around the corner. That has never been truer – especially today in the world of claims. In this webinar we will explore the ways in which claims professionals are using technology to improve operational performance and provide world class customer service to claimants. Join Karen Furtado of advisory firm Strategy Meets Action (SMA) as she shares the latest industry research on the state of claims automation – where it is now and what the future holds.

• When Catastrophe Becomes Commonplace: How to Build Resilient Supply Chains for the New Disruptive Economy

  May 24, 2011 1:00 pm ET

  We’re becoming conditioned to commonplace catastrophe; we’re learning to expect the unexpected. And thanks to the global economy, large-scale disruptions such as the Japanese crisis create global ripple effects that impact any business connected to a global supply chain. The questions then become: in the new, disruptive economy, how do we truly prepare for commonplace catastrophe in our globally interlinked businesses? How do you mitigate risk that can come from any quarter – of the globe? What if the damage to your supply chain or your enterprise is tangible, but not physical? Within the near-infinite universe of things that might go wrong, how do you prioritize and focus limited risk management resources and your investment in insurance coverage?

• Transform Customer Relationships with Analytics

  May 18, 2011 11:00 am ET

  More than ever, you need to improve customer satisfaction to ignite growth and invigorate your profits. But how do you do that when you're bogged down with manual, spreadsheet processes and disconnected customer data? This one-hour webinar will review findings from a recent survey on the presence and impact of business analytics in today’s insurance industry.

• Optimizing Homeowners Inspection Programs through Predictive Modeling

  May 17, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  Property and Casualty Carriers that write homeowners insurance waste millions of dollars every year inspecting homes that lack new findings or actionable underwriting outcomes. Most carriers use homegrown underwriting guidelines to order inspections on new business and renewals. Though carriers recognize the inherent limitations of this approach, they still continue to use it. The industry as a whole experiences a typical success rate of 10-30%, which means at least 70% of inspection dollars don’t offer new, actionable insight on a home or find a state of undervaluation and/or one or more types of condition hazards. How can predictive modeling and external data sources enhance your current risk management strategy? What can you do to transform your inspection program from a cost center into a profit center? How will predictive analytics, data and technology work together to achieve improved inspection results? This webinar will answer all of these questions, while showing you how you can quickly improve your organization’s operating procedures, inspection ROI and bottom line results.

• Avoiding Project Nightmares

  May 13, 2011 12:00 pm ET

  Insurance carriers are spending millions of dollars to replace aging core legacy systems in order to remain competitive. Although carriers and vendors are getting better at project execution many of these mission-critical projects will sub-optimize or fail. One way to reduce the risk of failure is to initiate a periodic, formal Project Health Check process to measure the vital signs of your project and assess the likelihood of success. On this webinar you will hear from industry leading consultants and carrier staff about how, when and what to measure in order to avoid Project Nightmares and keep you company on track for success.

• You Can Make Market Cycles Work for You!

  April 28, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  Join OBPI President Paul Romano and Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer John Chace for an inside look at whats driving today's Specialty Insurance market cycles and how you can use these forces to your advantage. This webinar will provide insight, information and commentary on how to effectively manage for success in this turbulent environment. Paul and John will focus on a variety of issues, including the supply and demand nature of the cycles, the external factors influencing their length and depth, and a look at where the industry is heading in 2011, 2012 and beyond. If you're looking to use market cycles to benefit your business, this is a webinar you won't want to miss!

• Analytics in Action: Improving Business Results

  March 30, 2011 12:00 pm ET

  A perfect storm of increased competition, lackluster investment income, high consumer expectations, and a diversifying market is making it very tough for many insurers to show consistent profits these days. With an abundance of data now available to better understand these dynamics, translating that data into action has become increasingly critical and complex. Attend this webinar to hear an insurer describe their experience with analytics, and for practical tactics for on using analytics and management actions to improve business performance for your company.

• Insurance Executives: Control Your Data, Control Your Decisions

  March 29, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  Data quality has become an increasingly important focus for insurance companies. However, pervasive problems remain. Many firms still prioritize data collection with few, if any, processes in place to verify its accuracy or completeness where it matters most. Large, high-profile national accounts are coded differently across the industry, in some cases producing modeled loss estimates that vary by millions of dollars. And while portfolio-level assessment tools have allowed some companies to gain a better high-level understanding of their data quality, implementing solutions to improve decision-making at the point of underwriting remains a significant challenge. Whether you are beginning the data quality assessment process, looking to complement your current internal initiatives, or simply want to understand why improving data quality at the point of underwriting can improve decision-making, this web seminar will offer insights and valuable opportunities.

• Growing the Midsized Insurance Company

  March 23, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  As carriers face fundamental, potentially game-changing developments threatening their ability to achieve top- and bottom-line growth, insurers have a number of strategic options and support tools available to improve their chances not just to survive, but to prosper. Midsized carriers face a particularly difficult challenge, in terms of overcoming their lack of size and scale in the market at a time when margins are tightening and cost-control is critical, given the likelihood that the economy is not going to rebound substantially anytime soon. We invite you to join our guest panelists as PropertyCasualty360.com Editor Eric Gilkey moderates a discussion on how to position the midsized insurance company for longevity from both a strategic and technology perspective after a brief introduction of the topic from each of our panelists.

• Hard Core: What to look for in Policy, Claims, and Billing

  February 24, 2011 2:00 pm ET

  Core solutions keep the enterprise running. But maintaining these solutions takes up a great deal of time for the IT staff and robs the carrier of opportunities to better use its development resources.

• Gaining a Competitive Edge through New Risk Data and Tools

  February 23, 2011 12:00 pm ET

  With the explosion of external risk data available today combined with new analytics tools and services, insurers are able to better understand, underwrite, and manage risks to extend risk appetite, align risk with the right price, and provide enhanced service before, during, and after a catastrophic event. During this session Strategy Meets Action will present findings from a recent research study on the use and plans of risk data, and Pitney Bowes Business Insight will highlight their new product offerings in Risk Data tools and data offerings.

• Leveraging Content Management & Customer Communication Technologies for Competitive Advantage

  December 15, 2010 12:00 pm ET

  Join us in this roundtable discussion and find out the recent survey results from over 500 insurers what they are saying about their current IT investments and plans for 2011, along with the opportunities they see and the challenges they face as they strive to improve customer communications and content management in their organizations.
  

• Driving Growth in 2011: The Insurance Carrier of the Future

  December 08, 2010 2:00 pm ET

  Join National Underwriter, Ovum/Datamonitor, and IBM as they discuss emerging trends that will define the industry during the coming year. This web seminar will provide many take-away lessons through real-world case studies, illustrating how carriers globally are transforming their processes and businesses while achieving real results.

• Security, Technology & Social Media: Managing Risk and Coverage for the Workplace and the Marketplace

  December 08, 2010 2:00 pm ET

  National Underwriter Property & Casualty has prepared a thought-provoking, insight-filled webinar where our expert panelists will discuss how to manage risk and coverage for the workplace and the marketplace. Join us today!