James D. Lester, III
AFLAC
Senior vice president and chief information officer

Patton without his tanks. Shakespeare without a quill. Newton without his apple (or was that Steve Jobs?). What good is an innovative strategic vision without the tools to turn it into reality?

After 35 years of working with computers and more than 20 years in the insurance technology arena, James D. Lester, III, senior vice president and chief information officer of AFLAC, has long recognized the value his own technology tools bring in helping him implement his leading-edge plans at one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S.

Hes been in the field his whole career, and hes more excited about it now than ever. These are the best of times, he says, speaking about the state of technology, and there are even more fun times coming.

So, what kind of personal technology does an automated executive like Lester use? Im very picky about my notebook computer, he says, and Ill replace it immediately if I dont like it. Currently, hes satisfied with his ultra-thin Toshiba Portege 2000 notebook, which weighs in at less than three pounds. He prefers the diminutive size and gets access to his peripherals by using a docking station at work and connecting to the three-computer XP network in his house.

At work, Lester keeps a small personal scanner on his desk, which he uses to scan in anything he wants to store or take with him on the road. The PaperPort software that came with the scanner indexes it all. I can right-click on any Web site and drop that in as well, which is also very handy, he adds.

He uses a Visor handheld device so he always has his addresses and task list handy. My favorite application is a shareware program that lets me keep all of my IDs and passwords in an encrypted file, he says. The Visor synchronizes with his Outlook software, of course. He currently uses a Sprint cell phone but anticipates a change to a phone that will handle both the U.S. and Japanese phone systems. If I cant find one I like, Ill just get a DoCoMo phone for Japan, he adds. (NTT DoCoMo is Japans largest phone company.) It is his Olympus digital camera that he singles out for honorable mention, purely for personal use.

In the Navy

Lester started his career in the navy in 1967, working with Grace Hopper at the Pentagon on COBOL standards. He went on to major in computer sciences at Georgia Tech. After getting his masters degree there, he spent 10 years in corporate America IT before starting his first company in 1979. That company built property and casualty software, and after 11 years he sold it to a P&C carrier.

His next company, Portable Systems Technology, built sales force automation products and acquired AFLAC as a client in 1992. Lesters company developed the SmartApp software that AFLAC usesquite successfullyand AFLAC purchased Lesters company at the beginning of 1999. Lester joined AFLAC as CTO and was promoted to CIO in 2001.

AFLAC, originally American Family Life Assurance Company, is a $9.6 billion company that writes supplemental insurance policies sold through worksite marketing. AFLAC is also the largest foreign insurer operating in Japan, insuring 25 percent of the population.

We get a million and a half applications a year, Lester says, and 85 percent of those come in electronically. Thats where his SmartApp software comes in. AFLACs agents use a laptop computer with a signature pad device attached to the serial port. Those applications are completed and transmitted electronically. Over half of those54 percent, to be specificare jet-issued the next day, using straight-through processing, he adds. Jet-issue refers to business that is complete enough and clean enough to be processed on the first pass, without the need for any back-and-forth communications or unusual underwriting considerations.

More to Come

Even 24-hour turnaround isnt good enough for Lester. AFLAC has been working with IBM at its software research center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to implement J2EE on a mainframe. Were taking our legacy assembler code and wrapping it with Java, he explains, and the development is going well. AFLAC expects to implement true real-time processing on its mainframe later this year, trimming processing time from one day to literally minutes.

Lesters personal use of automation lets him stay in control of a large operation that grows each year, while the tools he uses get smaller and faster.

Says Lester: Im actually jealous of my younger colleagues because theyre going to be around for more of the newer technologies than I will.

Special Reports /

A glimpse inside the personal technology arsenal and strategies that empower todays leading insurance IT professionals.

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