Who's Who, 2001

Its been said that when a company gets to be too big, the right hand doesnt know what the left hand is doing. In the case of MetLife, each of its enterprises knew what it was doingbut they were more like individual dots on the map, instead of a single nation. With a challenge to more than double the number of customers over the next decade, sharing data throughout the enterprise became an important starting point.

We have major databases with a ton of information in them, but they are not the gold copy, said Tony Candito. Theyre integrated well, but we dont have one to spin all these products. We have islands of information and we needed to bring them all together.

MetLife found there were only a few industry-leading products capable of such a project, especially for a company MetLifes size. And when MetLife CEO Robert H. Benmosche challenged the company to take that customer figure to 100 million by 2010, the project team also knew that it had to find a solution that could handle growth.

The solution Candito and his team came up with was surprising to somea small, Toronto-based company called DWL, whose Customer product is designed to connect the disparate databases many carriers have and create a single, customer-centric view.

Thats just what MetLife needed, and why it ended up turning to DWL to create itto blend data from its divisions into one gold copy of each MetLife customer, according to Candito. DWLs size and hungriness helped, too. As Candito put it, the vendor had never scaled it to this level. DWL will benefit from this project, too, because they had to put their nose to a 100 million customer window.

Thats helped Candito and the DWL people establish a good relationship. This is an incredibly important marketing tool for them, so it is important that we be successful, he explained.
It is hard to argue when Candito calls the project a huge undertaking. Integrating inconsistent data from various sources is painstaking work. He said its the companys biggest challenge, but support from throughout the organization has made the project possible.

We have exceptional data model and data administration people on our team, he said, adding that the expertise comes from both sides, with DWL offering extremely talented technical people as well.

Currently, the product is undergoing stress testing at IBM labs. (When you have 33 million institutional customers, nine million individual customers, and another two million international customers, stress is a good word to describe the tests.)

Candito said it was a great help to have his former boss, Bob McKinney, work on the project one week a month. McKinney brings more long-term experience to the project, having been CIO with five major financial services companies over his career.
But projects this size dont succeed unless someone at the very top offers support. For MetLife, thats Benmosche. Hes the guy with the vision to drive this thing, Candito said. Without a strong leader, this would be difficult to do. RRH

Ralph Carlile
Director of Information Technology Grange Insurance Co.www.grange.com
NET WRITTEN PREMIUM: $114 million
AGE: 48
EXPERIENCE: Senior director of technical systems for Allstate; claims software developer for Claimsdesk.com
WORKING HOURS: 6:00 a.m. to between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m., five to six days a week
STAFF SIZE: 32
APPROX. ANNUAL BUDGET: Undisclosed
FAVORITE ELECTRONIC TOY: Compaq iPAQ PDA
PROJECT: Implementing a major back-office software change at a new company

Stepping into a management position with a new company is never easy. Stepping into a CIO position with a new company thats about to undergo a major software and business changewell, lets just say thats not an ideal situation. Ralph Carlile found himself in that position at Seattles Grange Insurance when he accepted the IT director position at the regional P&C carrier. Not only did he need to earn the trust and loyalty of a new staff, but he also had to help lead a company transformation at the same time.

Grange was in the midst of a search for a new policy, billing, and claims system when Carlile was hired in April. He got there in time to offer some suggestions as the company chose Applied Systems.

Our intention was to move off the mainframe to a client/server environment, Carlile said. Other products performed similarly, but most were offered through an ASP. I wasnt interested in an ASP, he said. There were areas I did not want to relegate to someone elses hosting.

Grange made a fundamental shift in its operating style when it hooked up with Applied Systems. Rather than change the software to the business needs of the company, the company decided to change some of its business processes to work with the software. But Carlile admitted that its a lot easier to do that from the executive offices than from a cubicle in the IT department.

Claims people are asking, OK, how do I get my job done? There were some painful points, but Applied has experience with companies similar to us. It found what will work for companies our size, he said.

Making a change of that scale means getting buy-in from the departments that will be using the new software and learning the new processes. So while the IT department is managing the project, representatives from the companys core business areas are involved in each step. So is senior management, which is keeping focused on the bottom-line reasons for the changes. (According to Carlile, many projects fail because senior management is all over the map.)

The company is rolling out the new system and product a state at a time, starting with personal auto coverage in Idaho in May 2002. Carlile chose that state and that coverage because the companys exposure there is big enough to test the new procedures, but not too big in case they hit some bumps in the road.

Carlile knows that a new person stepping into a departments top slot is always a traumatic process, but he said his staff of 32 has proven to be a bright spot. And they were put to the test: With the change from a mainframe to a client/server system, there were people who needed to learn new skills if they wanted to stay.

We opted to train people who want to move forward, Carlile said. We preferred that instead of making layoffs. They are acquiring new sets of skills and they are responding positively. RRH

Donna Miele-Cesario
Vice President of Information Technology ProMutualGroup www.promutualgroup.com
NETWRITTEN PREMIUM: $130 million (2001 projected)
AGE: 52
EXPERIENCE: Eleven years managing ProMutuals IT group
WORKING HOURS: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
STAFF SIZE: 18
APPROX. ANNUAL BUDGET: $4 million
FAVORITE ELECTRONIC TOY: MP3 Player
PROJECT: Implementing a large new transaction processing system and imagingsolution

Two years ago, Donna Miele-Cesario took a good look at ProMutual Groups technology assets and came to the realization that there was some catching up to do. Her goals became updating the companys existing systems to more reliably handle hundreds of thousands of records while protecting the quality of the data. She also wanted to establish a system to alleviate underwriters dependency on paper for coverage confirmation.

At that time, the sore thumb was ProMutuals transaction processing systema solution developed by Mayfare Software Solutions (formerly JP Sedlak Associates). Miele-Cesario said the system seemed clunky because it was all server, character-based, slow to change, and could not handle Web-enablement.

It was time to replace the legacy system. Surprisingly, Miele-Cesario looked no further than the company that developed the original transaction processing technology: Mayfare. And betting on Mayfare proved to be a solid decision, according to Miele-Cesario, because the conversion was less nastyafter all, her staff already knew the inner workings of the previous software model.

Almost 18 months since that decision, the implementation (and porting to AIX) of Mayfares Insurance Solutions for Windows (IS4W), a generic, client/server P&C processing system was underway. But at the same time, Miele-Cesario felt something was missing. To round out the project, she decided to add a document imaging system that could handle all the policy documents from the transaction processing solution, and ultimately output files for underwriter review.

After spending much of 2000 pouring over price sheets, product descriptions, and holding initial conversations with vendors, Miele-Cesario turned to Tower Technology for its Integrated Document Management (IDM) solution. Initial server installation and porting to AIX was performed in January. Even though ProMutuals two new solutions were implemented separately, having them both on AIX systemsand using ActiveXeased integration.

To Miele-Cesarios delight, convincing top executives to sign over some significant budget dollars was easy. After making a detailed strategic plan, she found her ideas were in line with the companys business goals for 2000-2002; the company had, in fact, set aside $4.5 million for IT investment.

While the money gears were greased, IS4W displayed some sticking points. According to Miele-Cesario, the IT department identified, and subsequently made 200 open notices of, software errors to Mayfare. She said 150 have been closed so far.

We fixed one software error after another post-implementation, she said, adding that the bugs were a result of the vendors failure to conduct thorough beta testing. (Martin Lippiett, executive vice president of Mayfare Software Solutions, confirmed those numbers, noting that the errors date back to the testing phase.)

Miele-Cesario said Tower Technologys IDM is running smoothly but its still fresh.

The scope of this collective project extended across the enterprise. The next-generation processing systemthe heart of the companys revenue streams, as she put itis more fit to manage premiums booked, collected, and returned, as well as claim indemnity and expense payments. The imaging solution mitigates paper dependency, and overall customer service is improved.

Its success represents a leap for ProMutual relative to improving workflow and changing the way we process business, she said. BPR

Scott Huiras
Vice President of Information Technology SecuraInsurance Companies www.secura.net
NETWRITTEN PREMIUM: $210 million
AGE: 50
EXPERIENCE: Previously managing attorney for Secura
WORKING HOURS: About 50 hours a week
STAFF SIZE: 75 in IT and support
APPROX. ANNUAL BUDGET: $7.4 million
FAVORITE ELECTRONIC TOY: Bose Acoustic Wave music system. (Im not really a gadget guy.)
PROJECT: Building, not buying

Disappointed by most vendor offerings, Secura Insurance has gone the build vs. buy route under the leadership of Scott Huiras, vice president of information technology.

We went buy in a big way back in 1990, Huiras said. We licensed a system and then spent years and money not achieving the results we expected. The insurance software industry has been somewhat troubled.

So Secura, a commercial and personal lines insurer serving the upper Midwest, prefers to do the work in-house. I like to say we build through the draft, Huiras said.

Thanks to an IT staff of 75, the company had the manpower to do the development it needed to. And that includes modifying some commercial software; although Huiras is happy with the CSC Series 3 product the company has licensed, his staff built its own front end, and uses the CSC back end for processing.

Our system is really a hybrid, Huiras said.

Huiras, who began with Secura as a claims attorney, was placed on a steering committee for a software project. After that selection process was complete, he decided to move to the IT side of the business.

While some companies are willing to build smaller projects in-housefront ends, check printing systems, and the likeSecuras IT department decided to re-engineer its mainframe system this year to make it online and allow for real-time policy processing something not generally associated with a batch-oriented mainframe.

It was made easier by the fact that Secura was already operating in a customer-centric environment. All our systems revolve around the client database, Huiras said.

Secura took disparate legacy systems and homogenized them in claims, policy administration, and billing so they all feed into an enterprise-wide database. The goal is to have a single architecture in the company, according to Huiras. He said it will allow for uniform presentation and a reduction in overhead.
Secura has also been developing a portal for its independent agents. Called AgentLink, it offers manuals, a claims reporting tool, claims status information, and billing status to its agents. It is imaged internally using a Docucorp form maker, Huiras said. It puts functionality in the agents offices and allows them to turn off the printer. It [will be] a cultural change for our agents.

Huiras said that change is scheduled for January 2002. We have market managers and tech folk out on the road now talking to our agents. The default will be to suppress the print. We think it will be more efficient and save money. Considering the company exceeds $100,000 a year in printing and mail expenses, a small percentage savings could end up adding a lot of dollars to the bottom line.

Huiras is also looking to the future: He serves on an advisory board at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and has established an internship program that has, with just two exceptions, served as a training-ground for future Secura employees. RRH

Mary Scavarda
Chief Information Officer ArgonautInsurance www.argonautinsurance.com
NETWRITTEN PREMIUM: $141.7 million
AGE: 39
EXPERIENCE: 16 years with Argonaut
WORKING HOURS: 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
STAFF SIZE: 38
APPROX. ANNUAL BUDGET: Undisclosed
FAVORITE ELECTRONIC TOY: HP Jornada
PROJECT: Quickly expand systems to handle new markets and areas of business

Extending business into new markets is a sure fire way to grow. When Argonaut Insurance, which writes primarily workers comp policies, identified promising opportunities in the retail and small-business area, executives knew speed to market was a major issue.

Before expanding, Argonaut focused on construction- and tech-based workers comp. Claims generated in those areas were well served by Argonauts proprietary management system, but according to CIO Mary Scavarda, while small business and retail polices are typically smaller (with premiums less than $5,000), the flip side is the larger number of policies to deal with.

Without the luxury of time to develop home-brewed solutions for managing the new traffic that would come with the expanded lines of business, Scavarda looked to vendors. After all, Argonaut made the decision to expand just 15 months ago. Building solutions in-house isnt necessarily quick, she said. There are plenty of vendors out there.

After looking for the right vendor for three months, Scavarda was sold on Insurity. She said the companys Producer Intellisys solution was the most developed, rules-based solution she encountered. As she put it, those qualities made all the difference to the business users. Top-level execs were also pleased, especially after considering the number of people otherwise required to handle the volume of policies.

Initial installation of the Insurity product, which included porting it to a Windows NT and Oracle environment, was done this spring. XML is used as the interface between the Insurity solution and Argonauts proprietary systems. According to Scavarda, Insurity already had such integration in mind, and helped IT leverage Oracles XML facilities for that purpose.
The end result: The product has allowed us to get into a market space wed ordinarily be unable to without lots of bodies, she said. And we were able to do so efficiently.

Scavarda believes the flow of business in the new market is good, with policy counts averaging about 300 quotes per month; she expects that number to jump to between 600 and 1,000 quotes by January.

Because of the solutions HTML-based front end, training end users takes an hour or less, and can even be accomplished by phone. Argonaut hosts the solution, acting as an ASP for its agents who, according to Scavarda, need to enter data on only four screens to get a detailed quotea process that takes no more than five minutes.

The system was designed to be more standards based to work more easily with Argonauts existing management systems. For example, when an agent submits a request for a quote, that request can be forwarded to an underwriter for added review through the XML-based connection. That pleases both the IT staff and the companys general agents.

For an often self-reliant IT group that develops code in-house, inviting outside help can be challenging. But according to Scavarda, the corporate perspective was clear: Speed to new business market is crucial.

Weve always done specialty development, she said. But choosing an outside vendor is not a risky move from an IT perspective. Its a necessity of the business. BPR