There may have been a point in time when insurance executives hummed the old Lovin Spoonful tune Do You Believe in Magic? when the CIO walked into the room. Those who believe in the magic of IT have had to change their tune. As Yom Senegor, senior vice president, CIO, and chief strategy officer at Safeco, has said: Technology is not that magical. Its hard work.
Senegor was one of three insurance IT leaders featured on a panel during the opening general session of the Tech Decisions Exposition and Conference (TechDEC) held recently in Seattle, Wash. Joining Senegor were Vittorio Severino, senior vice president and CIO of Hartford Life, and Glenn Headley, CIO of the Republic group of insurance companies. Along with moderator William Jenkins, managing partner of SolvIT Consulting Group, they discussed how technology initiatives increasingly are being linked to the business side of the insurance industry. IT leaders are debating whether to push for leadership of these initiatives or share the responsibility with business leaders.
The role of IT has changed, said Severino. IT departments at one time were innovators for insurance carriers, but the job increasingly has taken on the function of cost saver. Senegor added it is important for the CIO to sit at the table with other top business executives.
Headley asserted CIOs need to transform the perception of what information technology is. You are a business leader first and a technology leader second, he said. Carriers can no longer have an IT strategy. They have to have a business strategy with IT falling within those business plans.
Severino agreed. He said Hartford Life doesnt have an IT strategy. We have a business strategy with an IT component. Senegor added the business and IT partners collectively have to choose the right projects. A lot of good ideas turn bad because of the amount of money that is spent, he said. [IT] can build a great solution, but if the business side doesnt get the value from it, it isnt really a great solution.
The industry has changed drastically over the last decade, Headley pointed out. Ten years ago, I was the promoter of change. Today, Im more the moderator of change, he said. Insurers used to be willing to tackle projects that might take 18 to 24 months to implement, but those days are gone. The business climate changes too much for long-term projects, said Headley.
Success Stories
The TechDEC program was marked by success stories, including one from Citizens Property Insurance Co., the largest Fair Plan insurer in the country. CIO Bruce Wilkinson detailed how Citizens had to create an Internet presence despite the Florida carriers legacy systems. Wilkinson said, Our whole being is to be able to handle a catastrophe. Thats why we were formed.He believes there are five basic pieces to the Citizens success story. He advised those in attendance: Know clearly why you are going to put your company through this process. Obtain strong, well-informed, high-level commitment. Plan very well. Thats a simple statement but a big challenge. Execute the plan ruthlessly. And lastly, communicate openly, honestly, and most important, constantly.
Closing Session
Senegor and Severino were joined by Paul Rolich, contributing editor of Tech Decisions, and Therace Risch, assistant vice president, IT infrastructure, with St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance, for the closing general session. When asked what was the biggest technology priority for their companies, each had a different take. Risch said keeping in compliance with regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, is a top priority with St. Paul. Senegor said keeping systems working before users call in is a priority at Safeco.
At Hartford Life, Severino said it was keeping the lights on. A lot of our budget is spent in nonstrategic areas. With the hard market dictating budget cuts, Severino cautioned carriers, At a certain point you are cutting into the muscle.
Senegor believes it is important the business side and IT understand each others problems. This is a team sport. You have to have trust and respect for each member of the team, he said.
ONLINE TOOLS
New Market Profiles From Jefferson Pilot Financial
Jefferson Pilot Financial, a leading provider of fixed and variable universal life insurance and fixed annuities, has introduced its Market Profile Report (MPR), an online business tool that allows producers to track their in-force business and identify client demographics, market trends, and sales opportunities. The MPR is produced quarterly to show personalized, detailed data in five key areas of a producers block of JPF business: client summary, product summary, product detail, market identification, and marketing pro- gram use.
Bill Seawell, senior vice president, marketing, says the MPR follows the launch of Jefferson Pilot Financials new producer Web site, both of which enable producers to manage their businesses more effectively. All of the sales and marketing data will be rolled into a companywide report enabling JPF to gather sales and marketing intelligence.
Our producers get a comprehensive breakdown of what theyre selling and to whom theyre selling it, which will help them define their target markets or identify new ones, says Seawell. There also is a growing demand among our field partners to assist them in their succession planning opportunities, and the MPR will be of great value in this area.
The MPR will be available to Jefferson Pilot Fi-nancial producers contracted within the previous 12 months and/or those with a minimum prior-calendar-year production of $25,000 in paid annualized premium. Accessed through JPFs producer Web site, two different MPRs are available, showing either data of sales and marketing detail placed in the current calendar year or data for all sales and marketing detail since the agents contract date.
Whos Using What
Canada Life Assurance has gone live with FINEOS Front Office from Fineos Corp., for use in the carriers life and pensions distribution and servicing system. Canada Life will be using the system to service its new German business that it purchased from Prudential plc.
Blue Cross of Jamaica has licensed two solutions from Genelco Software Solutions. The health insurer is using Genelco Group+ and Genelco GroupWeb to manage and administer group health claims for more than 300,000 clients on the island of Jamaica.
Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan and Jackson National Life each have entered into agreements with Coss Development Corporation. The two carriers selected Coss to deliver point-of-sale technology solutions.
Ohio Mutual Insurance Company has signed contracts with AcroSoft Corporation for use of AcroSofts Insurance Content Management solution to integrate information throughout the enterprise.
Folksamerican Reinsurance Company and Greater New York Insurance Group have signed contracts with ImageRight for use of the software companys insurance-focused document management and workflow solution.
QBE Insurance Group, one of Australias largest general insurance and reinsurance groups, has selected AscendantOne, a unit of ISO, to provide multistate, multiline commercial lines rate-quote, underwriting, policy administration, and account management capabilities for its direct insurance operations.
FBL Financial Group, a financial services holding company, has selected the ADMIN product from Systems Engineering Group to process certain fixed, variable, deferred, and immediate annuities and commissions. FBL will use the product for one of its subsidiaries, EquiTrust Life Insurance Co.
CUMIS Group Limited, which owns several Canadian insurance companies, has selected illustrate inc. to provide a flexible point-of-sale illustration system for its agency distribution channel in Canada.
Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., and Safeco all are using Intelligent Delivery Services from NewRiver, Inc., to provide investors with portfolio-specific disclosure documents.
Citizens Insurance Company of America and The Hanover Insurance Company, both members of Allmerica Financial, now are using Applied Systems new Web Bridge technology to offer real-time billing and claims inquiries to agencies using The Agency Manager.
The Hartford Financial Services Group has selected Corporate Systems MedBillPro as its medical invoice management solution for workers compensation. The Hartford also will license Exceed, a comprehensive system for the insurers homeowners insurance line of business, from Computer Sciences Corporation.
Gerber Life Insurance Co. has signed a five-year contract with Antares Management Solutions during which Antares will provide Gerber with business process outsourcing services.
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