Prudential Retirement Offers Customers Web-based Resource

EDUCATION CENTER

Prudential Retirement has launched Signature Online, a Web-based education center that brings together the resources of Pruden-tial and the CIGNA retirement business the carrier acquired in 2004 to offer retirement-plan participants an online experience designed to help them achieve retirement security.
The center is available to all Prudential Retirement clients and their participants and is structured to help participants manage their retirement accounts. Prudential Retirement is a business of Pru-dential Financial, Inc.

With Signature Online, plan participants receive valuable, practical information on a wide range of important topics, including retirement planning, investment management, tax and estate planning, and college savings. Even more importantand consistent with our overall approach to education and communicationall the information can be tailored to each participants distinct set of financial circumstances and needs, says Phil Waldeck, senior vice president of products and advisory services, Prudential Retirement.

The new center has been designed specifically to allow participants to customize and personalize Signature Onlines resources and content. For example, a newly enrolled participant can access articles on the primary concept of asset allocation, while a near-retiree can find information about risk-management, asset distribution, and creating income during retirement, he adds.

INTEGRATION
Safeco Unites Web Site With Comparative Rater

Safeco announced the implementation of direct-to-carrier real-time rating between the Priority-Rate.com Internet-based comparative rating system and Safecos Safeco Now sales platform via an ACORD XML stream. Independent insurance distributors in 35 states now are writing auto insurance with Safeco faster and more efficiently, according to Anne Randall, Safecos vice president, partner integration. Many of our distributors use Priority Data Systems rating solutions every day, she says. This new rating interface will save distributors timetheir most valuable resource.

Prioritys customersindependent distributorswill be able to enter their customers policy information into the PriorityRate.com system and transmit that information into Safeco Now, which then returns a bindable quote to the rating system. Next, policy issuance can be facilitated via an upload bridge back into the Safeco Now system, where the process is completed.

While in the Safeco Now system, distributors can cross-sell eight other personal insurance, commercial insurance, and surety products, including homeowners, dwelling fire, bus-iness-owners, commercial auto, workers compensation, commercial multiperil, business um-brella, and select surety products. Every insurance product application reuses the customer information originally provided by the Priority-Rate.com system, cutting down processing time for applications.

EVENTS
Security, Strategy Among Themes at Annual IASA Conference in Anaheim

Insurance carrier CIOs got insight on security issues and strategic planning as well as some of the important technology issues ahead during the IASA Educational Conference & Business Show held in Anaheim in early June.

Linda McCarthy, executive security adviser for the office of the CTO at Symantec, was the featured speaker at a technology super session focusing on security. She warned IT executives to avoid the 15 minutes of fame that often go to those companies that have suffered security breaches.

While budgets always are a concern for IT leaders, attackers dont worry about budget restraints, McCarthy told the audience. She also warned that proficient attackers often think out of the box and that spam, while normally considered merely a nuisance, now is being used by attackers to spread malicious code.

McCarthy advised CIOs they should not be swayed to put security issues aside when other issues surface. CIOs spend more on compliance than on network protection, she said. Security is a business issue. How much risk can you tolerate? What trade-offs are you willing to take?

Gary Hamel, a visiting professor of strategic and international management at the London Business School, delivered a keynote address on strategy and urged those in attendance to look beyond limitations when thinking about the future. The next big thing never starts out as the next big thing, he said. New ideas can come from anywhere, he pointed out, using the analogy of oak trees and acorns. When acorns fall from the tree, the oak tree doesnt know where the fertile ground is, he said and also stressed the need to be resilient in dealing with new ideas.

A CIO roundtable featured four presentations around which top insurance industry technology professionals could share ideas on issues such as IT delivery models, the continuing technological evolution, open source technology, and working in a multi-CIO organization. The roundtable was part of IASAs Executive Education Program, sponsored by Guy Carpenter; Morgan Keegan; SAP; Teradata, a division of NCR; AT&T; SunGard; CSC; and Satyam.

Brian Coffey, assistant vice president, enterprise applications and business intelligence solutions, at Satyam, spoke at the roundtable on the key parameters within a carriers delivery models. His list included whether IT was centralized or decentralized; the nature of interfaces with business users; the mix of architecture, development, and maintenance budgets; and the talent and leadership available.

The IT shop needs knowledge of how the business units operate, Coffey noted, although he predicted future CIOs will continue to come from within the IT department. Still, he cautioned, a strong understanding of the business is imperative. The ability to do analysis beats skill sets, he said.

Phillip Ehlen, chief architect in the property/casualty division of CSC, surprised some at the roundtable as a proponent of open source technology. The question is not whether to use open source, he said, but where and how to use it.

Many are attracted to open source because of cost reductions, but Ehlen contended, You have to keep your eyes open. There is cost associated with open source. IT has to understand it.
Security and maintenance always are discussed as drawbacks to open source technology. However, Ehlen pointed out proprietary system users constantly are using patches to fix holes in the system. I dont know if open is better, but closed doesnt solve all the issues, he said.

WHOS USING WHAT

Kemper Auto and Home, a Unitrin Company, has integrated ISO HomeValue into its agent policy-quoting system for a streamlined underwriting workflow. Developed by AIR Worldwide Corporation, ISO HomeValue is a Web-based residential replacement cost estimator.

Firemans Fund Insurance Company has deployed FireStorm across its entire agency management field organization. FireStorm is incentive-compensation management software developed by GlobeNet Technologies, Inc.

Sun Life Financials individual insurance and investments and group benefits business units implemented DSPA Softwares newest version of Field Administration Support and Tracking (FASAT) system, including FASATWeb.

Church Mutual Insurance Company has licensed Commercial Intellisys, a Web-based property/casualty policy management system from Insurity Inc., a ChoicePoint Company.

Integrity Life Insurance Company has completed a successful implementation of LIDP Consulting Services Agency Management System. Integrity Life and its sister company, National Integrity Life, members of Western & Southern Financial Group, also implemented three annuity products for each company for new business.

Foresters, a financial services organization based in Toronto, has selected COSS Development Corporation to deliver needs-based financial modeling software to the Foresters sales force in both Canada and the United States on a desktop basis.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has licensed a component of Computer Science Corporations nbAccelerator software to streamline its life insurance underwriting process.

Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Companies licensed Sapiens INSIGHT for Property & Casualty solution suite as the carriers new IT foundation for insurance business processing. The suite includes policy administration, claims, billing, and reinsurance.

Proformance Insurance Company will implement a suite of property/casualty core processing solutions for its insurance business from Fiserv Insurance Solutions. The solutions involved include the Fiserv Reinsurance Solution and three Web-based systems: the Policy STAR policy administration system, the Claims Workstation, and the Fiserv Advanced Billing system.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska has selected HealthTrio Connect as its online platform for providing e-health services to the insurers healthcare community.

Great American Financial Resources, Inc., has completed a data conversion project with the help of Universal Conversion Technologies. The project included the conversion of 30,000 fixed annuity policies from a recent acquisition.

Aflac has implemented Lombardi Softwares Team-Works business process management platform. Aflac deployed TeamWorks to orchestrate its business processes around policy management.

Norwich Union Insurance, the largest general insurer in the UK, is deploying Identify Softwares AppSight Black Box application problem resolution software as part of the insurers strategy to transform application support processes.

Old Mutual Financial Network has converted a block of variable annuities to its own VPAS Life Policy Administration system and deployed them into McCamish Systems BPO operation for policy administration.