In the insurance industry perhaps more than any other, as well as for those in the risk management profession covering their own exposures, risk is the name of the game. Thus it is not surprising that technology vendors are offering a variety of products to help assess and manage fundamental risks.
The following software roundup spotlights several of the newer products in this market space designed to make the job of dealing with risk easier.
o Computer Sciences Corp. last fall released a new component of its risk management and claims system, known as "Riskmaster."
According to El Segundo, Calif.-based CSC, the new product, "Riskmaster Policy," helps businesses and public sector organizations streamline their policy and claims management process. With Riskmaster Policy Management System, users can immediately verify coverage, create detailed reports and automate policy processing activities.
Riskmaster Policy provides the ability to rate, quote and track against claims unlimited policies within one system, the company said. It also offers a real-time, fully integrated policy administration component to underwrite coverage, which can be customized to suit organizations and business needs–such as for self-insured pools.
By integrating policy management, users can automate coverage verification for real-time claims processing, said CSC. The product is designed for self-insured businesses and public entities, insurance pools, third-party administrators and others who issue policies for their members.
The cost is "less than $50,000 to current Riskmaster clients," a company spokesperson said. Further details are available at www.csc.com.
o ESIS Inc., the risk management services arm of ACE USA, has announced enhancements to its "Global RiskAdvantage" product, an online risk management system for both domestic and international programs.
According to Philadelphia-based ESIS, the product enables customers to access their loss and claim information in a flexible format. Scheduled 2008 enhancements include, in the Reporting Module:
o Medical Bill Review Detail Report (summarized and itemized versions).
o Medical Bill Review Summary.
o Medical Bill Review PPO Penetration by Jurisdiction/State.
o Workers' Compensation Conversion Claim Report.
o Auto Repeater Analysis, which provides an analysis of repeat offenders of auto accidents.
Scorecards scheduled for 2008 release include Medical Scorecard (containing summary level data on the client's medical program) and Claims Scorecard, providing a comparison of the clients' performance/key-performance indicators, said ESIS.
Pricing ranges from $500 to $2,500 per user, a company spokesperson said. Further details are available at www.esis.com.
o The Network Inc., a provider of ethics and compliance hotline programs, risk management and critical incident reporting, announced its ad-hoc reporting system, which the company said will better enable organizations to track and measure trends over time and utilize critical organizational data to drive systemic change.
The Norcross, Ga.-based company said the reporting system is designed for organizations seeking a more comprehensive and timely process to access and manage data generated for compliance, service quality and other internal service programs. It also provides instant access to critical information needed to better interpret and analyze their program data and drive future improvements, the company said.
"Our goal is…providing organizations with an extremely reliable, timely and flexible platform for implementing improvements, making better business decisions and achieving results," said Tony Malone, CEO of The Network.
Enhancements to the ad-hoc reporting system include the ability to:
o Build self-service reports by utilizing the system's intuitive report builder tool.
o Ensure security and consistency of custom reports based on user rights.
o Schedule and push specific reports via e-mail to ensure every stakeholder receives relevant and timely information.
o Review a multipaned dashboard of information that's easy to access, query and analyze.
In addition, the reporting system's online platform is designed for easy navigation, sharing and display of all data, the company said. Data collection can be customized to organizational needs to ensure that critical data is gathered.
Users have the option to produce standard reports or self-author their own reports, based on any available data point.
The standard reporting capabilities from The Network are included with the cost of the hotline, a company spokesperson said.
Custom and ad-hoc capabilities depend on the amount of information included in the report. Custom reports start at $500 each. Further details are available at www.tnwinc.com.
o Group 1 Software Inc., a Pitney Bowes Company, has introduced "Centrus Points" and "Centrus Parcels" data solutions for U.S. properties.
Financial services, insurance and other businesses using these products are better able to locate properties, assess risk, determine eligibility for services and manage assets, according to Lanham, Md.-based Group 1.
Centrus Points is a geocoding product that combines parcel centroid-level geocoding precision with Assessor Parcel Number and elevation attributes specifically designed to meet property information and risk analysis needs, the company said.
Centrus Parcels identifies the property boundaries for each parcel, "removing ambiguity related to the location and extent of the actual property," the firm noted.
"The level of precision and detail incorporated into Centrus Points and Parcels provides the critical information required for location-dependent businesses, where the difference of a few feet can significantly impact business decisions," said Kurt Hasbrouck, vice president and general manager, Location Intelligence, for Pitney Bowes Software.
Pricing details were not provided.
o MSB, a provider of building cost data and estimating technology to the property insurance industry, introduced "ReAlign," a solution "designed for residential property reinsurers to better understand certain relevant exposures of cedent books of property business."
"Unlike the issues in the subprime mortgage industry, where subprime loans are bundled into bonds that mask the true risk of the investment, today reinsurers have a way to quickly assess such things as coverage adequacy of ceded books of property business," according to Steven Brewer, vice president of Strategic Initiatives at MSB in New Berlin, Wis.
"Reinsurers that predict the relevant exposures will better understand the extent to which they may be required to pay out in cat events," Mr. Brewer said.
An important benefit of ReAlign is that it "solves unpredictability by analyzing the ceding companies' portfolios for coverage adequacy against MSB's industry database," the company said. "Property matching algorithms in ReAlign ensure accurate, like-to-like comparisons based upon recorded property characteristics."
MSB added that "based on the speed and capabilities of the clients' own systems, large portfolios can be analyzed in as few as five minutes."
Pricing information was not provided. Further details are available at www.msbinfo.com.
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