The Chronicle: Issue 2012-18, May 1, 2012


The Intersection: Insurance-Canada.ca BlogWhat's Going Through The Intersection of Insurance and Technology, an Insurance-Canada.ca Blog.


Distribution

Brovada chosen by Lanark for broker connectivity.
Toronto, ON - April 18, 2012 - Lanark Mutual Insurance Company has chosen Brovada's NexExchange and NexCenter product suites to provide real-time inquiry and new business upload capabilities to their brokers.

iClarify rolls out to Alberta Brokers.
Toronto, ON April 24, 2012 SCM Risk Management Services (RMS) is pleased to announce the launch of iClarify Services to Alberta Brokers using the Compu-Quote and PowerQuote platforms. The initial launch is focused within the cities of Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Red Deer and Medicine Hat with enhanced data and imagery continuing to go live throughout 2012.

Applied Systems to Support Canadian eDocs.
University Park, Ill. - April 25, 2012 - Applied Systems and the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) today reaffirmed the company's commitment to furthering standards in the Canadian insurance market with the adoption of the Centre for Studies in Insurance Operations (CSIO) eDoc XML standard, which will allow for electronic documents to be transmitted in broker downloads.

Brovada and Pembridge launch next phase of broker connectivity.
Markham, ON - April 16, 2012 - Pembridge Insurance Company announces today the launch of Broker Connectivity Property Upload, the third phase of a joint venture with Brovada Technologies that offers real-time transactions aimed at improving broker workflows.

Celent - North American SnAppshot: Advisors - An Overview of Mobile Apps
April 17, 2012 - In a new report, North American SnAppshot: Advisors, Celent explores some of the technology and business issues wealth management firms are facing as they develop mobile applications for their advisors. Celent estimates that 664 million smartphones and 115 million tablets will be sold in 2012, and smart device growth is fueling advisor interest in using these devices to help manage their practices.

Policy and Product Management

MajescoMastek's STG Policy Administration for Commercial Auto Fleets In Production with CNA Canada.
New York, NY, April 25, 2012 - MajescoMastek, the insurance industry's enterprise application specialists and the U.S. subsidiary of global technology solutions provider Mastek Limited today announced that CNA Canada went into production with MajescoMastek's STG Policy Administration to administer its commercial auto fleet line of business.

OneShield - Virtual Viewpoint: Creating Enterprise Configuration.
March 22, 2012 - This Week's Question: How do you extract maximum value from system configurability throughout the enterprise? Today, it is a given that all modern core systems are configurable, but few systems truly provide the advanced configurability insurance companies need for the future. The industry has come to expect that the product areas-rates, rules, forms, and product definitions-are configurable.

Risk Control Technologies Inc Helps Breathe New Life Into Shelter Insurance Loss Control: A Case Study.
Is your loss control department still using a manual or paper-based approach? If so, read this case study to find out how a major insurer automated its loss control operations and leveraged mobile technology to achieve a massive ROI. This case study provides an overview of the Shelter Insurance loss control operation before and after implementing a loss control management platform with mobile capabilities.

Technology

SAS® : Latest version Fraud Framework for Insurance improves investigations, saves time.
SAS GLOBAL FORUM, ORLANDO (Apr. 23, 2012) - Insurance fraud is escalating - up 19 percent since 2009, says the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). To detect more fraud, reduce false positives and improve investigator efficiency, insurers now have the latest version of SAS Fraud Framework for Insurance, from the leader in business analytics software and services.

Accenture Study Finds High-Tech Companies Face Challenges Keeping Pace With New Cloud-Based Business Models.
NEW YORK; April 23, 2012 - High-tech companies are struggling to transform their traditional business models of shipping hardware products or packaged software to more complex business models of providing new services based on cloud computing, new Accenture research has found.


White Paper: Evaluating Core Systems in the Cloud - SaaS for Policy, Billing or Claims

Exigen Transitioning core systems to software-as-a-service (SaaS) represents one of the cloud's biggest pay-offs for insurers. This complimentary white paper helps insurance business and technology managers to evaluate the SaaS option and arrive at the right strategy by explaining:

Download the white paper.


Business of Insurance

PwC : Insurance industry: Key tax rates and updates (2011- 2012).
Insurance industry: Key tax rates and updates features selected recent tax changes and cases, and tax rates.

Reference and Statistics

Aon: Managing Defined Pension Plans Remains a Challenge According to the First Quarter Results for 2012.
TORONTO, April 11, 2012 - Despite the strong rally of equity markets in the first quarter of 2012 the financial status of pension plans has improved only slightly, according to Aon Hewitt, the global human resource solutions business of Aon plc. The median pension solvency funded ratio of a large sample of pension plans has increased from 68% at the end of 2011 to only 69% at the end of March, 2012.

ISO/PCI/III: USA P/C Insurers' Full-Year Results Deteriorated In 2011 as Catastrophe Losses Spiked, But Fourth-Quarter Results Tell a Different Story.
JERSEY CITY, N.J., April 16, 2012 - Private U.S. property/casualty insurers' net income after taxes fell to $19.1 billion in 2011 from $35.2 billion in 2010, with insurers' overall profitability as measured by their rate of return on average policyholders' surplus dropping to 3.5 percent from 6.6 percent.

Claims

CGI: Major partnership with Groupement des assureurs automobiles.
MONTREAL, April 25, 2012 - Groupement des assureurs automobiles (GAA) and CGI Group have signed a five-year contract renewal for the distribution of Fichier central des sinistres automobiles du Québec (FCSA) data, a key source of information for automobile insurers in the underwriting process.

Marketing and the Market Place

eMarketer: Canada Online Ad Spending to Hit $3 Billion in 2012.
APRIL 25, 2012 - eMarketer forecasts online ad spending in Canada will reach CA$3.08 billion ($3.11 billion) in 2012, an increase of 16.3% over 2011. Robust growth will continue through the forecast period, with spending topping out at CA$4.51 billion ($4.55 billion) in 2016.

Consumer Information

CAMH Launches Self-Help Web Site and Mobile App for Problem Gambling.
April 03, 2012 (Toronto) The Problem Gambling Institute of Ontario (PGIO) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) today launched a new and unique option in the continuum of care for individuals and families affected by problem gambling: online self-help tools. Anonymous, free, and accessible any time of day from a computer with an internet connection, these new tools can help the approximately 333,000 Ontario adults and approximately 29,000 students who are affected by problem gambling, but who usually do not seek help.

Pembina study finds Toronto-area drivers would pay to expand rapid transit and beat gridlock.
April 21, 2012 - TORONTO - Drivers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) are willing to pay for alternatives to commuting on congested roads five days a week, according to a new transportation study released by the Pembina Institute. The study includes a survey of drivers in the GTA who face a daily commute of at least 30 minutes each way.

from Doug:

Income Tax day. I managed to defer the processing of all those pieces of paper that have arrived over the last months until almost the last possible day. But processed they did get and netfiled have been the taxes; monies owing paid and I am glad it is almost over. I say almost as I now realize I made a mistake in an area I had not been before, so there will be some explaining to do and more money to pay. Oh well, at least step one is done.


Subscribe here or view past issues.