The Chronicle: Issue 2011-42, October 18, 2011
Claims
Guidewire Solution for Claims Management Selected by Groupe Promutuel.
QUEBEC CITY, Quebec and SAN MATEO, Calif., October 13, 2011: Groupe Promutuel ("Promutuel"), one of Quebec's largest Property/Casualty (P/C) insurers and Guidewire Software, a provider of core system software to P/C insurers, today announced that Promutuel has selected Guidewire ClaimCenter® as its new claims management system for all personal, commercial and farm lines of business across its 27 independent member companies.
FINEOS Claims Global Summit 2011 Successfully Concludes in San Francisco.
Dublin, Ireland, October 14, 2011 - FINEOS Corporation, a market leading provider of claims management software, has just concluded its fifth annual customer event, the FINEOS Claims Global Summit in San Francisco. Based around the theme of 'Transformational Claims Initiatives', the event drew participants from over 25 organizations from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Europe.
eBusiness and Technology
Eastern Shore Consulting: "Nearshore Nova Scotia" by Bill Garvey.
Offshore outsourcing rates can make the price tag of a long project not look so bad, but offshore brings communication and cultural barriers. Dramatic time zone differences make the ever-popular agile project, which needs proximity of teams, impractical. It's tough to ignore offshore rates, but projects live on spreadsheets only until they begin, and there are nearshore alternatives.
Gartner Special Report Examines How the iPad and Media Tablets Are Impacting the Future of Computing.
STAMFORD, Conn., October 10, 2011 - Multitouch on the iPad and other media tablets has liberated users from the hardware keyboard and pointing device (aka the mouse), and as media tablets become more commonplace, users will expect the convenience and simplicity of multitouch user interfaces when they interact with other computing devices, according to Gartner, Inc.
Our People
MCCG Seeks Business Analyst.
MCCG (Mutual Concept Computer Group Inc), recognized as a leading provider of back-office solutions for Farm Mutual Insurance companies, seeks a Business Analyst to join our Client Relations team and support MCCG's growing client base. MCCG, a mutually-owned software development & services company located in London Ontario, is a leading provider of The Insurance Business Solution Platform (IBSTM) suite of products, developed by the company to deliver functionality that dramatically enhances the way their Farm Mutual clients do business.
Marketing and the Market Place
IBM STUDY: Digital Era Transforming CMO's Agenda, Revealing Gap In Readiness.
ARMONK, N.Y. - 11 Oct 2011: A new IBM study of more than 1,700 chief marketing officers from 64 countries and 19 industries reveals that the majority of the world's top marketing executives recognize a critical and permanent shift occurring in the way they engage with their customers, but question whether their marketing organizations are prepared to manage the change.
LIMRA: Five Things That Insurers Need to Know to Capture More U.S.A. Retiree Assets.
WINDSOR, Conn., Oct. 5, 2011 - A new LIMRA study reveals that 45 percent of retirees still have their assets in their retirement savings plans with their employers, most frequently in their 401(k) plans, and almost a fifth of retirees own three or more IRAs in their households.
eMarketer: Company Websites Top Source of B2B Leads.
OCTOBER 10, 2011 - More than any other marketing format, the company website is an all-encompassing resource where potential buyers can learn about, find and buy the products and services they need to run their business. Corporate websites may be valuable for buyers; they're also valuable for business-to-business (B2B) lead gen marketers.
Finance Canada: Online Insurance Business Regulations Balance Marketplace Competition and Consumer Choice.
Calgary, October 11, 2011 - At the office of a Calgary insurance broker the Honourable Ted Menzies, Minister of State (Finance), today announced government regulations that prohibit the promotion and sale of unauthorized insurance products by banks on their web pages.
Business of Insurance
OSFI Annual Report 2010-2011 "Taking a Measured Approach": Comments by Julie Dickson, Superintendent.
Taking a measured approach speaks to our dialogue with the financial services industry to find a balance between the free operation of market forces and necessary regulation. This was particularly important in 2010-2011, as Canadian financial institutions began to rebound after the global financial crisis and sought opportunities to grow.
Policy and Product Management
ISO Announces New Tools for Automating ISO Rating.
JERSEY CITY, N.J., October 12, 2011 - ISO announced today the availability of newly formatted algorithm files to accompany ISO Rating Service® and ISO Electronic Rating Content. Now, the rating data and the rules for acting upon the rating data are in formats that can be uploaded to a policy administration system. The new algorithm files provide implementation-level details for four main functions:
Social Business
Celent: Using Social Data in Claims and Underwriting.
October 10, 2011 - In a new report, Using Social Data in Claims and Underwriting, Celent outlines uses of social data in core insurance operations, identifies the policy decisions that should shape an insurer's social information strategy, and raises technical issues and possible solutions specific to the unique characteristics of social data. The objective of this investigation is to provide insurers with practical considerations to unlock the value of social networks for claims and underwriting.
Insurance-Canada.ca Mini-Survey
Report: How Many Use Mobile Technology?
- Mini-survey by Insurance-Canada.ca
Thanks to the 140+ people who responded to this survey about the relative use of mobile technologies for personal and business use by those who are involved with the insurance industry in Canada.
Some notes:
Read the survey overview report.
Reference and Statistics
ISO/PCI/INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE: Property/Casualty Insurers' Profits and Profitability Tumbled In First-Half 2011 As Catastrophes Ravaged Underwriting Results.
JERSEY CITY, N.J., October 7, 2011 - Private U.S. property/casualty insurers' net income after taxes fell to $4.8 billion in first-half 2011 from $16.8 billion in first-half 2010, with insurers' overall profitability as measured by their annualized rate of return on average policyholders' surplus decreasing to 1.7 percent from 6.4 percent.
MIB Life Index Reports U.S. Life Insurance Activity Off 3.4% in September.
Braintree, MA. - (October 12, 2011) After three consecutive months of expansion, U.S. application activity for individually underwritten life insurance fell by-3.4% in September, year-over-year, all ages combined according to the MIB Life Indexsm.. The drop marked this year's largest percent decline and all but erased June through August gains which were unseasonal for this summer period. Year-to-date (YTD), the Index is off -0.6%, back to pre-June levels, compared to the same nine months last year.
Consumer Information
InsuranceHotline.com: The Most Common Traffic Tickets and Their Impact on Your Insurance Rates.
Traffic violations are often seen as minor offences, things everyone does now and then that really are not a big deal. While they may be common and far from the worst violation of the law most people can think of, getting a traffic ticket can have a big effect on your insurance rates. The most common traffic tickets are the ones that happen every day; the small things people don't think about until they are caught - or worse, involved in an accident.
I.C.B.C. drivers' top 10 excuses for using a cellphone behind the wheel.
October 6, 2011 - Excuses, excuses. That's what police across the province heard last month from B.C. drivers who were caught using a hand-held device while driving. During the month-long crackdown in September on distracted driving, police estimate they issued more than 3,500 tickets to drivers for using electronic device behind the wheel.
from Doug:
The "Occupy Wall Street" (Toronto version) started early last week with a growing but small number of people in a park about two blocks away. Friday it moved to the park kitty-corner from our condo. I wandered over a couple of times but I must have missed anything significant. People were milling about; in places there were as many media people as participants. Three policemen with their bicycles were standing around at our condo entrance (under the overhang out of the drizzle at the time). Other than a few speeches over loudspeakers and a set of drums that someone was intent on playing all day and evening, but not at night thank goodness, the whole thing seemed like a typical (i.e. not a G20 or hockey-final riot) Canadian protest.
Although I may not sound overly sympathetic, I do agree with several of the underlying issues they are trying to address.