The Chronicle: Issue 2012-05, January 31, 2012

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

Claims

Symbility and Marshall & Swift/Boeckh Join Forces to Create a Best-of-Breed Solution for the Property Claims Industry.
TORONTO, ONTARIO and MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN -- (January 25, 2012) Symbility Solutions Inc.®, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Automated Benefits Corp.® , and Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Decision Insight Information Group, today announced that they have entered into a definitive arm's length agreement under which Symbility will acquire MSB's claims division in exchange for the issuance to Decision Insight of such number of common shares of Automated Benefits.

FINEOS: New System Provides Full Cycle Claims Management.
Dublin, Ireland, January 23, 2012 - FINEOS Corporation, a market leading provider of core software solutions for insurance, today announced that one of the largest managing agents in the Lloyd's market has gone live with FINEOS Claims. The solution provides full cycle claims management for claims arising from the company's operations in Property, Contingent Lines, Marine, and Reinsurance.

Accenture Support helps XL Group Unveil Multi-Channel Insurance Claims Customer Portal .
NEW YORK; Jan. 24, 2012 - XL Group plc ("XL") has unveiled a new multi-channel customer portal, which was created with the help of Accenture , based upon XL's global claims system, XL GlobalClaim. The XL GlobalClaim Customer Portal provides customers with access to claims information via the XL website at www.xlgroup.com/insurance, and through mobile devices and applications like the iPhone1.

Guidewire Solution for Claims Management Selected by Auto-Owners Insurance Group.
LANSING, Michigan and SAN MATEO, Calif., January 26, 2012: Auto-Owners Insurance Company (Auto-Owners), a leading U.S. property/casualty (P/C) insurer, and Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE), a provider of core system software to P/C insurers, today announced that Auto-Owners has selected Guidewire ClaimCenter® as its new claims management system. The company will implement ClaimCenter to support the management of its commercial and personal lines claims.

Survey: Telematics and Insurance in Canada

Telematics is changing the automobile insurance landscape in many countries around the world.

This brief survey is designed to capture your perspective on telematics in Canada. It is for everyone, whether you know little (nothing), some or a lot about telematics. The survey will be open until Friday Feb 10.

Learn more - attend the Insurance Canada Technology Conference where telematics will be the topic of "Telematics: Learning to Drive in the New Landscape" - a panel discussion featuring subject matter experts.

"The New Landscape"
Social Business, Mobile, Analytics, Modern Technology

10th Annual Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference
Sheraton Centre Hotel (Toronto) - Monday, March 5th, 2012
Details of the Conference.

Technology

IBM Brings the Power of Analytics to Social Business.
ARMONK, N.Y. - 16 Jan 2012: IBM today unveiled new software and services that delivers comprehensive networking capabilities to the increasingly social savvy workforce. Now, organizations can apply analytics to their social business initiatives, allowing them to gain actionable insight on social networking sentiment anytime, anywhere and put it to work in real-time.

Gartner Says Nearly One Third of Organizations Use or Plan to Use Cloud Offerings to Augment Business Intelligence Capabilities.
Egham, UK, January 25, 2012 - Nearly one third of organizations either already use or plan to use cloud or software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings to augment their core business intelligence (BI) functions, according to Gartner, Inc. According to a survey of 1,364 IT managers and business users of BI platforms in the fourth quarter of 2011, only 17 percent of organizations have replaced or plan to replace parts of their core BI functions with cloud/SaaS offerings.

Marketing and the Market Place

Manulife and John Hancock Investor Sentiment Surveys Indicate Canadian Investors More Optimistic than Americans.
TORONTO, Jan. 25, 2012 - North American investors are feeling optimistic, according to Investor Sentiment Index (ISI) surveys conducted by both Manulife Financial and John Hancock. In the first-ever comparison of the two surveys, results suggest that Canadians are nearly twice as likely to view the present as a "good" or "very good" time to be investing in a range of investment vehicles as are their American counterparts.

Foresters unveils new brand.
Toronto, ON, January 25, 2012 - Foresters™, a life insurance provider for more than 135 years, has revealed its new brand. The contemporary brand identity has been designed to reinforce and further communicate Foresters purpose: to enrich the lives of its members, their families and the communities where they live.

Social Business

eMarketer: Facebook Commerce Holds Promise for Retailers.
JANUARY 20, 2012 - Social media and ecommerce have evolved since 1-800-FLOWERS launched the first Facebook storefront in July 2009. Internet users have become more comfortable with online buying on Facebook as they spend more time on the site.

Business of Insurance

Foresters™ company Unity Life of Canada renamed Foresters Life Insurance Company.
Mississauga ON, January 23, 2012 - As of January 23, 2012, Unity Life of Canada, a Foresters™ company, has changed its name to Foresters Life Insurance Company1. The name change symbolizes the continuing evolution and growth of the company following its acquisition by Foresters in 2008.

Reference and Statistics

MIB Life Index Reports U.S. Life Insurance Activity Rose .2% in 2011.
Braintree, MA. (January 24, 2012) - The MIB Life Index showed marked resilience in 2011. A strong December, up +5.8% year-over-year, contributed to year-end results that were slightly positive, up +0.2% YTD all ages combined, according to the MIB Life Index. This is the third consecutive year where the Index finished close to parity.

Insurance in the Community

Aviva Community Fund: A million reasons to celebrate!
January 25, 2012 - Aviva Canada Inc. is pleased to announce the recipients of the third Aviva Community Fund competition, and this year Canadians helped select 12 worthy ideas representing communities nationwide. A total of one million will be awarded to these diverse local projects, including school yards in Ontario and Alberta, an animal rescue facility in British Columbia and a youth camp in Quebec, among others. This unique competition created by property and casualty insurer Aviva Canada aims to lead, empower and support community initiatives across the country.

Consumer Information

IBC says: At the end of Crime Stoppers Month "Take the time, learn about insurance crime".
TORONTO, Jan. 25, 2012 - Nearing the end of Crime Stoppers Month, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) urges Canadians to take the time to learn about - and report suspected - insurance crime. Insurance crime - and fraud in particular - is a serious problem right across Canada and we all pay for it in the form of increased premiums.

Equitable Life of Canada® is proud to announce the launch of a new Drug Plan Management Toolkit.
WATERLOO, ON, Jan. 23, 2012 - Equitable Life of Canada® is proud to announce the launch of a new Drug Plan Management Toolkit. The drug landscape in Canada is clearly shifting. Examples include generic price regulations, demand shift driven by demographics and drug innovation in the treatment of common and rarer diseases.

TIRF to conduct follow-up study on female drunk drivers.
The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) is pleased to announce that it has been contracted by The Century Council to conduct a follow-up study to its report, State of Knowledge: Female Drunk Drivers. This U.S. report was released in December 2011.

from Doug:

In one way the Insurance Canada Technology Conference is like a symphony orchestra. There are many musicians playing many instruments under a director and the combined efforts of all of those pieces is to make a beautiful piece of music. At the moment we are in early rehearsal stages. Many of the musical numbers (topics and speakers) have been selected, the artists (sponsors) are booked, the tickets are on sale and advertising underway, the interlude (Award ceremony) is being planned, and special guest seating is being arranged (sponsors selecting their exhibit locations). Meanwhile there are a lot of unseen people arranging all the technical details behind the scenes. Like a live symphony performance, the conference will unfold as it will on the day of performance. Until then at times it seems more like a circus. In any case, the journey is always interesting, often challenging, never boring.

Subscribe here or view past issues.