This newsletter is for members of the Canadian Insurance Industry, and those who serve it. The newsletter is published weekly, and notes information mostly about the use of the Internet and related technologies in the industry. Some is international, where we feel it is relevant to Canada.
Claims
Disaster Kleenup Canada Announces New Member in New Brunswick.
17th of July 2007, Toronto ON -- Disaster Kleenup International (Canada) Ltd. is pleased to announce the appointment of our newest member in New Brunswick, Dean Daigle Group.
Finding People
InsuranceWorks.ca Launches Refreshed JobSite.
Toronto, ON, July 27, 2007 - InsuranceWorks.ca, Canada's leading insurance jobsite, is pleased to reveal its fresh new look to the world of e-cruiting. Sporting a dynamic new look and improved functionality, the re-vamped InsuranceWorks.ca has kicked it into high gear.
Distribution
NewLink Group announces the launch of The Distribution Service Satisfaction Survey 2007.
Following the success of the inaugural survey in 2006, NewLink is pleased to announce the launch of the 2007 Distribution Service Satisfaction Survey.
Manulife Financial awarded contract by Canada Post to provide Absence Management Solutions.
WATERLOO, ON, July 26, 2007 - Manulife Financial has been contracted by Canada Post to implement its Integrated Absence Solution product for their National Disability Management Program across Canada, representing the largest sale ever for Manulife Financial's Group Benefits business and the largest in the benefits industry since 1995.
Allstate Insurance Company strengthens relationship with customer by enhancing distribution model.
MARKHAM, ON, July 24, 2007 - Mike Donoghue, President and CEO of Allstate Insurance Company of Canada unveiled the new Allstate Insurance Agency that will be used to sell and distribute Allstate insurance products.
Online Insurance Sales and Marketing: What's Happening and What's Next: Report Published by Celent.
Boston, MA, USA, July 17, 2007 -- Celent projects that online insurance sales will double by 2011, and that the Web will play a major role in most personal insurance purchases across auto, life, and health. Celent's latest report, Online Insurance Sales and Marketing: What's Happening and What's Next, is an update to its 2002 report, Online Insurance Sales and Marketing: Practices and Profiles.
eBusiness and Technology
Bad Technical Implementations and Lack of Governance Increase Risks of Failure in SOA Projects, says Gartner.
Egham, UK, June 26, 2007 - Organisations that embark on service-oriented architecture (SOA) initiatives aimed at enterprise wide deployment must pay equal attention to technical and governance issues. Gartner today said that although the risks of SOA project failure are initially associated with bad technical implementations, risks of failure due to
insufficient governance are becoming increasingly significant, as SOA scope expands.
Analysts: SAS Expanding Market Share in Business Intelligence.
CARY, NC (June 29, 2007) - In the midst of a changing landscape for business intelligence (BI) software, SAS today cited an influential analyst firm's report that shows SAS is the only vendor in the top three to boost its share of the worldwide BI market. The report also ranks SAS as the leading provider of advanced analytics, an honor held by the company for the tenth year in a row.
ACORD Testing & Certification Facility Expands Now Includes Reinsurance & Large Commercial Placing Messages.
LONDON, UK and PEARL RIVER, NY - 23 July 2007 - Building upon the success of its initial rollout, ACORD announced the expansion of its Testing and Certification Facility to include test capabilities for ACORD Reinsurance & Large Commercial (RLC) Placing message implementations.
Reference and Statistics
Swiss Re sigma study on World insurance in 2006: Premiums came back to "life".
2 Jul 2007 - World insurance premium growth in 2006 accelerated further, driven by the strong expansion of the life insurance sector. According to a sigmastudy, worldwide premiums written amounted to USD 3 723 billion, an increase of 5% over prior year. The performance of the insurance industry has further improved in terms of capitalisation and profitability.
Commercial P/C Premiums Continue Free-Fall In 2nd Quarter: CIAB.
Monday, July 23, 2007, WASHINGTON - Commercial property-casualty insurance rates continued their free-fall during the 2nd quarter of 2007 in a marketplace environment described as "totally unpredictable" in terms of pricing and underwriting, according to the latest commercial market index survey by The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers.
RIMS Benchmark Survey(™) Reports Commercial Insurance Premiums Continue To Decline During Second Quarter.
NEW YORK, N.Y., July 16, 2007 - Commercial insurance premiums continued to decline during the second quarter of 2007, according to the RIMS Benchmark SurveyT, the industry's leading comprehensive survey of current policy renewal prices as reported by corporate risk managers.
Consumer Information
Insurance Bureau of Canada urges Edmonton fire victims to speak to insurance representatives.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada reminds homeowners and tenants affected by Saturday's fire in south Edmonton to contact their insurance provider as soon as possible.
23 children visit an Ontario ER daily due to playground injuries: CIHI Report.
July 18, 2007-Ontario emergency departments received 8,734 visits due to playground injuries in 2004-2005, up slightly from 8,698 in 2002-2003, according to new data released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). The vast majority (97%) of these injuries occurred in children aged 19 years and under, representing 23 visits every day to Ontario emergency departments. As expected, summer is the high season for playground injuries, with 44% occurring in June, July or August.
Trucking Groups, CTA and ATA, Urge Government Support for Fuel-Saving APUs.
(July 17, 2007) -- The American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) urged state governments in the United States and provincial governments in Canada to revise their fuel tax systems to encourage truckers to use environmentally friendly idling reduction technology.
Managing Relationships and Customer Service
New CRM Book by Accenture: Using Customer Relations Management to Change the Competitive Playing Field.
NEW YORK - July 20, 2007 – Successful customer relationship management (CRM) requires the marketing, sales and service agility of a star athlete to enable today's businesses to outpace their competitors in the race for customers, according to a new book by Accenture and Montgomery Research, Inc. entitled CRM Transformation: Transforming Marketing, Sales and Service.
Business of Insurance
New Regulation will Increase the Insurance Market's Competitiveness: Ernst & Young.
London, 10 July 2007 - Ernst & Young welcomes today's publication of the draft directives for Solvency II, which should ultimately lead to a more efficient European insurance market that would better serve the needs of both policyholders and shareholders.
from Doug:
Summertime is vacation time. The people I work with have headed out, or welcomed company. My cousin is visiting my parents and then we will host them for two days. Son flies now to Seattle for three weeks - but that is work so probably does not seem like a vacation. In-laws leave by train this week for Vancouver, and then a round trip cruise to Alaska. As they say, make hay while the sun shines (must be my farmer upbringing!). Whatever you are doing special this summer, enjoy!