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Business Intelligence/Analytics
While two plus two always equals four, there are many accepted truisms in the business world that must be challenged. Find the right software tools to analyze the coverages insurers offer and discover untapped opportunities waiting to be exploited—making the business side much more intelligent. -
Business Process Management
There is a place for everything and everything in its place in the business world, and business process management ensures the proper steps are being taken and in the right order. By combining elements of workflow, enterprise application integration, document management, and business rules, insurers maximize efficiencies in a complex business environment. Explore how. -
Business/Financial Tools
Financial reporting and other accounting-related functions have caused carriers to turn to the IT department for help to make the business of running the business less complex and more beneficial. Gain insight into the tools that help a company cash in on its number crunching both for managerial excellence and regulatory compliance. -
CIO Issues/IT Spending
What do the brightest minds in insurance IT have to say about the direction of the industry? What do the budgets for this and coming years look like? Stay abreast of important trends that drive the insurance industry and its IT professionals. And tap into the latest information from the industry’s foremost analysts who have been in the trenches with insurance IT leaders, observing what separates the leaders from the laggards. -
Claims and Fraud
Within the claims arena, learn proven ways to use the latest systems to make better, quicker, and more cost-effective decisions on payments. Also, find out how to differentiate between legitimate claims and fraudulent schemes—more tools are available today to help insurers identify possible scams without bringing the entire claims process to a grinding halt. -
Compliance
With 50 regulators in 50 states, there is no shortage of compliance issues for insurers to contend with and plenty of technology solutions for carriers to consider. But the biggest regulator of them all, the federal government, increasingly imposes its will on insurance carriers with issues such as HIPAA, the PATRIOT Act, and Sarbanes-Oxley. Examine the latest strategies IT departments implement to stay ahead of the compliance curve and even achieve some added value. -
Customer Service
CRM may have been a dirty acronym a few years ago, but carriers understand establishing and maintaining a solid relationship with customers is critical to their growth. Armed with industry experience, determine the best practice that suits each of your customers—whether agents or policyholders—and keep them coming back for more. -
Data Management
Insurers are among the greatest collectors of data anywhere, but without putting that data to work, all the information in the world won’t make a carrier’s operation run smoothly. From data warehousing to data mining, the smart insurer knows how to transform disorganized data into leveraged knowledge. -
Distribution Channels
Are your sales people equipped with the best tools available to sell, sell, sell your products? Can they show clients—not just tell them—what insurance policies, annuities, and other investment products can provide for them? Are you as easy as possible to do business with? If the answer is anything other than a resounding yes to all three questions, check out these lessons from companies that have aced this test. -
Document/Content Management
Make content one of your biggest assets. Whether focusing on document, content, or records management, successful systems must be flexible and scalable. Separate high-value content from junk. Boost collaboration while ensuring compliance. Done right, significant competitive advantage is within an insurer’s reach. -
E-Systems
The ability to conduct business electronically has evolved from more than a simple Web site. Web services is changing how carriers integrate their systems, connecting business units with each other and with their customers—both agents and insureds. Internet and intranet sites have taken the process to wherever those customers want to do business. Insurers must master how to be nimble in order to build their business successfully, and that often means enabling customers to get in, get what they want, and get out seamlessly. -
Industry Commentary
Tech Decisions’ columnists offer a unique perspective on the direction of the industry and the world of information technology. They eliminate the hype and reveal the truth as they see it to help you make more informed choices. -
IT Leadership
If experience is the greatest teacher, then these lessons from top insurance IT executives are invaluable. Get an inside look at what is going on in their shops, which issues are top of mind, and how they became so good at what they do. -
Outsourcing
Sourcing isn’t new. But there is plenty to learn before sending your technology department to Ireland or your call center to India. You have to assess what to buy, how to buy it, and when and where to buy. Here’s what you need to know to make the right choices. -
Policy Administration
How many policy admin systems does your company run? Or if it’s only one, is it hampering your company’s growth—not adequately serving distributors or customers? There are lots of reasons to upgrade or replace some or all of this technology—and just as many reasons not to. Articles to help “reality check” what’s at the core of your business. -
Project Management
What makes one project succeed while another fails? The size of today’s projects demand accountability, and carriers increasingly are looking to project managers and project management offices to set and execute the appropriate course of action--from planning through implementation--to keep everything on the right track. -
Risk Management
Underwriting risk, regulatory risk, operational risk—whether modeling for hurricanes, terrorism, or enterprisewide exposure, it’s all getting more complex daily, increasing the need for fine-tuned skills and topnotch technology. These are the solutions to take control and make the most of a new era in business. -
Security
Good security involves more than plugging in a new firewall. The high-stakes security game is getting increasingly sophisticated—each solution only challenges hackers to achieve new levels of creative and destructive havoc. From a bruised reputation to lost business to serious legal repercussions, the consequences of a security breach mean insurers need to command all their resources—people, processes, and tools—to keep in-house systems safe, data secure, and unwanted visitors on the outside. -
Standards
Carriers and their customers--both internal and external--must speak the same language, and standards are a key to that process. Stay on top of how insurers are leveraging standards to communicate for greater efficiencies. -
Underwriting and Rating
Regardless of market conditions, insurers must improve underwriting to ensure value and produce the best rates possible—key to maintaining profitability, attaining new customers, and retaining existing ones. Best practices include collecting and disseminating clean data, developing rules-based systems for enhanced efficiency, and integrating this essential skill into the entire policy life cycle. Tips and tactics from those on the leading edge will help facilitate the leap forward toward ever-better results.
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