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Distribution of Life Insurance and related products in Canada has changed significantly in recent years. Technology, including the Internet, has been one of the drivers of change. Increasing use of technology has also been a response to the rapid changes. From product information and education to illustrations, to policy issue and ongoing customer service, technology is being deployed in an increasingly complex environment. Join us to review the opportunities which are unfolding, and how the corresponding challenges are being addressed.

Seminar Topics

8:00 – 8:30: Registration and Coffee

8:30	Welcome and introduction: Doug Grant, Principal, Insurance-Canada.ca
	"What do Brokers Need from Technology?" - Byren Innes, Senior Vice-President and Director, NewLink Group Inc.
Byren will set the stage for this conference by providing the audience with excerpts from three of their recent research project with Distributors and Advisors. Byren will touch on: - Changes in Advisor Demands - what are the trends worth noting? - Distributor vs. Supplier Technology and Information - what do advisors want? - For what reasons are Distributors looking at Technology for their businesses? - Is investing money on your [supplier] website a wise decision? - And more.
	"Canadian Insurance Transaction Standardization (CITS) Update and Direction" - Jamie McGeachin, Vice President Operations, Hub Financial Inc.
Manual data entry represents a significant cost to distributors and carriers alike. The mapping and programming required to handle current data exchange files is costly, ineffective and inefficient. Out of a need to standardize, CITS was born. Learn who we are, where we began, what we hope to accomplish and how far we’ve come. What CITS does today, may affect the way you do business tomorrow.
	"Multi-company UL Illustrations Shouldn’t Be That Hard" - Neil Menear, President, Novinsoft Inc.
Illustration systems are finally making their way onto the web and this will accelerate rapidly over the next year or two. (Desktop computer versions will be obsolete sooner than you think.) Distributors can use this technology to easily compare multi-company UL and other products with a few keystrokes. This will also allow insurance carriers to quite simply track distributor quote and sales activity. Insurance portals will soon provide all the tools needed to complete the entire insurance sales process.
	"How Technology Can Improve the Sales Process" - Gordon Grant, Vice President Operations, illustrate inc.
Gord will discuss the sales process and how technology in the form of company supplied presentation software can improve both client relationships and successful sales. He will talk about the development of the relationship between the agent and the potential client, starting from prospecting through the sales interview and post sales servicing. Gord will discuss impediments to the use of technology by sales representatives and possible ways overcome those impediments. He will describe potential benefits of using technology as part of the sales process to both the producer and the Head Office.
	"Knock Down that Wall!" - Tim Fitzpatrick, CoVirt Inc.
The world of financial services is dramatically reshaping itself and moving away from traditional brick-and-mortar to focus on improved customer service, and 24-hour-a-day access to information and transactions. Banks are educating consumers on how advanced technology can lower costs while improving the level of customer service through the Internet. The number of transactions monthly via traditional branches continues to decline while transactions performed through the Internet continue to increase. Life insurance distribution is about broker acquisition, broker retention and the efficient processing of new business. The brokers are struggling to get information and underwriting decisions to clients in a reasonable time frame. Unfortunately, most life insurance technology is likely a mix of aging and disconnected back office, sales and service systems that can hinder your broker's success rates and hurt the bottom line of agencies and carriers. There is a time lag in your processes where information flows from the carrier to the MGA and from the MGA to the broker. Brokers, who often work evenings and weekends, are constantly seeking ways to survive in a highly competitive field and are turning to those technology solutions that deliver improved service and offer services anywhere, anytime. CoVirt believes that any customer service system can, and should be, replaced by browser-based Internet services, which dually provides superior service while at the same time reduces internal resource requirements. Tim Fitzpatrick will describe CoVirt's experience in providing Internet based systems that consolidates and streamlines such services to brokers, providing instantaneous information with one stop access to policy and contracting / commission information, including documents online and integration with carrier data.
	"Bringing it all together" - Alex Sweeny, Vice President, Strategic Business Development, EDS - SOLCORP
To survive and grow as an insurance manufacturer or distributor, technology ranks among the critical business issues that has to be addressed. Alex will address the technology issues with: a high level snapshot of the financial product distribution and manufacturing model the information imperatives facing the supply chain now and in the future what is needed how it can be deployed, and what technology should cost.
3:00	Conclusions & Close - Patrick Vice, I/T Manager, Frank Cowan Company Ltd.

Seminar Sponsors:

Speaker Information

Tim Fitzpatrick, President, CoVirt Inc.

With 32 years of experience and formerly Vice President and Actuary of the Financial Life Assurance Company, Tim has had many roles with a specialty in life insurance product development from top to bottom, product marketing and actuarial services, representing multiple life insurance companies on issues of product development to their brokers, parent companies and their reinsurers. His consulting firm supported numerous life insurance carriers on their life insurance product development and modeling software including simulation models for planning, regulatory compliance and asset / liability management and designed and launched a unique third party national marketing and servicing organization that restructured the life insurance delivery process by performing the traditional life company functions of product design, underwriting, policy issue, policy owner service and premium collection. Since 2000, Tim Fitzpatrick has been President of CoVirt Inc., which provides a fully Internet-based integrated life insurance and investment agency management system.

For more information about Tim and CoVirt, visit his bio at CoVirt.com.

Gordon Grant, Vice President Operations, illustrate inc.

Gordon Grant is a senior actuary with wide-ranging life insurance experience gained over 30 years in the life insurance industry. He is VP of Operations at illustrate inc, a leading illustration software and service provider for the Canadian life insurance industry. Prior to joining illustrate inc, Gordon was a senior consultant and principal of Tillinghast – Towers Perrin where he was Tillinghast’s Canadian expert on life insurance class action litigation. Frequently the litigation resulted from poor illustrations provided by company agents, so he is well attuned to the requirements of good point of sale illustrations.

Gordon has served as appointed actuary for several companies and consulted on the major demutualizations in Canada. Before joining Tillinghast, Gordon worked for major Canadian life insurance companies. Through his varied experiences, he has in-depth knowledge of Canadian companies, products and markets throughout the insurance industry.

Gordon is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) and of the Society of Actuaries (SOA), and has been certified as an Independent Assessor by the Insurance Marketplace Standards Association. He has served as a session moderator and a speaker at CIA and SOA meetings.

Byren Innes, CLU, ChFC, CFSB, FLHC, FLMI, ACS, HIA, Senior Vice-President and Director, NewLink Group Inc.

Byren provides strategic marketing advice to retail financial services companies, consulting firms and industry suppliers with a focus on emerging distribution channels, creation of marketing and sales systems and structures, re-positioning of existing products, and research on emerging product categories. He is a recognized industry expert in National Account and Financial Advisor distribution channels. Byren and his team are the authors of the National Account Quarterly report, the preeminent research report on this key Canadian distribution channel.

Byren has also been a designer of e-business initiatives for financial products distribution distributor/wholesaler effectiveness including Advisor CRM/PRM.

Byren is very knowledgeable about the financial products and the various methods of distribution having been an MDRT-level insurance agent before taking on Distribution Management roles early in his career. He has spoken widely at Financial Planning and industry conferences on the planning process, estate planning linked to financial planning, emerging insurance distribution trends, and e-commerce applications. Byren has held senior executive positions in insurance companies, and with both investment and mutual fund dealers. During his career, he has been very active in various important industry initiatives and was the founding chair of the IDA Insurance committee and is a past chair of the LIMRA International Marketing Committee.

Jamie McGeachin, Vice President Operations, Hub Financial Inc.

Jamie is responsible for designing and implementing new processing models to support all life, segregated fund and mutual fund business to better serve Hub’s 3,500 independent advisors.

She has been with Hub Financial for 5 years and has held positions in Marketing, Strategic Management and Operations. Jamie started her career in 1987 at Financial Life. In 1992 she moved to a large Ontario MGA and has been in distribution ever since.

Jamie serves on the board of CLEIDIS and is an active participant in the CITS initiative.

Neil Menear, President, President, Novinsoft Inc.

Neil Menear is one of the founders and is President of Novinsoft. Before starting Novinsoft in 1993, Neil’s experience in the insurance industry included actuarial, systems, marketing, and insurance product development.

Novinsoft Inc. is a leading developer of new business and in-force illustration systems, needs analyses, sales concepts, and wealth management sales modules for the Canadian financial services industry. Novinsoft can be found on the internet at www.novinsoft.com.

Alex Sweeny, Vice President, Strategic Business Development, EDS - SOLCORP

Alex Sweeny has been in business development, management, and strategic executive roles in software and technology companies for over 25 years. With experience in establishing and successfully growing new business areas at 8 different technology firms including global expansion with EDS-SOLCORP to Asia Pacific, Japan, and South America, Alex brings a deep background in applying technology to strategic business requirements and building high value services and product companies that meet industry needs.

In the last 10 years Alex has successfully led several business critical initiatives at EDS-SOLCORP focused exclusively on insurance solutions and currently leads the EDS-SOLCORP expansion into solutions for financial services distribution channels.

With a depth of knowledge on carrier-side enterprise systems and business drivers, and experience in distribution channel needs, Alex is well suited to comment on the future potential for the "connected enterprise" and how to bring electronic information connectivity to an industry that has been seeking efficiencies in this area for many years.

Hosts and Moderators

Patrick Vice, I/T Manager, Frank Cowan Company Ltd.

Patrick has over 20 years experience enabling technology and electronic commerce in the risk management and insurance communities. For a more extensive biography.

Doug Grant MBA CIP, Consultant, Insurance-Canada.ca

As a keen analyst of computer and networking evolution for more than thirty years, and the opportunity and impact on the insurance industry, frequent industry speaker, columnist, and consultant. Doug is cognizant of the changes that are occurring in the Internet insurance world. As a principal in the Insurance-Canada.ca Web site, he brings a unique perspective to the session. For a more extensive biography.

Patrick and Doug will be hosts of the seminar and will welcome and set the stage, build the links between topics, and then provide conclusions and points to ponder at the end of the session.

(Examples will be used throughout)

Questions? call Doug Grant 416-921-7756 or email at doug.grant@insurance-canada.ca

See a list of our Previous Seminars.

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