The Editors and Publisher of The Intersection thank you for your support during our introduction and wish you the very best for the holidays and for the new year.
We will be back in full voice early in 2011.
Archive
For December, 2010
Dec 19
Mid-Market Commercial Lines – Transforming Data to Knowledge to Action
By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments
Mid-market commercial lines has always been a holy grail for insurance automation – alluring, but out of reach. New developments suggest we might be extending our reach.
The core problem has been the volume and type of data that is required to be gathered, synthesized and intelligently acted upon has defied easy solutions. Collecting and intelligently analyzing inspection data, photographs/videos, claims history, financial information, and more has seemed unattainable.
However, better forms of multi-media collection, combined with modern content management and analytic technologies are offering opportunities. Several vendors and carriers in Canada and the US are utilizing existing Data Standards combined with new collaboration solutions to present more complete submissions electronically. At the 2011 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference (ICTC), Doug Johnston from Applied Systems will summarize the opportunities and progress to date in a presentation and panel discussion titled “Commercial Lines, What’s Next?”.
Once the data are in, there are other developments with predictive analytics that are showing measurable differences. According to Towers Watson’s 
most recent survey of commercial lines pricing, “results continue to indicate that companies that use predictive modeling for pricing/risk tiering or risk selection are, on average, more successful at holding onto price levels than those that do not use predictive modeling.”
Several experts on analytics are part of the faculty of the ICTC.
IT World Canada reports that Canada may have significant legal and geographic advantages as a location for cloud based computing services.
Michael Geist, law professor at the University of Ottawa, is quoted in the article as saying: “Location matters and where the cloud exists matters an awful lot when it comes to issues around privacy and compliance related concerns.” He is referring to the Personal Information Protection Electronics Document Act (PIPEDA) which addresses compliance and data concerns that businesses entertain when considering having their information in the cloud, according to Geist.
The artcile indicates that the advantage is not permanent, and the legislation must keep pace to required changes. It quotes Geist as saying: “You are going to increasingly see people engaging in jurisdiction shopping in terms of trying to find places where there are privacy assurances and compliance systems in place.”
A second advantage is the impact of Canada’s geographic location on costs. Sever farms required to maintain cloud technology can be expensive to keep cool. IT World Canada notes that Canada could offset cooling costs by our naturally cool air.
Dec 15
Consumers Interested in Social Media Connections with Financial Institutions, but Lack Awareness
By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditor1 CommentThe results of a recent survey by Fiserv of 3,000 US consumers indicate that the population has wide spread interest in using social media to connect to Financial Institutions, but lacks awareness of the ability to connect to these institutions.
Some of the key finding are:
- Younger customers are more likely to use Social Media, but older demographics are not far behind with 78 % of ‘Boomers’ and 65% of seniors using social media;
- Branding, reinforced by social media, is becoming a key to consumer connections to companies; especially with younger demographics;
- Only one in 10 social media connected consumers has connected with a bank or credit union;
- Over one third of those not connected to financial institutions have come interest in connectiong;
- Consumers who do connect with financial institutions via social media (typically Facebook) are using the connections for marketing (receiving information – 66%, receiving offers – 32%), comparative shopping (reviewing opinions, posting questions – 31%), and performing self-service activities (30%).
While there were no startling revelations in the results, this is an excellent summary of the landscape in the US. There may be some differences in Canada, but in absence of a specific Canadian study, this is likely a good proxy.
Fiserv suggests that Financial Institutions have a window of opportunity to get caught up, but this window will not be permanently open. Fiserv data support the conclusion that becoming part of the social network fabric is a requirement, not an option. The report concludes: “Now it’s time for financial institutions to embrace social media. Leveraging social networks, financial institutions can foster deeper, more personal relationships, resulting in more profitable and loyal customers.”
Dec 12
Results At the Core of the 2011 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference (ICTC)
By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo CommentsAt the 2010 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference, Jim McGregor, CEO, The Precept Group, and long-time supporter of technology to improve the insurance business, made a controversial statement. To paraphrase, Jim said that when he first got involved in broker-carrier interface in the late 1980s, the expense ratio for broker supporting insurers was 35% – ‘unacceptably’ higher than direct writing companies. Now, 20+ years later, the expense ratio for the same group is … 35%!
Does this mean there has been no progress? Does it mean that other factors are at play? Perhaps. Regardless, it is clear that technology professionals must get used to 1) aligning with business results in planning, 2) supporting delivery of quantifiable business results in executing plans, and 3) being accountable for the impact of their efforts on business results.
The 2011 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference (ICTC) is placing Results at the centre of its theme and its logo (see our recent post). Several of our faculty will be addressing impacts of technologies and processes on results.
Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst for Gartner will be presenting the importance of balancing tradition and innovation in the evolving insurance market to respond to new demands for profitability. She will be offering results from a new Gartner study on forces of change in the Canadian insurance industry to be released first at the 2011 ICTC. Also, Rob Garmaise, VP – Research and Product Strategy, Info-Tech Research Group Inc. will be addressing issues and opportunities with IT benchmarking.
See the topics description page at the ICTC conference site for more information on these and other confirmed presentations. And don’t forget to register soon to take advantage of Early-Bird discounts.
Dec 06
Welcome to The Interesection: An Insurance-Canada.ca Blog
By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo CommentsWelcome to The Intersection, an Insurance-Canada.ca Blog.
Since 1995, Insurance-Canada.ca has been devoted to providing technology/insurance content through its web site, seminars, conference, and newsletters. The website has become a meeting point for insurance and technology professionals and consumers. The Intersection is intended to extend the distribution and expand the content, Hence the sub-title: Where Canadian Technology & Insurance Travellers Meet.
First, we will use The Intersection to add content which doesn’t nicely fit elsewhere and to elaborate on news with views, counterpoints, etc.
We will also use the Blog for some new, original content that Insurance-Canada.ca is developing with some key partners. Stay tuned for that!
At the same time, we hope you will use The Intersection to better give us your opinions. We will seek this with surveys and questionnaires. We also welcome comments and suggestions on postings.
We will moderate the comments, but only to take out direct solicitation , derogatory comments, slander, libel, spam, and items of bad taste. Beyond that, the floor is yours.
We’ve been trying our hand at this for a while and have retained archives for a month or so from our launch. You’re welcome to browse the archives. It’s not perfect, and we expect to change … Based on your feedback.
Thanks for your interest. We are looking forward to where we go … from The Intersection.
Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditor
We recently commented on research indicating that an increasing number of organizations are accommodating employees bringing personal technology to work. More evidence is surfacing that there is general employee dissatisfaction in Canada with current tools as compared with those available personally. Further, within the insurance industry in the US, it seems that there is pressure building at least from young independent insurance agents.
A recent survey sponsored by Microsoft Canada, reported in IT World Canada, indicated that “75% of Canadians believe that businesses limit their access to talent by not offering options that allow them to work outside offices.”
On the insurance front, Jeff Yates, Executive Director of the influential Agents Council for Technology committee of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, sent a note to a wide audience recently on general technology trends. In commenting on employees’ desire to use technology at work that they have in their personal lives, Yates states: “we hear this all the time from young agents”.
Clearly, Insurance IT professionals have legitimate security and support issues with ‘foreign’ technology’, but there appears to be a groundswell forming that will require a coherent response.
What do you think?
Subscribe to updates