Insurance-Canada.ca Presents 2013 Technology Awards

Insurance-Canada.ca honors technology leaders at annual conference

Toronto, ON (Mar. 22, 2013) – At an awards ceremony in Toronto on March 18, 2013, the Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Awards (ICTAs) were presented to winners and finalists in separate insurer, distributor, and supplier categories. The awards recognize innovation in the implementation and use of technology that shows a significant impact on a process or group of processes used in the sale, processing and servicing of insurance in Canada.

Insurer Category

Winner: Unica Insurance, a subsidiary of La Capitale General Insurance, with technology by Keal Technology and iter8 — Unica has implemented new technology that enables full real-time policy change that starts and ends in the broker management system. It is live and operational and benefits are significant, and climbing as usage grows. According to Unica, it represents a first live solution for the Canadian market that uses CSIO standards, and adheres to IBAC guiding principles.

Finalist: State Farm Insurance — Drive Smarter. State Farm Driver Feedback scores your driving and gives you tips to help you drive even better. Driver Feedback improves driving behaviour by assisting with the effective identification and development of safe driving habits.

Finalist: Ontario Farm Mutuals, with technology by MCCG — The ‘Farm Mutuals using IBS’ have set a clear path for themselves recognizing the need for technology to be an integral part of their insurance operations and strategic business plans. Service to the policyholder is always the Mutuals number one priority, using IBS the group’s goal to improve service and efficiency in operations results in expense reduction.

Finalist: CAA Insurance, with technology by Kanetix SaaS and SCM Insurance Services — Self- service is fast becoming one of the preferred ways to do business and it is imperative that businesses evolve to meet this growing need. In this consideration, the choice of technology and vendor partnership is important. We also need the solution to be sustainable and scalable enough to take us into the future without the need for further re-investment of capital. The development of our On-line property Quoter and the iclarify technology integration allows us to meet all these requirements.

Distributor Category

Winner: Square One Insurance Services — Square One has developed an integrated CRM, policy management, billing, and claims management system that allows them to offer interactive real-time quoting of their unique à-la-carte home insurance product offering on their website. Since launching the site, 70% of overall quoting activity is performed by customers online.

Finalist: Ingle International — Ingle International, an innovator in technological solutions for the travel insurance industry, has launched a brand-new, integrated solution for group benefit plan members. In collaboration with group benefit providers, Ingle has created a product that fills a gap for members whose embedded travel insurance coverage is not sufficient.

Finalist: The Shepherd Group — The Shepherd Group understood that to compete in the online world we live in it needed to have an offering that consumers would find attractive, easy to use, and available to them in ways that suited them. The result was TSG, with a logo inspired by the owner’s name, an appealing black sheep. TSG then deployed an online quotation system, which provides shoppers with all of the bells and whistles of a direct writer, plus the value proposition of a brokerage.

Supplier Category

Winner: Accident Support Services International — CROMS Is a multi-functional collision management application developed specifically for the administration and collection of collision reports, photos, documentation. CROMS allows not only the speed of delivery of collision reports, but acts as a fully functional fraud detection and records management tool, with web portal desktop access by users. Coupled with CROMS analytics users can analyze and study trending, policy holders, fraudulent claims, or practice proactive initiatives.

Finalist: FirstOnSite Restoration — FirstOnSite has developed propriety software to allow restoration project managers to gather data, generate comprehensive site reports, communicate with adjusters and crews, and produce estimates quickly and easily. With seamless integration into FirstOnSite’s in-house claim management system (ClaimTrak) and industry standard software, XactAnalysis, project assessments and reports can be completed in a matter of hours instead of days.

About the ICTAs

Finalists and winners were selected from nominations submitted by members of the Canadian insurance community. A jury of pre-eminent insurance and technology professionals determined the finalists and award winners.

The ceremony was followed by an awards reception during the 2013 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference. Click here for photos of the winners and finalists. Visit the ICTA overview for more information.

Insurance-Canada.ca congratulates all nominees, finalists, and category winners.

About the ICTAs

The annual Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Awards recognize innovative implementations of technology in P&C insurance in Canada. For each nomination, up to two technology providers identified as being instrumental in an application are recognized as co-nominees, as they do not use the technology for the business of insurance themselves.

About Insurance-Canada.ca

Insurance-Canada.ca Inc., a privately held company founded in 1995, is a leading source of information for Canadian insurance consumers and professionals. With a focus on the intersection of insurance and technology, Insurance-Canada.ca helps clarify the potential that technology brings to the business of insurance. For more information, visit www.insurance-canada.ca.

Source: Insurance-Canada.ca