Our 8th Annual P&C Technology Conference will be held Monday, February 22, 2010 at the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel.
The 2010 Insurance-Canada.ca P&C Technology Conference will focus on the impact new work flows, technologies, and approaches - especially Real Time, and Social Networking - are having on Brokers, Insurers, and Customers. The faculty will share real experiences that are transforming individual businesses and relationships among businesses and with consumers.
RIBO has approved 7 credit-hours
in the Management Category
The speakers at the conference will bring presentations based on their deep knowledge and experience. Here are some of our speakers:
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Stream 1: Broker Operations |
| Main Tent Presentations | |
| Hope and Optimism: The Insurance Industry of 2010 (more) Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst, Gartner - Insurance Industry Advisory Services (bio) |
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| The Integrated Office: Creating Customer Opportunity (more) Steve Hancock, Industry Principal - Insurance, SAP Americas (bio) |
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| Social Networking and Insurance - You Have Got To Be Kidding! (more) Rick Morgan, Rick Morgan Consulting (bio) |
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| Balancing the Scales (more) James Bisker, IBM Global Non-Life Insurance Segment Manager (bio) |
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| Broker - Insurer Panel Discussion (more) - Rick Morgan (moderator), Rick Morgan Consulting (bio) - Sean Christie, Vice President - Strategic Projects, Gore Mutual (bio) - Colin Smith, Senior VP and CIO, The Economical Insurance Group (bio) - Rick Orr, Vice President, Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (bio) - Jim McGregor, CEO, The Precept Group (bio) |
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| Stream 1: Broker Operations | |
| OK, so you want a website ... Why? (more) Denny Edwards, President, carinsurance.ca and Edwards Insurance Group (bio) Martin Eising, Vice President - Technology, HealthQuotes.ca Inc. (bio) |
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| The 21-Day Challenge for Improving Broker Efficiency (more) Doug Johnston, Applied Systems (bio) |
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| BMS For Today and Tomorrow (more) Broker-Vendor panel |
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| US Perspective: Real Time Campaign Update (more) Cal Durland, Program Manager and AUGIE Facilitator, ACORD (bio) |
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| UK Perspective: Insurer - Broker Exchange (more) Greg Purdy, Managing Partner, Pathway Partners Ltd. (bio) |
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| Canadian P&C Data Exchange and Programs (more) Steve Kaukinen, President, CSIO (bio) |
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| Update on The Road to Real-Time (more) Wendy Watson, Co-Chair, ORBiT (bio) |
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| Update on IBAC's Data Exchange Pilot Project (more) Brenda Rose, IBAC Technology Champion (bio) Sheldon Wasylenko, IBAC Technology Champion (bio) |
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| Company View: Insurer - Broker Exchange (more) Jackie Selby, Manager, Personal Lines Development and Connectivity, AXA Insurance (Canada) (bio) |
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| Stream 2: Carrier Operations | |
| Real-Time for the First Time: Going Portal Free (more) J.R. (Bob) Tisdale, President, Pembridge Insurance (bio) Charles Samolczyk, Vice President - Product Sales, Brovada (bio) |
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| How Winning Companies Enhance Distribution Channel Performance (more) Glen Piller, President and CEO, Iter8 Inc (bio) |
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| Jevco Leaps Forward with new Technologies including Web 2.0 (more) Bryan Harper, Director of IT, Jevco Insurance Company (bio) Greg Thornton, CEO, Octello Inc. (bio) |
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| Core System Replacement - Closing the Productivity Gap (more) Brian Desmond, Vice President, Marketing - Guidewire Software (bio) |
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| Stream 3: Value Added Technology | |
| Customer Communications - Ten Best Practices: Transforming Legacy to Agility (more) Lisa Lynn Sutrick, Director, CCM, PBBI (bio) |
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| Building a Business Analytics Culture in Insurance (more) Mark B. Gorman, Principal, Mark B. Gorman & Associates (bio) |
|
| Demystifying P&C Insurance Business Intelligence (more) Philippe Torres, President, SQLiaison (bio) Gerry Lee, Account Executive, SQLiaison (bio) |
|
| Real-time use of analytics in underwriting (more) Marlowe Leibensperger, Senior Vice President, R&D / Consulting, Eagle Eye (bio) |
|
| Leveraging Customer Data for Marketing (more) Catherine Pearson, Vice President, Environics Analytics (bio) |
|
| Risk Management & Fraud Mitigation through effective Address Management and Location Intelligence(more) Chris North, Vice President - Customer Advocacy and Product Strategy, DMTI Spatial (bio) |
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| Stream 4: Solution Showcase | |
| Improving Property Underwriting in Quebec (more) Thierry Baulu, GIS Solutions Manager, JLR Recherche Immobilière (bio) |
|
| Integration and Collaboration through Claims Technology (more) James R. Swayze, President and CEO, Symbility Solutions, Inc. (bio) |
|
| Delivering Business Value by Aligning IT Strategy with Business Strategy (more) Len O'Sullivan, Partner and VP Consulting Services, Stratix Consulting (bio) Gary Dandridge, Director IT Strategy, Stratix Consulting (bio) |
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| Applying Mobile Technology to Process Optimization (more) Joel W. Collamer, Consultant, Wipro Insurance - Business Advisory Services (bio) |
|
| He Said, She Said - Let's Prove It! (more) Bob Casselli, President & CEO, blueC 802 (bio) Pat Durepos, President, Keal Technolog (bio) |
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| "Integrated Outsourcing": Optimizing the Cost-of-Business Processes (more) Ganesh Pai, Head, Client Services - Insurance, Healthcare & Government, Americas, MphasiS (bio) |
|
| Billing as a Customer Service Tool (more) Anil Chitale, Property and Casualty Practice Leader, MajescoMastek (bio) |
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| 10 Tips for Good IT Governance (more) Linda Bowers, Partner & SVP, Business Solutions, Stratix Consulting (bio) |
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Descriptions of Conference Topics
7:30 – 8:30: Registration and Coffee
8:30: Welcome and introduction:
- Patrick Vice, Director - Information Technology, Frank Cowan Company Limited.
"Hope and Optimism: The Insurance Industry of 2010"
- Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst, Gartner - Insurance Industry Advisory Services
While 2009 was a difficult year for most insurance companies, most are entering 2010 with hope and optimism. Focus on transformation is back again and IT budgets more plentiful than in the prior year. As a result, 2010 is anticipated to be a year of heightened investment in innovation, competitive differentiation, and business transformation. This presentation will highlight hot topics for 2010 and key initiatives that leading insurers will be investing in to get ahead of the curve.
"The Integrated Office: Creating Customer Opportunity"
- Steve Hancock, Industry Principal - Insurance, SAP Americas
For insurance companies there will be mounting pressure over the next few years to migrate towards a paperless office, yet continue to exceed the demands of the business. SAP invites you to attend our presentation where we will discuss an ideal insurance environment which provides integration of claims and policy with document management.
By leveraging integrated processes and technology, insurance companies then have the potential to streamline both their front - broker and customer services - and back office for a single integrated platform, leading to lower costs and increased service and marketing opportunities for brokers and insurers. The insurance company will benefit from cost reductions and service improvements, and brokers will benefit from improved service from the insurer, translating to better customer service and sales opportunities.
SAP will also highlight key customers in North American who are benefiting from such an integrated and streamlined environment.
"Social Networking and Insurance - You Have Got To Be Kidding!"
- Rick Morgan, Rick Morgan Consulting
Kidding? Some brokers think not ... They see that the Social Web is fuelling a transformation in many aspects of their clients' personal and professional lives, and think the impact on insurance sales and service will be massive. In this presentation, Rick will facilitate a deeper understanding of the business relevance of the Social Web and will show how brokers and carriers are implementing and leveraging Web 2.0 technologies as cost-effective vehicles to strengthen brand awareness and grow the business. This session will cover everything from defining social networking and making the business case for organizations, to how to implement, manage and monitor a social web initiative.
"Balancing the Scales"
- James Bisker, IBM Global Non-Life Insurance Segment Manager
The insurance industry, historically, has operated in a conservative fashion, generating steady returns, but at a reduced rate compared to some other elements of the financial services industry.
Yet, when the global financial crisis began in 2007, the same corporate policies that led to lower returns also led to considerably less exposure from risky assets. As a result, the business of insurance is still sound, but with quiet doubts about how to meet the needs of increasingly empowered consumers. Insurers are secure in their roles as calculators and bearers of risk, but are less able to pursue additional goals and more profitable growth business.
According to a recent IBM Institute for Business Value study, the landscape of insurance balances around four fundamental variables:
1. Long-term policyholder needs versus short-term capital markets requirements.
2. The regional nature of the insurance business versus the growth potential of globalization.
3. The prudence and conservatism that keeps the industry anchored versus the vision and innovation necessary to assure a healthy future development.
4. Providing value to customers versus the imperative of managing the customer portfolio toward sustainable returns.
Finding the right weights to assign to these variables will play a crucial role in balancing the scales and creating a stable and dynamic insurance future.
Broker - Insurer Panel Discussion
- Rick Morgan (moderator), Rick Morgan Consulting
- Sean Christie, VP Strategic Projects, Gore Mutual
- Colin Smith, Senior VP and CIO, The Economical Insurance Group
- Rick Orr, VP, Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario
- Jim McGregor, CEO, The Precept Group
Brokers and Insurers have long sought the "silver technology bullet" to provide seamless linkages which would improve service and reduce costs. Most recently, independent brokers and agents have taken a lead in proposing comprehensive technology and workflow changes, under the banner of "Real-Time". This interactive panel of industry leaders, moderated by a prominent industry champion, will provide brokers' and insurers' perspectives on this and other advances.
"OK, so you want a website ... Why?"
- Denny Edwards, President, carinsurance.ca and Edwards Insurance Group
- Martin Eising, Vice President - Technology, HealthQuotes.ca Inc.
The Internet (web site, email, social networking) offers the insurance broker a very diverse range of capabilities for client acquisition and servicing. Many brokers develop a website without a clear understanding of how it will contribute to the broker's goals. They make assumptions about the user of their website and how the user wants to use the website. This can lead to disappointment and frustration for both the user and the broker.
This discussion will start you thinking about what you want your website to achieve, how it is going to meet that goal and what you need to consider along the way so that internet users can find your website and the overall experience produces value for both the user and the broker.
The discussion will touch on:
- Purpose: setting and achieving your objectives;
- Attracting people to your site;
- Dealing with a different clientele than your norm, and for different products;
- How does social networking change things.
"The 21-Day Challenge for Improving Broker Efficiency"
- Doug Johnston, Applied Systems
Is your office operating at peak efficiency? Every day, we do things that we know are inefficient, but we don't take time to learn how to change. Studies show it takes 21 days to develop a new habit or break an unwanted one. By adopting new workflows and leveraging real-time tools, you can boost your sales and deliver optimum customer service.
The 21-Day Challenge program is designed to help ease the stress of new workflows. By identifying inefficiencies and attacking them in a structured program, you can create new efficient habits among your team. We'll look at:
- Identifying inefficiencies and opportunities for change;
- Developing and implementing project plans to create new, more efficient workflows.
"BMS For Today and Tomorrow"
- Wendy Watson, Precept Group
- Karen Gale, IT Manager, Allen Insurance Group
- Pat Durepos, Keal
- Doug Johnston, Applied
- Jackie Selby, Manager, Personal Lines Development and Connectivity, AXA Insurance (Canada)
Much of the broker distribution channel focus externally appears to be on the issues around broker-insurer integration for transaction processing. Broker Management Systems are much more than that, and like technology everywhere these days, they touch all aspects of the business. With a primary focus on internal and customer-facing support, this session will informally explore some of these, possibly including:
1. Little things that are making a difference
2. Challenges/issues facing management
3. Things that help address these challenges
4. What applications would you like to see
5. Evolving Broker/Vendor relationshipsBring your question and if time permits, see what the group thinks.
"US Perspective: Real Time Campaign Update"
- Cal Durland, Program Manager and AUGIE Facilitator, ACORD
"Get Real Time Now!" is the call. A leading group of agents and brokers, carriers, technology providers, user groups, and agent and industry associations has united to advocate implementation of Real Time and Download interface applications by independent agents and companies in the US. The campaign has gained significant traction, and has attracted international attention. But what is Real Time, and how can the campaign benefit brokers and insurers in Canada? Cal Durland, who has been at the focal point of the Real Time campaign since its inception, will share her unique insights in this session.
"UK Perspective: Insurer - Broker Exchange"
- Greg Purdy, Managing Partner, Pathway Partners Ltd.
Broker/company connectivity has evolved in different ways around the world. The UK has taken a different approach from North America that allows for more company specific and unique data to be captured and transmitted between brokers and companies. In a hyper competitive market for insurance, costs had to be eliminated from the distribution network to remain competitive. This presentation will briefly identify the methodology, the role of standards, the challenges faced in development and deployment and what lessons can be learned. The common elements present in the EDI successes found in the Canadian market and the UK market will also be identified.
"Canadian P&C Data Exchange and Programs"
- Steve Kaukinen, President, CSIO
As the organizing group for the development and implementation of data standard for the P&C industry in Canada, CSIO plays a pivotal role in making the industry as a whole more efficient. Steve will discuss:
- What is happening in the industry with respect to real-time data transmission, standards, and improvements for brokers;
- What is happening within CSIO with respect to its members and staff;
- New developments with respect to technology within the broker distribution channel.
"Update on The Road to Real-Time"
- Wendy Watson, Co-Chair, ORBiT
Review the status of ORBiT, those who have a passion for moving Real Time forward.
"Update on IBAC's Data Exchange Pilot Project"
- Brenda Rose, VP, Firstbrook, Cassie & Anderson Ltd.; IBAC Technology Champion
- Sheldon Wasylenko, Assistant General Manager, Rayner Agencies Ltd.; IBAC Technology Champion
Review project goals and future direction in support of achieving superior broker workflows.
"Company View: Insurer - Broker Exchange"
- Jackie Selby, Manager, Personal Lines Development and Connectivity, AXA Insurance (Canada)
With brokers being the primary sales and service channel for insurers, and with carriers being the "insurer of record" for the business sold by brokers, the manner in which both data and information flows between the two sets of parties has a significant impact on the operating efficiencies and effectiveness of both partners. Whether the competition is within the broker channel distribution segment, or between that segment and others like direct writers, success is at least partly determined by the how well interface/integration/collaboration works.
Representing AXA Canada, and in a larger sense the carriers using the broker channel, Jackie will touch on related trends, directions, issues and challenges.
"Real-Time for the First Time: Going Portal Free"
- J.R. (Bob) Tisdale, President, Pembridge Insurance
- Charles Samolczyk, VP, Product Sales, Brovada
This session will outline Pembridge Insurance Company's decision to implement a non-portal approach to real-time transactions using Brovada's NexExchange product suite. Bob Tisdale, President and COO of Pembridge Insurance Company, will discuss the decision to implement a standards based, real time connectivity solution and the resulting broker feedback and business benefits.
Charles Samolczyk, Brovada's Vice President of Product Sales, will join Bob to provide an overview of the implementation process from a carrier's perspective, highlight the reduction in time to market compared to other approaches, and provide some insight into why the traditional portal is no longer the right strategy in today's climate.
"How Winning Companies Enhance Distribution Channel Performance"
- Glen Piller, President and CEO, Iter8 Inc
Ever wonder what it takes to successfully introduce new systems and new technology to your organization? Ever question why it is that some companies seem to be "in the right place at the right time"?
Glen Piller, President of iter8, will address this topic, drawing upon real-world case studies from several Canadian Insurance carriers.
iter8 has worked with over a dozen Canadian insurers on multi-phase projects to improve their broker integration, and align business strategies with technology. Drawing upon this, the presentation will examine what several of these clients have done, and why they are "winners". Utilizing information assembled from research projects from Celent and Novarica the presentation will also examine market trends and how improvements to broker interaction are an ongoing challenge.
"Jevco Leaps Forward with new Technologies including Web 2.0"
- Bryan Harper, Director of IT, Jevco Insurance Company
- Greg Thornton, CEO, Octello Inc.
This year Jevco, in only a few months, replaced their core policy management system with RapidSure and have found improvements in all aspects, from broker support to back end reporting.
- Brokers now experience one-touch, real-time support;
- New products and processes are being introduced in record time;
- Internal efficiencies and reduced expenses have been realized;
- 40% of business now direct from Broker;
- Underwriters now focused on managing book of business;
- Staff trained in 1 day.
In this session you will hear how:
- Brokers are embracing the new technologies to become more productive and improve customer service;
- Jevco managed to implement a replacement system in months;
- Jevco has reengineered how they introduce new products and product changes;
- Jevco is leveraging Web 2.0 collaboration technologies to support distribution;
- RapidSure has leveraged new technologies such as Web 2.0 to enable Jevco's new capabilities.
"Core System Replacement - Closing the Productivity Gap"
- Brian Desmond, Vice President, Marketing - Guidewire Software
This presentation will examine just how much general insurers can ultimately gain through greater efficiency and what can be learned from similar efficiency challenges faced by the manufacturing industry.
While the differences between insurance business processes and manufacturing are stark, there is also a strong similarity. Prior to WWII, automation was the primary driver of productivity gains in manufacturing. In the last several decades, "lean," "just-in-time," and "total quality management," have led to a manufacturing shift from an emphasis on pure automation to a precision-orientation. Unfortunately for insurance, legacy core systems have stymied this advance because of their inherent limitations.
In planning technology-based improvements, insurers have tended to focus their system replacement projects primarily on basic processing tasks. Only more recently have they begun to focus on tasks requiring more human skill. The potential tragedy is trying to justify the cost and effort of legacy system replacement based solely on "time savings." Legacy system replacement is both more challenging and more valuable than mere process automation; it should ask more penetrating questions about how to improve underwriting, claim, and customer/producer satisfaction outcomes.
By freeing insurers from legacy system limitations and by focusing beyond automation, insurers are able to experiment with different processes and business logic, and perhaps most important, they will be able to initiate a continuous process of self improvement.
"Customer Communications - Ten Best Practices: Transforming Legacy to Agility"
- Lisa Lynn Sutrick, Director, CCM, PBBI
As competition increases and operating budgets continue to shrink, it's more important than ever for insurers to maintain the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty to retain their key customers. Many leading companies are seeking to leverage new communication technologies to reduce costs and drive greater value to their customers, their agents and their employees throughout the enterprise.
For years, insurers have had to rely on inefficient, and often inflexible, document-based communication systems. In order to remain agile, integrated and aligned in today's competitive landscape, insurers must look to ramp up their technologies and the capabilities that they afford. But what constitutes an agile communication solution? How can insurers use their customer communications to improve customer service, reduce costs and capitalize on consumer loyalty?
This presentation will outline the benefits of an agile communications system and the importance of addressing this need within the insurance industry.
"Building a Business Analytics Culture in Insurance"
- Mark B. Gorman, Principal, Mark B. Gorman & Associates
Presented by SAS Canada, industry expert and consultant Mark B. Gorman will discuss his research on how leading insurers are using business analytics solutions to reduce reaction times to competitive pressure, respond more efficiently to market changes, improve the precision and efficacy of operational decisions and increase business managers' effectiveness in driving organizational value.
He will also detail how your insurance company can make the cultural changes required to:
- Ensure enterprise collaboration in a siloed organization;
- Align resources toward thought leadership;
- Manage IT's transition from data guardian to data steward;
- Appropriate business analytics governance - whether centralized or decentralized.
"Demystifying P&C Insurance Business Intelligence"
- Philippe Torres, President, SQLiaison
- Gerry Lee, Account Executive, SQLiaison
Insurance companies are collecting ever-increasing volumes of data about all aspects of their businesses. Business Intelligence functions - analysis and presentation - translate that data into actionable information which people can use to gain competitive advantage and increase operational efficiency.
This presentation will clearly identify what the key objectives of Business Intelligence should be for P&C Insurers and how these can be attained.
Throughout the life cycle of BI Programs, key issues pertaining to technology, methods and responsibilities always arise. The speakers will tackle many of these issues, and present best practices to deal with these.
Real-life examples from major Canadian P&C Insurers will also be presented.
"Real-time use of analytics in underwriting"
- Marlowe Leibensperger, Senior Vice President, R&D / Consulting, Eagle Eye, a sister company of Duck Creek Technologies
Over the past 5 years, P&C insurance markets have become increasingly competitive, generally resulting in compressed margins and the consolidation of certain areas. This phenomenon is largely the result of the evolution and utilization of predictive modeling by select market leaders and the widespread analytical aspirations of most of the market.
But the challenge is not a simple one to meet. To compete effectively in this new arena, carriers will need to not only advance their own analytical agendas but also accelerate the pace at which modeling results are embedded into key processes.
Market leaders are using real-time embedded analytics to improve underwriting decisions and operational efficiency during the quote, bind and renewal processes.
"Leveraging Customer Data for Marketing"
- Catherine Pearson, Vice President, Environics Analytics
The insurance industry has no shortage of data and sophisticated analytical tools. But why do so many decision-makers and analysts have trouble accessing the data to gain insights to better understand their customers? It's an age-old question that's never more relevant today as insurers try to segment their most responsive customers to increase market share–and differentiate themselves from competitors. Because all customers are not the same, insurance companies/marketers need to talk to them differently, offering different products and messages that suit their specific needs.
Fortunately, new data-based marketing intelligence is available to help you discover the differences between your customers in order to provide them with the products they desire the most. In this session, Catherine Pearson, a Vice President with marketing analytics company Environics Analytics, discusses the latest fact-based, customer-centric data to help insurance companies determine the motivations and attitudes behind consumer buying decisions. This innovative data not only reveals who your customers are and how they spend their time, but what media they prefer and what messages they'll respond to. And this robust data is available at small trade areas so insurance agents can better target their products and messages with their own customers and prospects in mind. The results permit users across the enterprise (executives, analysts, sales managers, broker/agents) to access relevant information to improve productivity and avoid costly mistakes.
At a time when businesses are challenged to do fact-based marketing, this session will include case studies illustrating how companies are using the latest customer-centric data to improve the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, call center scripts and media strategies. By understanding the lifestyles and values of your target audience, you'll improve your customer loyalty and increase your competitive advantage in the marketplace.
"Risk Management & Fraud Mitigation through effective Address Management and Location Intelligence"
- Chris North, Vice President - Customer Advocacy and Product Strategy, DMTI Spatial
In the Insurance industry, you know the key challenges encompass risk management and fraud mitigation, with the optimal goal of increasing profits for a healthy combined ratio. A crucial component in these activities focuses on the actual policies issues. If priced too low or too high, these policies can mean either inadequate funds to pay out claims or the potential of losing business to competitors, respectively.
Join Chris North, Vice President of Customer Advocacy & Product Strategy at DMTI Spatial as he discusses the capabilities built within the framework of Address Management and Location Intelligence. Learn how Property & Casualty Insurers, Reinsurers, and Financial and Mortgage Insurers can now increase their insight into their portfolio and competing market conditions to give you the knowledge and assurance you need to make dramatically better business decisions.
"Improving Property Underwriting in Quebec"
- Thierry Baulu, GIS Solutions Manager, JLR Recherche Immobilière
The Quebec real estate market is in many ways different than in the rest of Canada. This has a direct impact on the data to support insurance underwriting and subscription in that province.
One of the main differences is that there is nearly no single source where one can obtain data on transactions, assessment, and property images to feed insurance underwriting and subscription systems.
- As the percentage of residential sales made in Quebec without a real estate agent is nearly 50%, data from the real estate boards incomplete.
- Assessment rolls fall under the responsibility of each of the more than 1000 municipalities in the province, making a consolidated Quebec dataset hard to obtain.
- Registry offices which house all the deeds of sales in Quebec are online but searches can only be made by transaction number or lot number making it impossible to retrieve data based on an address or other property information.
These are some of the reasons why it is difficult to obtain complete, actual and reliable data on real estate properties in the province of Quebec.
Fortunately there is a way to obtain a comprehensive real estate dataset for the Province. This presentation will describe the various sources of data and how a company like "JLR Recherche immobilière" is able to consolidate all of them. The result is a richer dataset than is available elsewhere in Canada to the insurance and other markets in need of reliable real estate data to support their activities.
"Integration and Collaboration through Claims Technology"
- James R. Swayze, President and CEO, Symbility Solutions, Inc.
With two years of consecutive negative growth within the property and casualty industry, there are increasing demands for technology that will improve speed, accessibility, usability and transparency. There has been a great deal of uncertainty in this space with the ever-present financial stress of global markets, leading companies to make IT purchasing decisions that will positively impact their efficiencies. Balancing profitability, performance and service has never been more important than now.
In this presentation we will explore collaborative, integrated technology applications in the property and casualty space and how these innovations are improving the way we handle claims. Differences like separate technology platforms or operating systems won't hold you back any longer - discover the tools that let you do more with your existing applications.
Advances in claims technology solutions are revolutionizing the industry - learn how in this informative session.
"Delivering Business Value by Aligning IT Strategy with Business Strategy"
- Len O'Sullivan, Partner and VP Consulting Services, Stratix Consulting
- Gary Dandridge, Director IT Strategy, Stratix Consulting
Aligning IT Strategies to Business Strategies and delivering on the promise to add business value is not a trivial undertaking.
Just defining business strategies and vision for business lines and promoting and gaining acceptance across the organization can present its own challenges. Even more challenging is to align the current state of IT to these business strategies, and identify the changes and most appropriate IT strategies which can meet the business direction. Technology strategy considerations such as common views of customers, distribution channels, business process workflow, and document management, and enterprise data for business intelligence may evoke different approaches across Marketing, Sales/Policy Management, Claims, Actuary, Personal/Commercial Lines, Direct vs. Broker Distribution, etc. Not to mention an acceptable plan to deliver enhanced capabilities in a reasonable timeframe based on at times competing business priorities.
This session will draw on past experiences working with clients in aligning IT Strategies to Business Strategies, and will discuss typical challenges, some practical approaches and representative deliverables which can assist both Business and Technology leaders in moving forward. Topics for discussion include:
- Defining business strategies, business direction, and business needs;
- Understanding current state, including the workflow and automation, and the starting point for any changes;
- Building the vision of the future state: includes assessing the strengths and weaknesses of current process and automation against the business direction;
- Constructing potential target scenarios, and assessing them not just on the benefits of being there, but also on what it takes to get there;
- Developing an IT Roadmap, which balances quick wins and business priorities with supporting the foundation to deliver the long-term strategy.
"Applying Mobile Technology to Process Optimization"
- Joel W. Collamer, Consultant, Wipro Insurance - Business Advisory Services
This session will provide an overview of insurance industry trends for mobile technology and how mobile technology can be applied to the insurance process to make them more efficient and/or effective and the possibilities for transforming the insurance process.
- Insurance processes that can be positively impacted by mobile technology
- Mobile solutions providers that have helped optimize the claim process
Whether considering a business process, such as claims or underwriting, or the enterprise, a decision and implementation framework can be a valuable tool to:
- Understand the current state of the business process;
- Conceptualize and envision a more optimized future state;
- Develop a road map to implement mobile solutions.
A framework helps engage managers of business processes to conceptualize how mobile technologies can address their particular business challenges.
"He Said, She Said - Let's Prove It!"
- Bob Casselli, President & CEO, blueC 802
- Pat Durepos, President, Keal Technology
Recording phone calls within the insurance industry is now considered standard industry practice, as today's technology revolutionizes the business benefits of recording calls. Once considered out of reach for brokerages, adopting a call recording procedure is now attainable and a critical business requirement.
This session will show how implementing a secure call recording system, insurance companies and brokerages can lower their E&O exposure, automate compliance tracking, enhance customer service with better quality control, and book revenue over the phone using audio signatures.
The case study as experienced by a broker, will highlight the business challenges they were looking to solve, the importance of having call recording software integrated with the Broker Management System, and the post-implementation results experienced.
"'Integrated Outsourcing': Optimizing the Cost-of-Business Processes"
- Ganesh Pai, Head, Client Services - Insurance, Healthcare & Government, Americas, MphasiS
Cost efficiency is a key driver in present day business decisions. Insurance companies particularly focus on transforming cost structures by reducing the cost per policy/claim etc., and seek outsourcing partners who reach beyond labour arbitrage. Such partners can leverage domain and technology strengths to optimize business processes and hence drive cost savings and service improvements for their clients. Identifying the real outsourcing partner would be the IT manager's true merit.
Outsourcing partner or outsourcing vendor? Differentiating one from the other is certainly the challenge of 2010.
IT professionals help organizations across their entire businesses, seeking better coordination between an organization's very many service lines. Integrated offering combines all technology and process interventions, such as Process Consulting, BPO, Application Services and Infrastructure Management Services to help customers achieve their target business outcomes.
An integrated approach to leveraging IT services delivers measurable cost benefits by a combination of process outsourcing and technology initiatives. Such integrated solutions drive operational costs down on a continual basis through business-focused technology initiatives. These initiatives focus on core business challenges faced by insurance companies, like reducing cost per policy and claim.
"Billing as a Customer Service Tool"
- Anil Chitale, Property and Casualty Practice Leader, MajescoMastek
Competition in the insurance industry has increased dramatically in the last few years and insurance companies are turning to technology more often than ever to increase process efficiency, improve customer service and provide a significant competitive advantage. The traditional "back-office" functions, such as billing and accounts receivable (A/R), are an often overlooked, client-facing area where it just makes good sense to strive for improvement. Billing systems and services have emerged as the new "it" tool for delivering the exceptional service policyholders want, expect and demand, while increasing the chance for insurance companies to personalize interactions with policyholders. As many insurers have realized, a need has evolved for modern billing solutions that embrace the technologies available in the 21st Century.
This session will discuss how insurance executives can use new billing technologies to improve customer service, channel satisfaction and retention, offer cross-sell possibilities, and improve cash flow due to enhanced collection systems and processes.
Attendees of this session will have the opportunity to learn about:
- Ways new billing technologies can improve customer service;
- Identify touch points in the billing process where the possibility for interaction with policyholders can be increased and where personalization can be introduced;
- Leverage billing technologies to increase cross-selling opportunities and improve overall company cash flow.
"10 Tips for Good IT Governance"
- Linda Bowers, Partner & SVP, Business Solutions, Stratix Consulting
IT Governance makes good sense, but how do you know if you have good IT Governance? The IT industry has many support tools and frameworks, but it's the underlying guiding principles of good governance that keep IT professionals on track and aligned with their business partners. In this session, we will discuss 10 tips for good IT Governance that embody these principles. These tips can be of assistance to IT managers facing Governance challenges and can also help those interested in improving their working relationship with their business partners.
4:45: Conclusions & Close
- Doug Grant, Principal, Insurance-Canada.ca
5:00: Reception and Exhibits
Biographical Sketches for Conference Speakers
Thierry Baulu, GIS Solutions Manager, JLR Recherche Immobilière
Thierry Baulu holds a masters degree in Geographic information systems. Before joining "JLR recherche immobilière" M. Baulu worked for two of the major GIS software companies helping clients in Insurance, banking and the retail industry improve their business by making good use of location information. Over the last 5 years M. Baulu has been involved in real estate risk management leading up to his current role with JLR recherche immobilière, the principal provider of real estate data for the province of Quebec. His background in Geospatial technology coupled with appraisal and real estate data knowledge has led him to become a trusted voice in residential data issues in Quebec.
James Bisker, IBM Global Non-Life Insurance Segment Manager
As of August 1, 2008, Jamie started working for the S&D Global Insurance Team concentrating on the P&C industry. The Global Insurance Team is responsible for IBM's activities with insurance customers worldwide. We communicate IBM's point of view on industry trends and issues, develop solutions for insurance business problems using IBM and ISV partner products and services, and manage IBM's investments in the insurance industry. Our team covers IBM's largest insurance customers worldwide and conducts detailed analysis on insurance economics, systems, and processes. IBM does work with almost every insurer around the world, and so our team gets a great opportunity to meet with insurance executives globally and identify worldwide trends.
Jamie joined IBM and its Global Business Services IBV (Institute for Business Value) in October of 2004 and his major focus in the IBV was on developing thought leadership for the global insurance industry. Specifically, Jamie's focus was on researching and describing the future state of the business climate for insurance and how carriers around the world can adapt to technological innovation that can significantly improve their performance.
Prior to joining IBM, Jamie worked for 5 years at TowerGroup in the Insurance Practice where he was most recently Director of Research for that area. He has over 30 years of experience in information systems with 23 years in the insurance industry. In that time, Jamie was responsible for technology implementations, strategic planning, and technology architectures for life insurance as well as property and casualty (P&C) insurance. His areas of specialization include intelligent systems, geographic information systems, data warehousing, and business intelligence. As a research director and analyst, it was his role to understand the business models that drive the insurance industry and recognize how and when information technology can provide a competitive advantage in today's marketplace.
Linda Bowers, Partner & SVP, Business Solutions, Stratix Consulting
Linda has more than 20 years of management experience in Information Technology with specialization in the Financial Services and Insurance industries. In combining strong conceptual and problem solving capabilities with demonstrated delivery disciplines, Linda has provided desired business results to many of Canada's top companies. Before taking leadership of the Business Solutions team, Linda was responsible for building the IT Governance practice at Stratix Consulting. Linda is a Fellow of the Life Insurance Association (FLMI), and is also an Associate of the Life and Health Claims Association (ALHC).
Bob Casselli, President & CEO, blueC 802
Bob is co-founder, President and CEO of blueC 802 Inc. Bob has been on the leading edge of enterprise communications software solutions for over 25 years as counsel and COO of Switchview Inc. then Excecutive VP of Operations, Avotus Corporation. His passion is to make technology drive efficiencies in business processes. blueC is doing this today with innovative integration of data base managed recorded voice communications and back office management systems.
Anil Chitale, Property and Casualty Practice Leader, MajescoMastek
Anil is the Head of Product Development at MajescoMastek (P&C Division). He was the co-founder of STG and is the principal architect of the STG suite of products.
Anil has played a variety of roles over the past 20 years in the areas of Product Development, Business Development, Strategic Initiatives and Client Services.
Currently he is responsible for enhancing the STG product suite and for keeping it in step with technological changes as well as for growing its acceptance in the US and Global P&C industry.
Sean Christie, Vice President - Strategic Projects, Gore Mutual
Sean leads several key information technology initiatives, including the expansion of our broker portal, GoBroker. Sean also plays a key role in the definition and delivery of Gore Mutual's Information Technology and Communication strategy. Sean joined Gore Mutual in 2003 as Manager, Data Centre and was promoted to Director, IT Operations in 2005. Prior to joining Gore Mutual Sean worked as an Information Technology consultant for over 10 years.
Joel W. Collamer, Consultant, Wipro Insurance - Business Advisory Services
Joel's experience provides him with an in-depth familiarity with every aspect of the insurance value chain, to include product development, distribution, submission, underwriting, rating, bind, billing/invoicing, claims, reinsurance and reporting.
His insurance/IT career started with General Reinsurance, where he held senior IT leadership responsibilities for two commercial property & casualty insurance divisions and was ultimately promoted to VP-IT. At General Re, he implemented an insurance processing platform for a commercial insurance division that covered the full insurance life cycle. For another commercial insurance division of General Re he worked with the senior executive team to develop an IT Strategic plan and then implemented that plan across the organization.
Over the past 10 years, Joel has held senior consulting responsibilities with Tata Consultancy's Global Consulting Practice Insurance Vertical, Cap Gemini's US insurance/IT vertical practice and then with ThoughtWorks, a firm that specializes in leading edge software delivery techniques. Joel has very successfully delivered consulting services to a wide variety of insurance companies across the US, from the very largest, name brand insurance companies, to internet insurance startups.
Joel holds an MBA from the University of New Haven, a BS from St. Lawrence University and has completed several CPCU exams.
Gary Dandridge, Director IT Strategy, Stratix Consulting
Gary Dandridge is an IT professional with twenty years of experience in defining and delivering information technology solutions to meet client business needs and to enhance their business capabilities. His IT expertise spans IT Strategy through Implementation, from business concepts, strategy and IT architecture definition through to business analysis and requirements gathering, systems sourcing, selection, and integration. He has spent the last fifteen years in financial services, and has extensive capital markets, wealth management, investment, and insurance industry knowledge.
Gary has led and participated in numerous initiatives to define the strategic target architectures for organizations and for mission critical solutions for clients. He has also worked with many of Canada's leading investment dealers, investment managers, and P&C insurance organizations in assessing their system portfolios and detailing changes to improve operational effectiveness and business alignment.
Gary is currently a Director, IT Strategy with Stratix Consulting. He focuses on assisting clients in the financial services sector with evolving their application and underlying infrastructures to enhance IT alignment to the business and increase IT value. Services span Enterprise Architecture Definition and Roadmaps, Application, Data, and Technology Architectures, Data Management, Application Portfolio Assessments, Process and Data Modeling, and Business Workflow Mapping and Design.
Brian Desmond, Vice President, Marketing - Guidewire Software
As Vice President of Marketing, Brian Desmond is responsible for the development and execution of global marketing strategy including demand creation, positioning, branding, public relations and product marketing.
Brian brings extensive experience in corporate and product marketing to the company. Prior to joining Guidewire, he served as Vice President of Marketing for PeopleSoft's Supply Chain solutions, where he led global marketing efforts for a division with $300M in annual revenue. Before that, Brian led marketing at Ketera Technologies, playing a key role in establishing Ketera as a leader in the "software as a service" space. Prior to Ketera, he served in a variety or product marketing roles at Ariba and Tradex Technologies (acquired by Ariba). He began his career at Accenture, and managed project teams implementing SAP R/3 at Fortune1000 companies.
Brian has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Economics and Marketing from University College of Cork, Ireland.
Pat has been an entrepreneur since high school. After completing his post secondary education, he started an insurance brokerage that went from $18k in commissions, eventually growing to the $5M range in a small 5000 population, rural community in Northern New Brunswick. This success was accomplished in great part because of Pat's use and love of technology. The latter probably explains why and where he is now, managing the second largest Broker Management System firm in Canada, Keal Technology.
Pat's views on the future of brokers heading into financial services, requiring state of the art, efficient technology and his expertise in the area technology serves, make him an ideal candidate to speak on how paperless workflows can have a direct impact to your bottom line.
Carolyn "Cal" Durland, Program Manager and Member Relations, AUGIE Facilitator - ACORD
Cal Durland has worked in the insurance industry since 1980 as a commercial underwriter, a broker and, since 1990, at the industry's non-profit standards development organization ACORD.
In her role as the ACORD Facilitator for AUGIE (ACORD-User Group Information Exchange), Cal works with the various management system user groups, independent agents, carriers and vendors to address technology and workflow opportunities, and to educate the industry on the business value of working with ACORD data standards and forms. Cal is also an advocate for the Real Time campaign. She received her CPCU Designation in 1989 and is a member of the Society of CPCU and Westchester CPCU Chapter Board.
Denny Edwards, President, carinsurance.ca and Edwards Insurance Group
Denny began his insurance career in 1973 as a Marine underwriter trainee at Royal Insurance. Over the next 15 years he progressed through a wide range of technical and managerial positions spanning underwriting, claims, marketing and including 2 years at Royal's Group Head Office in London, England. In 1989 he left Royal and acquired a brokerage. In 1999, he launched a second brokerage which operates the highly successful website carinsurance.ca. Denny and his wife Claire, also an insurance broker, operate both of these firms out of their office in Toronto.
Denny describes Edwards Insurance Group as a traditional brokerage and carinsurance.ca as an internet brokerage. Operating both types of brokerages at the same time places him in a unique position of being able to compare the evolution and future of each channel for reaching out to prospective and current clients.
Denny holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Physics from Trent University and a Master of Business Administration degree from York University. In addition to running two insurance brokerages, Claire and Denny are busy raising two teenage sons.
Martin Eising, Vice President - Technology, HealthQuotes.ca Inc.
Martin has been managing the Information Technology department of HealthQuotes.ca Inc. for over 10 years. During this time he has been combining technology with traditional insurance processes, focusing on online initiatives that allow people to purchase their benefits as quickly and as easily as possible. Emphasis has also been placed on a tight coupling between online lead generation and in-house information systems, creating a paperless Lead-to-Sale process.
Mark B. Gorman, Principal, Mark B. Gorman & Associates
Mark Gorman is a principal with Mark B. Gorman & Associates. With more than 25 years of industry experience, Mark's focus is on assisting both insurance carriers and vendors in furthering the adoption of emerging technologies in the insurance market.
As a former executive in the insurance market, Mark has been responsible for setting strategic direction in identifying, developing and executing on new products and services to achieve success. While doing so, Mark has gained deep experience and expertise in helping insurers bridge the gap between business requirements and technology capabilities. He is now committed to helping insurers take advantage of emerging data and technology solutions that will drive profitability, revenue growth, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
Before forming Mark B. Gorman & Associates, Mark set strategic direction in the insurance market for a vendor of software that was primarily utilized in underwriting predictive analytic processes. He also developed the marketing alliances required to enhance a point solution into an integrated solution by combining CRM capabilities, third-party data acquisition software, and rating engine software.
Mark received an MBA from University of Minnesota. He is a Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant, and has held NASD Series 7, 63, 24, 65 licenses.
Steve Hancock, Insurance Industry Principle, SAP North America
Steve has worked in the insurance industry since 1987 in various capacities, including claims examiner, claims manager, technical supervisor, and consultant.
Steve started his insurance career in 1987 as a claims representative with American States Insurance. During his tenure with American States he was promoted to Los Angeles County Branch Claims Manager and Division Supervisor for Southern California.
Steve worked at Computer Sciences Corporation from January 1995 until January 2006. Steve began his career at CSC as a senior consultant and eventually was promoted to Director, Claims Program Management. Steve worked in CSC's Property and Casualty Division's Claims and Legal Solutions area during most of his time with the company.
Steve joined SAP in January 2006 as an Industry Principal with a concentration in the insurance sector.
Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst, Gartner - Insurance Industry Advisory Services
Kimberly Harris-Ferrante is a Vice President and Distinguished Analyst in Gartner Research, where she is responsible for monitoring the business and technology trends within the global property and casualty and life insurance industries. She specializes in strategies and technologies to support distribution, customer relationship management, exception-based underwriting, policy administration, claims management and administration, business process management, and back office processing and optimization, as well as strategies around improving insurance IT architectures using services oriented architectures and business process management. She is an active participant in Gartner's outsourcing community where she leads on trends and best practices in IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing in the industry.
Ms. Harris-Ferrante has been an insurance analyst with Gartner since 1998 and has been active in the research field since 1992 in areas such as social sciences, healthcare, law and information technology. In these positions, she supported quantitative research projects, including focus group support, survey creation, data entry, programming, statistical analysis, and report writing.
Ms. Harris-Ferrante earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master's degree in sociology from East Carolina University. She has completed coursework for a Ph.D. at North Carolina State University. Her key areas of concentration included research methodology and statistics.
Bryan Harper, Director of IT Jevco Insurance Company
Bryan has over 30 years experience in the insurance industry, starting with a brokerage and moving to major insurers in Montreal and Toronto. With a breadth of underwriting background Bryan moved into IT ranks and has worked on and implemented over 7 major underwriting systems projects over the years. As the Director of IT for Jevco Insurance he is responsible for the roll-out and implementation of the RapidSure product. Bryan holds a PAA/CIP designation and sits as a member of CSIO - Canadian flavour of Acord.
Doug Johnston, Vice President Partner Relations & Product Innovation, Applied Systems, Inc.
Doug started his insurance career as a teenager working in his father's independent insurance agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota, gaining experience in agency/broker, wholesale and carrier operations. Intrigued with the emerging automation technology in the early 1980's, Doug joined Applied Systems in 1985. From the beginning, he has used his long industry experience to take an active role in the product design of agency management systems, comparative rating software, insurance company systems and agency-company interface.
In 1999, Doug spearheaded the industry's embracement of Internet-based Web services for the communication of real-time transactions. The result was the creation of the industry's first real-time agency-company communication network - WARP.
Doug is also a longtime "industry" participant with active roles in ACORD, ACT, AUGIE, ASCnet and other industry groups, helping to shape the future of agency automation. Within these groups, Doug is one of the industry's biggest advocates for the use of ACORD and CSIO standards within the real-time interface movement, promoting their benefits and value to all industry participants.
Steven Kaukinen, President, CSIO
Before becoming President of CSIO, Steve owned his own independent brokerage in White Rock, BC. Prior to that, Steve held executive positions at P&C insurance companies in both Canada and the US. His experience in more than 22 years in the P&C insurance industry include Commercial (property/casualty, marine and professional liability) & Personal Lines, Underwriting, Claims, Finance, Information Technology, and Marketing.
Steve obtained his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, his undergraduate degree in Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan. In addition, he holds a Canadian Risk Management Diploma and is both a Fellow of the Insurance Institute of Canada and a Registered Professional Liability Underwriter.
Gerry Lee, Account Executive, SQLiaison
Gerry Lee, Account Executive at SQLiaison, has more than 25 years experience in the Life and Property and Casualty insurance industry. His extensive background in the insurance sector is the result of his most recent role for 9 years as Vice-President , Finance Projects and Business Information Services at Aviva. Prior to that position, Gerry has held many senior Finance roles at Aviva for 10 years and at NN Financial (formerly member of the ING Group) for 7 years . Gerry has practical experience with Business Intelligence (BI) for insurance and how to use information to drive business performance.
He is now responsible to bring new insurance clients and also to manage the current insurance clients. His objective is to ensure that the clients are maximizing their BI investments by leveraging their informational assets.
Gerry is a Certified General Accountant.
Marlowe Leibensperger, Senior Vice President, R&D / Consulting, Eagle Eye, a sister company of Duck Creek Technologies
Marlowe leads EagleEye's consulting practice, working with clients to define roadmaps for future growth and optimized performance. The consulting team supports clients with issues ranging from corporate strategy development, underwriting excellence, marketing/distribution optimization, and financial effectiveness.
Prior to joining EagleEye, Marlowe was a Senior Manager for Oliver Wyman, a leading management consulting firm, where he specialized in developing solutions for Property & Casualty insurance companies. In addition, Marlowe's experience includes serving as the Chief Underwriting Officer with Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation and as an actuarial consultant with Ernst & Young and Sedgwick, Inc.
Marlowe received a Masters of Business Administration from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Jim McGregor, CEO, The Precept Group
Jim started his career working for an insurer forty-two years ago and has been an insurance broker for thirty four years. During that time he has had a strong interest in the development of broker-company interface, has been active in the development of broker management interface solutions with various insurers and has served as chair of the broker council at CSIO.
He holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Guelph and is a Canadian Certified Insurance Broker (CCIB).
The Precept Group Inc. is a regional insurance broker based in Waterloo, Ont. It is made up of a retail brokerage with 11 offices in Ontario, (Precept Insurance Brokers), a national wholesale insurance brokerage, (ABEX, Affiliated Brokers Exchange Ltd.), a financial services brokerage, (Precept Financial Services Inc.), and a premium finance company, (Innesbrook Capital Inc.).
Rick Morgan, Rick Morgan Consulting
As an independent consultant, Rick has worked on advancing the success of the Independent Agency System for over 25 years. He owned an insurance agency in Boulder, Colorado, was co-founder, and served as publisher and editor of the TAAR (The Automated Agency Report). He is the originator of "Transactional Filing", was co-developer of Silver Plume, and served as Sr. Vice President of ConfirmNet and and as Sr. Vice President of Marketing for Applied Systems.
In addition to his own consulting, presenting, and meeting facilitation, Rick is a Senior Associate with Aartrijk and works with Peter van Aartrijk and his team of brand strategists, designers, marketing-communications experts and publishing professionals as a Social Web strategist.
Rick is currently serving as Chair of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA)Agents Council for Technology (ACT) Web 2.0 Workgroup. He is also a Director At-Large for Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of New York (IIABNY). He is a member of the Consumer Agent Portal Task Force for the IIABA.
In July 2009 Rick assumed the position of Interim CEO of ASCnet (Applied Systems Client Network).
Chris North, Vice President - Customer Advocacy and Product Strategy, DMTI Spatial
Chris North recently joined DMTI Spatial as Vice President, Product Innovation and Customer Advocacy. Working closely with DMTI's Content Solutions and Software Solutions groups, Chris is responsible for creating and developing a comprehensive product roadmap that is customer centric in design and execution.
Chris brings over 16 years of GIS technology experience to DMTI. Most recently Chris was with ESRI Canada for over 12 years. Prior to ESRI Canada, Chris worked for GDSS in Toronto and J.D. Barnes Limited in Markham. He has a Masters Degree in GIS from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and an undergraduate degree in Geography from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Chris is also a graduate of the Cartography Program from Sir Sanford Fleming College, Ontario.
Rick Orr, Vice President, Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario
Rick joined Orr Insurance Brokers in 1992. Along with his brother Jeff they are fourth generation owners of Orr Insurance Brokers Inc. in Stratford.
Rick is active in both the industry and the community. He is Vice President of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario, a board member of CSIO and a member of the IBAC Technology Committee. He also sits on many local boards including the Hospital and the Parks Board.
He believes that technology is critical to the future success of the independent insurance brokerage distribution system.
Married with two daughters Rick enjoys his family time as well as his industry involvement.
Len O'Sullivan, Partner and VP Consulting Services, Stratix Consulting
With more than 20 years of strategic planning experience, Len knows that an effective IT strategy is as much about an organization's business as it is about its systems. He has held the position of Chief Architect in three large Canadian companies, playing a central role in establishing the systems plans, as well as the planning methods, within those firms.
Len now leads the overall Stratix Consulting Services practice and provides senior oversight for client engagements. Over the past ten years with Stratix he has acted in an advisory role on dozens of initiatives striving to align IT portfolios with business objectives and constraints. Len graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Systems Design Engineering, and holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.
Ganesh Pai, Head, Client Services - Insurance, Healthcare & Government, Americas, MphasiS
Ganesh Pai is the head of client services for the insurance, healthcare and government segments at MphasiS, an HP company. In this role he is responsible for all aspects of the business including go to market strategies, revenue and profitability and client relationships across all service lines. Ganesh has played several key roles during his 13+ year tenure in the company. Prior to moving to the United States in early 2000, he was based out Singapore as the Regional Head for Asia Pacific.
With over 20 years of experience in the information technology industry, Ganesh has been responsible for establishing strategic outsourcing relationships with many fortune 500 corporations across the globe. He has launched innovative and emerging service offerings in the US markets. He was responsible for setting up and growing the 3,000+ people insurance practice at MphasiS in a span of 4 years. More recently he is credited with successfully leading an M&A transaction involving the acquisition of a 1,000+ people captive IT organization of a global insurance company.
Ganesh started his career at Wipro, a global information technology company in 1989. During his 8 year stint at Wipro, he played several roles in sales and marketing. At the time of leaving the organization in 1997, he was heading product marketing of remote access solutions in global markets. Ganesh holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Bangalore University, India, and an MBA from The University of Chicago.
Catherine Pearson, Vice President, Environics Analytics
Catherine Pearson is Vice President and Practice Leader for the finance, insurance, travel and telecommunications industries with Environics Analytics. With nearly 20 years of sales and account management experience, she provides companies with extensive consulting and applications support to implement their marketing programs and custom modelling solutions. A frequent speaker at conferences sponsored by industry and trade groups, she earned an honours degree in business from the University of Windsor and a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Western Ontario.
Glen Piller, President and Chief Executive Officer, iter8
Glen is the President and CEO of iter8 Inc. He serves as company spokesperson and provides vision, and direction for all areas of the company, and has overseen the company's strong market growth.
Glen is a graduate from the University of Western Ontario with a double major in Economics and Finance and a graduate of the Columbia University Senior Executive program. Glen is a broadly experienced insurance executive with over 18 years directly involved in the Life and Property Casualty Insurance industries.
Greg Purdy, Managing Partner, Pathway Partners Ltd.
With more than 20 years of experience in the insurance technology marketplace, Greg brings a unique perspective on how to build a successful company. After graduating from the University of Guelph, Greg joined the Royal Insurance Company as a technical analyst for broker automation. In 1988 Greg accepted the position of Director of Canadian Operations for Applied Systems with a client base of just over 200. As C.E.O., Greg led the company to the leading market position, with over 1200 broker customers.
In 1992 Greg added the responsibility for international development and successfully established UK operations with The Agency Manager UK Unlimited. As a senior executive with responsibilities in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, Greg played a significant role in the growth and financial performance of Applied Systems between 1988 and 2006 with particular attention to, marketing, product development, customer service, international expansion, and mergers and acquisitions.
Brenda Rose, Vice President, Firstbrook, Cassie & Anderson Ltd.; IBAC Technology Champion
Brenda Rose joined the insurance industry as a broker in 1984, after graduating from Trinity College at the University of Toronto. Since 1985, she has been with Firstbrook Cassie & Anderson Limited in a variety of roles, including service, sales and administration. Her current role as Director and Vice-President includes responsibility for operations, customer service and human resources at head office and two branches. FC&A is a private and independent full-service brokerage, providing custom solutions for a commercial clientele across Canada and partnering with the Wells Fargo Global Broker Network for full international access.
In addition to her executive role at Firstbrook Cassie & Anderson, Brenda is past president of the Toronto Insurance Conference and past director of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada. She currently serves as Technology Champion for IBAC and also as a delegate to the US Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, where she is active as a member of the International Working Group and Management Resources Steering Committee.
Charles Samolczyk, Vice President, Product Sales, Brovada
Charles joined Brovada in early 2009 as Vice President of Product Sales and has been instrumental in the growth and success of Brovada's NexExchange product suite. In his position, Charles works closely with Brovada's insurer clients to understand their vision and add value into their day-to-day operations. Charles is a key driver of the development roadmap and implementation activities to ensure client satisfaction and product adoption.
Charles completed a 5-year Electrical Engineering and Management degree at McMaster University and began his career in telecommunications delivering large-scale service implementations. He subsequently moved into software solution sales providing connectivity for physicians and patients within the North-American healthcare industry.
Jackie Selby, Manager, Personal Lines Development and Connectivity, AXA Insurance (Canada)
With more than 25 years of experience in the P&C Insurance Industry, Jackie is the AXA Business Sponsor for Personal Lines internal and external technology. She manages the personal lines development projects which involve underwriting, products, controls, workflows and processes. Extending beyond the company's internal processing, Jackie is also responsible for the development, roll-out and support of broker connectivity initiatives.
Colin Smith, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, The Economical Insurance Group
Colin applies more than 17 years of experience in business planning, execution, operations and information technology to this leadership role.
Colin brings an interesting perspective to the business of technology in the insurance industry, having spent much of his career building, integrating and managing businesses that served the industry, and now holding a strategic business/technology position in an insurance company. During his career he has held the positions of CEO, COO, and CIO at several insurance related corporations. Throughout, Colin has consistently driven profitable growth through the motivation and engagement of people and the application of technology to business.
Colin holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo.
Lisa Lynn Sutrick, Director, CCM, PBBI
Lisa Sutrick is the Director of Product Management with Pitney Bowes Business Insight's (PBBI) Customer Communication Management (CCM) portfolio, where she oversees product management, development, and product marketing.
Lisa has over 20 years of experience in the content automation and document composition software market, specializing in Insurance solutions. Her diverse experience includes development, engineering and support in the software industry, as well as several years as the document architect at a large health insurance provider.
James R. Swayze, President and CEO, Symbility Solutions, Inc.
James R. Swayze brings over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry to Automated Benefits. Throughout his career, Mr. Swayze held senior management positions across the globe, including the United States, Canada and various parts of Europe. Prior to Automated Benefits, Mr. Swayze co-founded and served as president of Insource Limited, a financial services marketing and product development consulting firm. After General Electric (GE) Capital purchased Insource in 1997, Mr. Swayze joined GE Employers Reassurance Canada (GE ERC) as senior vice president, business development. After building the value of its Canadian life reinsurance division of GE ERC to over $1 billion, Mr. Swayze was promoted to vice president, sales and marketing, North America for GE ERC's parent company, General Electric (GE).
James is an accomplished author with several features on emerging trends in technology appearing in industry publications such as Canadian Insurance, Claims Canada and Claims Advisor. In addition to being a published author, Mr. Swayze is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events throughout North America.
Greg Thornton, CEO, Octello Inc.
Greg Thornton has over 25 years of experience developing and providing technology to the P&C insurance sector. As the reseller and implementer of the RapidSure product from Harcase, Octello provides the insurance technology expertise required to deliver fast and immediate business benefits to their clients. RapidSure delivers technology that allows Insurers to progressively remodel their IT Enterprise Architecture. The utilization of RapidSure's rules-based and component technologies enables rapid product deployment and tremendous market agility.
J.R. (Bob) Tisdale, MBA, FCIP, CRM, President, Pembridge Insurance
Bob Tisdale is President and Chief Operating Officer of both Pembridge Insurance Company and Pafco Insurance Company and is Vice President of Allstate Canada Group.
Bob has been honored by the Insurance Industry with the James Richardson Award and the Centennial Award and was named Fellow of Distinction by the CIP Society in 2006.
Bob is currently on the Board of Directors of the Facility Association; is chair of the CIP society for Chair of the Professional Division of the Insurance Institute of Canada and past President of the Insurance Institute of Ontario. He also participates on the IBC National Auto Steering Committee.
He has taught insurance institute courses in both Canada and the USA. He has conducted numerous seminars for the government and the hospitality industry. He authored several articles for publications in both countries.
Philippe Torres, President, SQLiaison
Philippe Torres is one of the founding partners and is President of SQLiaison, Business Intelligence Experts. His 20 + years of experience account for a deep understanding of Enterprise Architecture and the specific issues of deploying Enterprise-Wide Business Intelligence. Philippe is widely recognized as one of the foremost BI experts in Canada, more specifically in the Insurance Industry. Regarded as an excellent speaker and communicator, Philippe has developed more than a dozen Business Intelligence Programs for his Canadian and American clients, including some of the largest Insurance Companies in North America.
Prior to his current tenure as President, Philippe was the principal visionary and architect behind FellowDSSTM, SQLiaison's Insurance Business Intelligence platform. He also worked as a Solutions Architect for Sun Microsystems and Sybase.
Philippe holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Concordia University.
Sheldon Wasylenko, Assistant General Manager, Rayner Agencies Ltd.; IBAC Technology Champion
Sheldon Wasylenko has worked within the information technology industry for over 20 years. During that time, he has worked with several large global technology companies in various roles including product and technical support, project management, management consulting, as well as sales and delivery management. His work in various industries such as healthcare, telecommunications, government, and finance, has given him the experience and opportunity to assist clients and senior management develop cost-effective solutions to solve key business problems.
In January 2004, Sheldon joined Rayner Agencies Ltd. as Assistant General Manager along side other long standing staff members of this family run business. Since then, he continues to serve as a Director on the Board of CSIO and currently fulfills the role as one of two Technology Champions with the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada representing brokers' needs across the country. Locally, Sheldon is an active member of an Advisory Committee helping to develop IT curriculum for the province's leading post-secondary technical institute. He also fulfills the role of Executive Director for one of the city's 5 major business districts. Mr. Wasylenko is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan.
Wendy Watson, Vice President - Operations, The Precept Group Inc.
Wendy has been in the insurance industry for 30+ years covering the direct writer and brokerage side of the business. Having garnered experience in underwriting, developing system user requirements and conducting systems testing with a direct writer, Wendy made a move to the brokerage side as upload of new business was being tested for implementation. Shortly thereafter came involvement in the initial attempt at the CSIO portal.
Wendy has represented brokers as a Beta broker for Applied Systems, then as an active member on the Canadian Interface Ad Hoc Committee of ASCNet for Applied System. Playing a role in the Real Time Broker Expo hosted in Cambridge on September 16th, 2008 lit a fire to continue educating brokers on what is possible for Real Time.
Being a CAIB discussion group leader and a certified Kolbe consultant are evidence of Wendy's penchant for education.
Hosts and Moderators
Patrick Vice, Director - Information Technology, Frank Cowan Company Limited.
Patrick has over 20 years experience enabling technology and electronic commerce in the risk management and insurance communities. See a more extensive biography here.
Doug Grant MBA CIP, Consultant, Insurance-Canada.ca
A keen analyst of computer and networking evolution for more than 30 years, Doug is cognizant of the changes that are occurring in the Internet insurance world and their impact on the industry. As a frequent industry speaker, columnist and consultant, as well 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 conference 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.
