The Chronicle: Issue 2015-06, February 10, 2015
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What's Going Through The Intersection of Insurance and Technology?
Is the Purpose of Digital to Make Analog Better?
Let's Talk About Tech, Baby: Enhancing lives every day! |
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13th Annual Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference Welcome and thank-you to our 2015 conference sponsors:
Cognizant as a Gold Sponsor. |
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Business of Insurance
Scalar Decisions: Only 4 in 10 Canadian organizations believe they are winning the cyber security war
According to a study released by Canadian IT solutions integrator Scalar Decisions, only 41 percent of Canadian organizations believe they are winning the cyber security war. The research was conducted with over 600 IT and IT security practitioners in Canada, and found that the primary challenge respondents cited was a lack of in-house expertise. Almost half (49 percent) of respondents believed that they do not have a sufficient number of in-house personnel who have such critical qualifications as job experience, professional certifications, and specialized training.
Towers Watson: Insurers say predictive modeling is boosting their profits
Predictive modeling has notably increased in value across several areas of property & casualty (P&C) insurers' business over the past six years, according to global professional services company Towers Watson's annual Predictive Modeling Survey. Towers Watson first surveyed P&C insurers on their predictive modeling techniques in 2009; since then, a growing proportion of insurers have reported positive impacts on rate accuracy, loss ratios, and profitability.
Technology
The Co-operators improves client experience & ease of doing business with e-signatures
The Co-operators is responding to demand from both advisors and clients for a more convenient and easier way of doing business by enabling the completion of transactions electronically with e-signatures. Through an agreement with Silanis Technology to use the Canadian e-signature solution provider's cloud-based service e-SignLive™, The Co-operators is modernizing two processes, direct mail for consumers and life insurance with advisors, improving the convenience and speed to complete a transaction.
IBM Watson demonstrates computational creativity by reinventing poutine
The creative and analytical power of IBM Watson – a cognitive computing system that can ingest and reason about vast quantities of information as well as learn and interact naturally with people – is being applied to a uniquely Canadian challenge: inventing a better poutine. And every Canadian gets to vote on the results.
Distribution
Applied Systems: EpicOnline supports digital strategy, increases mobility for Brokers Trust Insurance Group Inc.
Applied Systems is pleased to announce that Brokers Trust Insurance Group Inc. has selected Applied EpicOnline, the cloud-hosted version of the fastest-growing brokerage management system, to drive their online strategy and business growth.
Kanetix acquires Rates.ca financial services rate comparison site
Kanetix Ltd has announced the acquisition of Rates.ca, which closed on January 31st, 2015. The acquisition of financial services and insurance rate comparison website Rates.ca from VerticalScope Inc. further broadens Kanetix's reach and strengthens its position in the online rate comparison industry in Canada, which continues to show significant growth potential.
Keal Technology and Xenex Enterprises to deliver eSignature solution
Keal Technology, a leader in broker innovation, together with Xenex's SignatureMaster©, Canada's only eSignature solution offering fail-safe authenticity verification, have announced a joint endeavor to make an eSignature solution available to Keal Technology's brokers.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. acquires Cohen & Lord Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has announced that it has acquired Cohen & Lord Insurance Brokers Ltd., located in Ottawa, Ontario. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Established in 1955, Cohen & Lord is an insurance broker and risk management services firm that provides retail property/casualty insurance products and services for commercial and individual clients across the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It specializes in commercial realty and condominiums, construction, fleet and other commercial risks as well as providing personal insurance coverage for high-value possessions.
Marketing
eMarketer: Big Data has big effect when shared companywide
When it comes to maximizing big data, companies need to share the numbers across departments. Unfortunately, that's not happening, based on October 2014 polling by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Among executives surveyed worldwide, about two-thirds agreed that some departments in their organizations had much better access to data than others. Around four in 10 said access to relevant data was limited and strictly controlled at their organization or that accessing it wasn't easy.
Aite Group report: Insurance players lag in marketing, social media adoption
In a new report, Next-Generation Marketing Solutions for Insurance: A Vendor Landscape, Aite Group examines marketing or marketing-related solutions and tools to generate an overview of the current solutions in the insurance market and the problems these solutions are addressing. It also provides insights about managing marketing across multiple channels throughout the marketing life cycle. This marketing vendor evaluation research is presented in conjunction with an online survey of financial advisors as well as an online survey of independent U.S. P&C insurance agencies.
Manulife Investor Sentiment Index: Canadians think cash is king; Americans prefer stocks
Over one-third of Canadians polled say it is a good time to invest in cash according to a recent Manulife Investor Sentiment Index (ISI). By contrast, investors across the border don't agree: six in ten say cash is a bad investment right now but feel confident about investing in stocks. The ISI is a semi-annual measure of investors' views on a range of asset classes and savings and investment vehicles, as well as their confidence in these areas.
Policy Management
FINEOS launches FINEOS Administration Suite for the employee benefits industry
FINEOS Corporation, a market-leading provider of core processing systems for Life, Accident and Health insurance, has announced the launch of the FINEOS Administration Suite, a full-service Policy, Claims, and Billing software solution. The suite has been designed for the demands of the new benefits market and will provide best in class functionality for Group, Voluntary and Individual Policy administration on a single platform while also supporting self-admin, full-admin and TPA models.