The Chronicle: Issue 2015-09, March 3, 2015


What's Going Through The Intersection of Insurance and Technology?

Policyholders Will Love That Omnichannel Feeling
“Customer intimacy” might be the latest catchphrase in customer experience, but I wonder how policyholders really feel about being more intimate with their insurance company. How close do they really want to be? If customer intimacy provides a feeling of comfort, of being taken care of, then I suspect most policyholders would fully embrace the concept. And if the carrier can truly deliver on that promise, then you basically have a match made in heaven. Indeed, loyal customers have up to three times the net promoter value of passive customers.

The New Faces of Mobile Management: Engagement and Strategic Information Application
Managing mobility in an insurance organization has come a long way: from primarily clerical cost control activities, to active participation in strategic planning. And by all accounts, mobility is on a trajectory to become a critical element in most areas in of insurance organization. We'd like to showcase the current thinking about this trend and get to know what you are seeing in your organization.

The Intersection: Insurance-Canada.ca Blog
The Intersection

an Insurance-Canada.ca Blog


13th Annual Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference

Welcome and thank-you to our 2015 conference sponsors:

Bell Mobility as a Bronze Sponsor.
SEH Computer Systems Inc. as a Conference Supporter.

13th Annual Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference
ICTC2015
“The Digital Customer Experience”
March 9-10, 2015


Technology

How Much Does Cyber Security Cost?
As evidenced by prolific data breaches, cyber risk is on the rise, and in order to combat it effectively, the global insurance community must better understand their own internal vulnerabilities, as well as the risks clients are facing. It's a war that must be fought on two fronts.

IBM helps enterprises accelerate mobile strategies with new MobileFirst platform
IBM has announced new modular mobile solutions to empower organizations with greater flexibility and speed to better enable employees, engage customers and drive business growth. The new IBM MobileFirst Platform helps organizations effectively manage an increasing number of apps and support successful mobile adoption across the enterprise.

Gartner: managing identities, access critical to success of the Internet of Things
Managing identities and access is critical to the success of the Internet of Things (IoT) – but in its current form, identity and access management (IAM) cannot provide the scale or manage the complexity that the IoT brings to the enterprise, according to Gartner, Inc. The growth of the IoT means that IAM leaders of digital businesses require a way of defining and managing the identities of “entities” (people, services and things) within a single framework. The IoT is not only about the introduction of different forms of networked devices into digital business moments; it is a transformational approach to viewing and implementing processing, analytics, storage and communications.

Mariner Innovations case study: Property Assessment Data Migration
The data migration was part of an overall application modernization project conducted by Mariner using the Automation-Enabled Modernization methodology, powered by the Trinity Millennium Group. A significant challenge for the application modernization project was that the department of finance did not want to replatform their functionality or their data until sometime in the future. Therefore the PATS application had to be split into two applications, one that continued to perform taxation functions on the legacy platform and one that performed property assessment functions on a new platform. The department of finance required that there be no impact to their functionality on the legacy platform. And since taxation is driven by assessment data, both databases had to be synchronized on a timely basis.

Marketing

EY: Generations X and Y overlooked by Canadian life insurers
Generations X and Y are overlooked by Canadian life insurers, according to EY's 2015 Canada Life - Annuity Insurance Outlook. Exploring this underserved consumer market will help insurers achieve growth and relieve pressure on costs and margins. While catering to Gen X and Y may be a challenge, the adjustments may lower the insurers' high expenses that have made these markets difficult to serve.

Human Resources & Careers

Randstad study: Younger generations show less loyalty – Are you ready for Gen Z?
Job creation, healthcare and gender equality top the list of must-haves for Canada's newest members entering the workforce, according to a new study conducted by Randstad Canada. The survey in collaboration with Ipsos Reid polled young adults from generations Y (ages 21 to 34) and Z (ages 16 to 20).

Consumer Information

IBC marks Fraud Prevention Month with tips to avoid auto insurance fraud
Insurance Bureau of Canada is a proud supporter of Fraud Prevention Month, which takes place every March across Canada. To kick off this consumer-awareness month, IBC is participating in a number of events and providing tips to help detect and avoid auto insurance fraud.

Distribution

Grenville Mutual expands connectivity offering to support TAM and EPIC
Grenville Mutual Insurance Company is pleased to announce its intent to add support of WARP transactions to its current broker connectivity offering. Grenville Mutual is working closely with Brovada Technologies and Applied Systems to support real-time Inquiry, New Business and Policy Change requests for brokers that use the TAM and EPIC product suites. The project will focus on ensuring the broker experience is consistent regardless of whether a broker chooses to use Brovada's NexCenter or Applied's WARP to interact with Grenville. Using Brovada's NexExchange product suite which has recently been re-branded as BrovadaOne, Grenville will allow TAM and EPIC brokers to perform Policy, Billing, and Claims Inquiry, New Business Quote and Submission, and eventually real-time Policy Change upload.

Kanetix SaaS and SMI partner to deliver extension Auto Quoter
SMI brokers can now obtain electronic quotes on behalf of their customers thanks to the partnership between SMI and Kanetix SaaS. This new solution can be accessed by SMI brokers after logging in to a secure broker website. The new solution is the first of its kind offered by Kanetix in Saskatchewan as it allows SMI brokers the ability to rapidly quote extension auto policies and submit applications online for a number of vehicle types, including private passenger vehicles (car, truck, van, motorhome & farm truck).

Business of Insurance

EY: Data rules in Canada's challenging P&C insurance market
Facing cost pressures and market challenges, Canadian P&C insurers must use data and analytics to increase their profit margins, according to EY's 2015 Canada property-casualty insurance outlook. Tailoring services, products and premiums to each customer's specific situation is now an important competitive differentiator based on the ability to identify customer behaviors and personal risk profiles.

IBC President & CEO praises Nova Scotia auto insurance reform
On Thursday, Feb. 26, Don Forgeron, President & CEO of Insurance Bureau of Canada, told the Halifax Chamber of Commerce about a Nova Scotia success story – auto insurance reform. Not that long ago, auto insurance in Nova Scotia was in crisis. Insurers were paying out more in claims than they were collecting in premiums, auto insurance was expensive and hard to get and consumers were unhappy. Fortunately, this is no longer the case. But the Ontario government and insurers currently face problems similar to Nova Scotia's problems before reforms.


Subscribe here or view past issues.