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Articles
Automated Onboarding by Replacing Manual Processes with Network Technology
April 8, 2008 Commentary by Scott Morrison, Sircon
Article Overview:
Although insurers have begun embracing electronic and Web-based approaches to recruiting, onboarding, and managing agents, most organizations have seen only patches of efficiency and cost savings. Scott Morrison, Sircon's VP of Product Strategy explains how leveraging Sircon's fully networked systems to automating "producer lifecycle management" can lower administrative costs and throttle up revenue.
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Electronic Licensing Gets Geico Stamp of Approval
March 1, 2006 Therese Rutkowski, Managing Editor
Article Overview:
When Geico's business grew significantly several years ago, the number of agent licenses it had to process doubled. As a result, the company switched from a time-consuming paper-based licensing administration process to an electronic one.
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Producing Results
February 1, 2006 Robert A. Nero, President and CEO
Article Overview:
This article addresses the elements of Producer Lifecycle Management (PLM) and the benefits of utilizing technology solutions for both carriers and producers to manage each step of the entire process. Sircon defines PLM as the sequential steps a producer takes to become licensed to sell insurance. The faster a producer is ready to sell, the more revenue is generated for the carrier. Technology solutions that facilitate this process with a great degree of speed and data accuracy also helps carriers maintain the interest of producers during the recruiting process because these solutions dramatically increase speed-to-market for producers.
Click here for the complete article.*
*Best's Review: February 1, 2006, Copyrighted A.M. Best Company, Inc. 2006, All Rights Reserved, Reprinted with Permission
The Spitzer Effect
September 1, 2005 Therese Rutkowski, Managing Editor
Report Overview:
The fate of contingency commissions is up in the air, and large insurance brokerage firms are struggling to recoup that lost revenue. Meanwhile, carriers and smaller, regional brokers face inevitable technology and process fixes to accommodate new regulations and a shifting commercial insurance market.
Visit the Insurance Networking News website for complete article.
Forrester Research Trends Report: BPO Services for Insurance
June 30, 2005 Marc Cecere - Vice President, Principal Analyst
Report Overview:
Business process outsourcing (BPO) will be growing within the insurance industry, driven as much by increasing comfort with vendors as it is by the need to reduce costs. However, to date, insurance companies have been reluctant participants in BPO for both cultural and structural reasons. Overcoming this resistance is the pressure for profitability, vendor investments to develop insurance credentials, and the maturation of both carriers and service offerings. Because of these factors, the biggest growth will be seen in large carriers that will cherry pick BPO services around niche areas like agent activation and fraud detection. Smaller companies will outsource both niche areas and core business processes that are non-differentiators.
Visit the Forrester Research website for complete article. (Please Note: A login is required to view the complete article.)
Forrester Research Trends Report: Drivers and Trends for IT and Insurance
June 1, 2005 Marc Cecere - Vice President, Principal Analyst
Report Overview:
A soft insurance market combined with regulatory requirements and more sophisticated IT leadership is driving IT to make significant changes. During the next two years, we will see increased consolidation of systems and processes, as well as the application of point solutions for high-return/high-risk areas. Furthermore, in midtier carriers, we will see increasing deployment of packages to replace the core systems of policy administration and claims processing. Finally, both IT and business process outsourcing will increase slowly as the industry knowledge of vendors and the sophistication of IT leaders increases.
Visit the Forrester Research website for complete article. (Please Note: A login is required to view the complete article.)
Filing Gets Up To Speed
March 1, 2005 Therese Rutkowski, Managing Editor
Article Overview:
Insurers have been pushing states for regulatory reform. If insurers are to remain competitive, they argue, insurance companies must get products to market faster. But they are stymied by redundant and cumbersome filing, licensing and reporting requirements across the 50 states.
Visit the Insurance Networking News website for complete article.