|
|
| |
|
|
|
Articles from
April 2005
Saving Interface |
|
|
As president of Schematic, a Los Angeles-based company considered the expert in the area of user interfaces on computers, phones or advanced consumer electronics devices, Richard Titus counts Microsoft among his clients, and touts the value of Yahoo Finance. He was the founder and managing director of Razorfish, one of the top dot.com consulting firms before the digital crash. Once a sound engineer for The Beach Boys, he was listed as among the 50 most influential people in Hollywood by Digital Coast Reporter. Razorfish did the early design and development of Schwab.com, and more recently his firm developed the Web sites for ABC, Comcast and Turner. He is not particularly impressed by the way financial firms, other than Schwab, are using the Internet.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
Insurance Goes Global |
|
|
The Insurance Industry is Looking to Technology to Help IT Conquer New Markets, and Control Overhead.
The insurance industry’s global expansion continues. Carriers are seeking new business opportunities in Asia, some companies are consolidating the positions they took in US and European mergers and acquisitions over the last decade, and companies around the world are continuing to refine their reinsurance positions.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
Editor's Note: Geritol or the Junk Heap? |
|
|
Technology, the way we do business and the world around us have all changed but for some firms, they’re still dealing with 20-year old systems running on COBOL maintained by a “graying” resource pool of technicians.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
About the Mainframe Migration Alliance |
|
|
The Mainframe Migration Alliance (MMA) is a group of companies working together to help customers migrate workloads off of the mainframe and onto the Microsoft platform. The Alliance represents a group of companies that have their interests aligned in making Mainframe Migrations easier and more efficient for customers. Alliance members include...
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
HP: Helping FSOs Unlock the Value of Their Assets |
|
|
Through their Application Modernization Services, Hewlett-Packard offers large organizations leading, industry-standard technology solutions that deliver greater simplicity, agility and business value through a complete set of analysis, implementation and post-implementation services, technologies and partnerships to modernize complex, costly, yet valuable legacy technologies. To learn more, we talked to Rick Slade, their Consulting & Integration Enterprise Application Services solutions practice lead.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
NetManage: Extending the Life and Value of Your Legacy Apps |
|
|
NetManage, the Cupertino, CA-based global software company that
provides solutions for integrating, Web enabling and accessing
enterprise information systems, feels strongly about the issue of
legacy modernization and extending the value of insurance firms’
mainframe systems. We discussed these issues with Peter Havart-Simkin,
senior vice president, strategic development, who joined NetManage in
1998 as senior vice president, worldwide marketing.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
SBS: Migrating Legacy Apps through Automated Conversion |
|
 Sophisticated Business Systems, Inc. (SBS) provides fully automated conversion solutions to migrate older applications and databases to up-to-date languages and database management systems. Known for their patent-pending technology called DB-Shuttle™ to manage and automate the conversion process from end to end, SBS conversions support the market’s needs for improving data access, integrating data and applications and reducing IT license costs.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
Complying With New Parent's Procedures Meant New Software |
|
|
After US Financial Life was bought by MONY a few years ago, the new corporate parent requested a direct feed of sales by MONY agents, so it could pay commissions and reward points for internal sales incentive programs. MONY further dictated that the data must be in the ACORD XMLife standard format.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
Philadelphia Insurance Makes One System Fit All Niches |
|
|
The Philadelphia Insurance Companies has developed a profitable business one niche at a time. Writing coverage in all 50 states, the carrier seeks out narrow product targets, such as professional liability and commercial-package policies, and niches like non-profit human services. This specialized expertise enables it to create unique or customized coverage that helps generate consistent underwriting profits.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
Making Standards Universally Standard |
|
|
As companies expand their operations internationally they are increasingly seeking the benefits derived from standardizing their operations and data to assess their exposures and return on capital.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
Microsoft and HP’s New Mobility Initiatives in Insurance |
|
|
From sales to appraisals to damage assessment, insurance requires many of its professionals to work away from the office. The new mobility offering for insurance agents and claims adjusters announced by Microsoft and HP is already generating buzz within industry associations.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
Coupling Mobility with CRM and Sales Force Automation |
|
|
Dr. Lakshman Watawala, CTO of Mobitor, a Microsoft mobility partner which develops applications for multiple industries, said that mobile computing can help insurance companies cut their sales costs and improve the ratio of sales to appointments. The ratio of sold life insurance policies to customer meetings has declined from 1 in 10 to 1 in 15 from 1990 to 2000, while the sales expense ratios have increased significantly over the last 5 years, he said. For many insurers, the ratio is up from 3 percent to 6 percent.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
Seattle’s FHLB Shuns Clusters For Fault-Tolerant Servers |
|
|
As Seattle’s Federal Home Loan Bank piled more and more work on its relational database, Tim Jenné started looking for something more robust to support the load than a single Windows server platform. Jenné, then the bank’s assistant vice president of technical services, believed that since clusters can be difficult to administer, a fault-tolerant Windows server from Stratus would be a better choice. Once the IT staff had proven the reliability of Stratus, the bank had an easy time choosing new applications that run on Windows, said Jenné.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
The Secret Ingredient of Transamerica Re’s Underwriting System: Customization |
|
|
Transamerica Reinsurance’s private label term business was running into technological obstacles in 2003. A major reinsurance supplier of private label term life solutions, Transamerica Reinsurance counts some of the industry's most recognized companies among its clients. However, its cumbersome underwriting system meant that the company’s underwriters had to navigate through multiple systems for the information they needed.
|
| Read
More.. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
|