ISO has signed a licensing agreement to provide a wide array of Workers Compensation Information Services (WCIS) solutions to Austin Mutual Insurance Company for its expansion into the workers compensation market.

Austin Mutual will provide transactional workers compensation data to ISO to file and report to state rating bureaus and statistical agents in all states where the insurer writes workers compensation insurance.

Under the agreement, ISO will collect and record all workers compensation premium and loss information from Austin Mutual. ISO will develop and compile corresponding unit statistical, policy, and aggregate financial reports from the premium and loss information and submit that information to regulatory agencies.

ISO’s WCIS will enable Austin Mutual to reduce start-up costs and resources associated with current business processes and internal systems used to generate workers compensation regulatory reporting. ISO’s WCIS will also help Austin Mutual meet compliance requirements with an error correction process that allows Austin Mutual to manage data quality and reduce future expenditures required to create, update, or rewrite existing systems.

“ISO’s workers compensation services will help us build business at a lower cost while maintaining the advantages of automation,” said Terry Madsen, Vice President of Compliance and Product Development at Austin Mutual Insurance Company. “ISO’s WCIS solution will also reduce the resources required for workers compensation reporting and position us to successfully enter the new market and contribute to our success in the future.”

About Austin Mutual

Austin Mutual Insurance Company was founded in 1896 in Austin, Minnesota, as the Farmers United Township Mutual Hail Association of Minnesota. In 1909, the name was changed to Austin Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Minnesota and, in 1917, to Austin Mutual Insurance Company. The company moved its headquarters from Austin, Minnesota, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1914. Austin Mutual has an excellent reputation, and all the characteristics of competent management are displayed. Operations are conservatively conducted in an efficient manner to ensure that policyholders are adequately protected against any contingency and that a substantial surplus is readily available when needed.

About ISO’s Workers Compensation Information Services (WCIS)

Data management systems make data reporting transparent to the user. ISO develops and compiles unit statistical reports, policy, detailed claim information, individual claim reports, financial data calls, proof of coverage, and injury reporting for electronic transmission to statistical agents, boards, and bureaus on the carrier’s behalf. ISO’s Workers Compensation Information Services provide an array of other solutions to carriers, managing data output for internal or external use. Internal management reporting solutions are supported by ISO’s Executive Analytic Solutions Engine (EASE).

About ISO

ISO is a leading provider of products and services that help measure, manage, and reduce risk. ISO provides data, analytics, and decision-support solutions to professionals in many fields, including insurance, finance, real estate, health services, government, and human resources. Clients use ISO’s databases and services to classify and evaluate a variety of risks and detect potential fraud. In the United States and around the world, ISO’s services help customers protect people, property, and financial assets.

Be sure to visit our interactive website at www.iso.com.

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Powerful optional enhancement for PPS enables companies to extract archive data to quickly create Lloyd’s Bordereau and other reports

Skywire Software, a leading provider of software and services for the insurance industry, will preview a data mining tool for PPS, its industry-leading policy issuance software, during the AAMGA Annual Meeting in the Bahamas. The company will showcase the optional data mining tool, along with its comprehensive suite of offerings for the wholesale insurance market, throughout the meeting.

The data mining tool makes extracting data directly from the smart archive within Skywire Software’s PPS easy. Users can then quickly generate reports saving hundreds of hours in work by avoiding duplicate data entry and additional report verification. It is easy to install, set up, and integrate within the existing PPS system. Strong export capabilities enable unlimited data exporting, flexibility in data exporting to Excel, Access, XML format, as well as visual mapping of forms and fields to data columns for simple report creation.

"Skywire Software is committed to improving and investing in PPS and our offerings for MGAs and wholesale insurance companies," said Bob Steinke, vice president, products, Skywire Software. "We continuously listen to our customers and direct development based on their needs to solve specific business challenges."

"Using Skywire Software's PPS data mining tool, I was able to set up in one hour a report that previously took me six months to prepare with another product," said Lauri Klotz, assistant vice president, Continental Special Risks.  "I look forward to continuing to use this latest addition for PPS and better utilize our data when creating Lloyd’s Bordereau and other reports in the future."

With hundreds of sites installed, PPS is the industry leader with one of the largest customer bases of all policy production systems, producing a substantial percentage of all policies produced each year. According to a recent NAPSLO survey, 67 percent of its general agent members and 62 percent of it broker members use PPS to issue policies. In the excess and surplus lines (E&S) market, PPS is the industry standard.

The number of wholesale insurance companies using its market-leading PPS for policy issuance continues to grow. More than 100 customers have purchased the policy issuance system and related offerings during the past year, with more customers signing up.

Skywire Software’s PPS is a powerful Microsoft Windows-based application that enables efficient and economical policy issuance, including any user-defined transaction such as new policies, quotes, endorsements, cancellations and renewals, for all lines of business. PPS provides industry-leading policy creation, presentment, printing, archival, retrieval and Web-enabling capabilities for simple insurance document automation. By using Skywire Software’ PPS companies can cut policy issuance time by up to 70 percent and also cut policy issuance costs by up to 69 percent, all while handling more volume with existing staff.

Skywire Software serves more than 1,600 customers worldwide. More than 1,000 insurance companies, including hundreds of MGAs and eight of the top ten wholesalers, use Skywire Software’s business and enterprise Customer Communications Management (CCM) software, professional services, and Business Process Outsourcing facilities.

Skywire Software is a leading software company serving the insurance, health care, utility, and financial services industries. The Company develops industry-specific software products that help companies integrate processes, people and information. With products and services that span a range of key functions, including rating, rules, underwriting, business intelligence, online management, data movement, and enterprise-wide document automation, Skywire Software is dedicated to providing an unparalleled customer experience to more than 1,600 customers worldwide. For more information, contact Skywire Software at 1-800-735-6620 or visit www.skywiresoftware.com.

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Powerful optional enhancement for PPS enables companies to extract archive data to quickly create Lloyd’s Bordereau and other reports

Skywire Software, a leading provider of software and services for the insurance industry, will preview a data mining tool for PPS, its industry-leading policy issuance software, during the AAMGA Annual Meeting in the Bahamas. The company will showcase the optional data mining tool, along with its comprehensive suite of offerings for the wholesale insurance market, throughout the meeting.

The data mining tool makes extracting data directly from the smart archive within Skywire Software’s PPS easy. Users can then quickly generate reports saving hundreds of hours in work by avoiding duplicate data entry and additional report verification. It is easy to install, set up, and integrate within the existing PPS system. Strong export capabilities enable unlimited data exporting, flexibility in data exporting to Excel, Access, XML format, as well as visual mapping of forms and fields to data columns for simple report creation.

"Skywire Software is committed to improving and investing in PPS and our offerings for MGAs and wholesale insurance companies," said Bob Steinke, vice president, products, Skywire Software. "We continuously listen to our customers and direct development based on their needs to solve specific business challenges."

"Using Skywire Software's PPS data mining tool, I was able to set up in one hour a report that previously took me six months to prepare with another product," said Lauri Klotz, assistant vice president, Continental Special Risks.  "I look forward to continuing to use this latest addition for PPS and better utilize our data when creating Lloyd’s Bordereau and other reports in the future."

With hundreds of sites installed, PPS is the industry leader with one of the largest customer bases of all policy production systems, producing a substantial percentage of all policies produced each year. According to a recent NAPSLO survey, 67 percent of its general agent members and 62 percent of it broker members use PPS to issue policies. In the excess and surplus lines (E&S) market, PPS is the industry standard.

The number of wholesale insurance companies using its market-leading PPS for policy issuance continues to grow. More than 100 customers have purchased the policy issuance system and related offerings during the past year, with more customers signing up.

Skywire Software’s PPS is a powerful Microsoft Windows-based application that enables efficient and economical policy issuance, including any user-defined transaction such as new policies, quotes, endorsements, cancellations and renewals, for all lines of business. PPS provides industry-leading policy creation, presentment, printing, archival, retrieval and Web-enabling capabilities for simple insurance document automation. By using Skywire Software’ PPS companies can cut policy issuance time by up to 70 percent and also cut policy issuance costs by up to 69 percent, all while handling more volume with existing staff.

Skywire Software serves more than 1,600 customers worldwide. More than 1,000 insurance companies, including hundreds of MGAs and eight of the top ten wholesalers, use Skywire Software’s business and enterprise Customer Communications Management (CCM) software, professional services, and Business Process Outsourcing facilities.

Skywire Software is a leading software company serving the insurance, health care, utility, and financial services industries. The Company develops industry-specific software products that help companies integrate processes, people and information. With products and services that span a range of key functions, including rating, rules, underwriting, business intelligence, online management, data movement, and enterprise-wide document automation, Skywire Software is dedicated to providing an unparalleled customer experience to more than 1,600 customers worldwide. For more information, contact Skywire Software at 1-800-735-6620 or visit www.skywiresoftware.com.

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Leading global insurance software provider will fuel ongoing growth through continued customer-centric innovation

Skywire Software unveiled its new corporate identity and plans for continued customer-centric innovation, leadership, and growth as a dominant provider of software and services to the insurance industry. The announcement came during the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., where Skywire Software is showcasing its market-leading offerings.

Skywire Software is one of the largest providers of software and services to the insurance industry, serving more than 1,000 insurance companies. The company’s aggressive growth has been fueled both organically and through nine strategic acquisitions. Earlier this year the company acquired two leading insurance technology companies, Integrated Insurance Technologies and Docucorp International.

"Skywire Software is committed to delivering an unparalleled customer experience," said Wendy Gibson, chief marketing officer, Skywire Software. "Our new corporate identity builds upon that commitment and propels Skywire Software to the next level of growth in the insurance technology marketplace. We remain dedicated to providing the best core components for insurers to manage the policy life cycle and will continue to innovate and invest in our products."

The company provides the insurance industry with one of the most comprehensive platforms of business and enterprise Customer Communications Management (CCM) applications. Customers also leverage the deep domain knowledge and expertise of Skywire Software’s professional services team and its state-of-the-art Business Process Outsourcing facilities.

"Skywire Software is well positioned for high growth," said Patrick Brandt, president and chief executive officer, Skywire Software, and a featured speaker at this year’s ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum. "Our vision is to be a dominant provider of software and services for the insurance industry through continued innovation. We are keenly focused on deepening our penetration globally in insurance and continuing to extend our reach into the financial services, health care, and utility industries."

Skywire Software will receive two ACORD Accomplishment Awards during the ACORD LOMA event. This is the third time the company’s leadership and commitment to the implementation of industry standards has earned recognition from ACORD. Overall, the company has received more than 20 awards in recognition of innovation, leadership, and community involvement.

The company also is a platinum sponsor of the 2007 ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum and will host the event’s closing party.

Skywire Software is a leading software company serving the insurance, health care, utility, and financial services industries. The Company develops industry-specific software products that help companies integrate processes, people and information. With products and services that span a range of key functions, including rating, rules, underwriting, business intelligence, agency management, data movement, and enterprise-wide document automation, Skywire Software is dedicated to providing an unparalleled customer experience to more than 1,600 customers worldwide. For more information, contact Skywire Software at 1-800-735-6620 or visit www.skywiresoftware.com.

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Power packed new version of leading enterprise Customer Communications Management software includes more than 140 enhancements

Skywire Software, a leading global provider of business and enterprise Customer Communications Management (CCM) software and services, announced the general availability of version 11.2 of the Documaker Suite, including Documaker Studio. The latest version of Skywire Software’s market leading enterprise software represents the company’s ongoing commitment to enabling high-volume, on-demand and personalized customer communications.

Featuring more than 140 customer and market-driven enhancements, this latest power packed version of Documaker has an updated look-and-feel based on Microsoft Windows themes using icons and user interface elements found in Microsoft Vista and Office 2007. Skywire Software began shipping Documaker this month.

"Skywire Software is committed to providing world class, enterprise customer communications management software that solves the evolving business challenges of our customers," said Wendy Gibson, chief marketing officer, Skywire Software. "We continually innovate and invest in our products directing development based on daily interaction with our customers. We are proud of this major, new, feature-rich release of Documaker."

Skywire Software serves more than 1,600 customers worldwide, including 1,000 insurance companies. The company provides a comprehensive platform of business and enterprise CCM applications for the insurance, health care, utility and financial services industries. Customers also leverage the deep domain knowledge and expertise of Skywire Software’s professional services team and its state-of-the-art Business Process Outsourcing facilities.

Skywire Software is a leading software company serving the insurance, health care, utility, and financial services industries. The Company develops industry-specific software products that help companies integrate processes, people and information. With products and services that span a range of key functions, including rating, rules, underwriting, business intelligence, agency management, data movement, and enterprise-wide document automation, Skywire Software is dedicated to providing an unparalleled customer experience to more than 1,600 customers worldwide. For more information, contact Skywire Software at 1-800-735-6620 or visit www.skywiresoftware.com.

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More than one million new life insurance policies were processed in 2006 using Skywire Software Insurance Data Exchange (IDX)

Skywire Software, a leading provider of software and services for the insurance industry, announced the release of Insurance Data Exchange (IDX) 9.6 and the GA 2007 Agency Management System for brokerage general agencies. The company, which pioneered the automation of real-time data exchange via ACORD-XML and other industry standards for life, health and annuities, also announced plans to extend its powerful distribution model to property and casualty insurers.

"Automating the exchange of data between all parties involved is critical for companies looking to increase efficiency and speed processing new insurance business," said Wendy Gibson, chief marketing officer, Skywire Software. "The latest enhancements to our products demonstrate our commitment to helping our customers achieve improved agent carrier communications and straight-through-processing. We look forward to helping property and casualty companies realize the same benefits that our customers in life and health have long been experiencing, including the exchange of direct carrier rating messages."

Skywire Software’s IDX is the largest independent life insurance centralized data hub. More than one million new policies were processed through IDX during 2006, involving the exchange of more than 10 million ACORD-XML and other data messages. The latest enhancements to IDX and the GA 2007 system further enable application upload of new life insurance business with leading carriers, collaboration with service providers, and deepen integration with partner systems.

Skywire Software will showcase both products, along with its comprehensive suite of business and enterprise Customer Communications Management (CCM) offerings during the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum, May 20-22, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

More than 20 customer-driven enhancements have been made to GA 2007, including:

Skywire Software serves more than 1,000 insurance companies. Approximately 50 leading life underwriting companies, more than 50 of the largest life insurance brokerage agencies, 7,000 agencies / agents, and the top five service providers use Skywire Software’s automated data exchange products.

Skywire Software is a leading software company serving the insurance, health care, utility, and financial services industries. The Company develops industry-specific software products that help companies integrate processes, people and information. With products and services that span a range of key functions, including rating, rules, underwriting, business intelligence, agency management, data movement, and enterprise-wide document automation, Skywire Software is dedicated to providing an unparalleled customer experience to more than 1,600 customers worldwide. For more information, contact Skywire Software at 1-800-735-6620 or visit www.skywiresoftware.com.

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Provides Comprehensive View of Risk Management to Help Companies Drive Compliance and Information Security

Getronics, a global leader in IT workspace management services, announced the expansion of its Information Risk Management (IRM) practice, as part of Getronics’ Consulting and Transformation Services in North America. The expansion is designed to help companies achieve both compliance and information security, while driving sustainable innovation and growth. The IRM practice provides risk management competency, advisory, and transformational services to help companies protect their information and computing infrastructure while embedding security into their daily operations.

The IRM practice focuses on helping clients minimize information risk; through its ability to provide IRM assessments, benchmarks, metrics and awareness programs, Getronics advises clients on how to gain a 360-degree view of risk management, helping them to remain compliant while ensuring information security.

“Our key role is to help companies secure their information -- the lifeblood of the modern worker and company,” said John Pironti, Chief Information Risk Strategist, IRM practice, Getronics. “As part of our strategic consultation, we help clients shift their focus from just protecting their information systems to securing the information that resides in these systems.”

A few of the Getronics’ IRM practice offerings include:

·            IRM Benchmark - Measures an organization's information risk management maturity

·            IRM Compliance Awareness Program - Education programs that meet regulative and industry mandates

·            Getronics Security University - eLearning facility for security education on technologies and standards

·            IRM Metrics - The development of metrics for information risk and security functions to drive continuous improvement

·            IRM Vendor Security Assessments - Conducts security assessments on suppliers in accordance with audit requirements to check partner information risk practices

·            IRM Information Security Strategy and Program Development – Assists organizations in creating and implementing business aligned information security capabilities

·            Threat and Vulnerabilty Management – Conducts threat and vulnerability analysis of business processes and enables vulnerability management capabilities within organizations

·            Policy and Compliance – Develops policies, standards, processes and procedures to help organizations achieve compliance goals and regulatory requirements

·            Architecture and Design – Creates reference architecture and design libraries for secure technology infrastructure implementation and operation

·            Technology Strategy and Evaluation – Develops technology strategy for organizations to implement and operate information security related technologies

Getronics’ IRM services leverage a legacy of expertise and intellectual property from acquired organizations that reach back to the formation of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the security management standard ISO/IEC 17799. It also extends these efforts into broader information risk needs established and mandated by Sarbanes Oxley, HIPAA, GLBA, SB1386, and numerous regional and global regulations and requirements.

Getronics’ expanded IRM offerings are immediately available to clients. For more information or to arrange a consultation, please contact us at 800-824-6350.

About Getronics

With some 25,000 employees in more than 25 countries and approximate revenues of USD $3.4 billion, Getronics is a leading international provider of Information and Technology (IT) services and solutions.

Applying its expertise in workspace management, applications, and consulting and transformation services, Getronics helps organizations raise their performance and increase the productivity of their people, by providing them with the ability to share information and to work together efficiently, securely and effectively, wherever and whenever they need.

Getronics headquarters are in Amsterdam, with regional offices in Boston and Singapore. Getronics' shares are traded on Euronext Amsterdam ('GTN'). For further information about Getronics, visit www.getronics.com/us.

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IT Solutions Provider Helps Insurers Issue New Policies Quicker

New software that can dramatically cut by up to 50 percent the time it takes life insurance carriers and their producers to issue policies was introduced by MajescoMastek, a provider of innovative information technology solutions to the life and annuity insurance industry.

Elixir New Business/Underwriting 4.0 leverages the power of straight-through processing – a solution that automates the end-to-end processing of transactions – to  simplify and accelerate a carrier’s new business underwriting process. It was unveiled here at the ACORD/LOMA Insurance Information Systems Forum.

“Elixir New Business/Underwriting 4.0 answers the need of carriers to generate growth through improved responsiveness to producers and customers,” said Vijay Chavan, the company’s head of insurance services. 

Part of MajescoMastek’s SOA-based Elixir suite designed specifically for life and annuity carriers, Elixir New Business/Underwriting 4.0’s features include a configurable underwriting rules engine and the ability to handle applications for all product lines and from all production channels, from agents and brokers to advisers and broker-dealers.

Benefits

Besides speeding up overall turnaround time, Elixir New Business/Underwriting 4.0 offers carriers these business benefits:

·        Significantly reduces errors and omissions associated with application processing

·        Substantially improves rate of automatically approved applications to as high as 90 percent

·        Major cost savings in the underwriting process through its sophisticated integration with external vendors and internal systems, reducing costs by up to 25 percent

·        Improved carrier-distributor relationships, including increased ability to attract and retain new distribution channels, as a result of higher new business-closure rates

“Today’s producers are increasingly independent, with loyalty based on carrier reaction time, while customers are increasingly sophisticated, shopping around and expecting higher levels of service,” Chavan said. “To win and maintain their allegiance, carriers must differentiate themselves by more than just price. Responsiveness, as measured by quickly delivered, creative underwriting, has become a critical distinguishing factor. Elixir New Business/Underwriting 4.0 enables carriers to compete and grow market share on that basis.” 

Key Features

Features of the Elixir New Business/Underwriting 4.0 solution include:

·        Support for a broad spectrum of users including sales, home office, underwriters and supervisors in a collaborative environment

·        Support for a wide array of product lines, including traditional (term, whole life), variable products, annuities, health, credit, and their variants including hybrid products

·        A flexible, pre-populated rules engine that allows user configuration

·        Product line-based business process flow, with variations for channels, customer profile, face amount, etc., and with an ability for user modification

·        A powerful underwriting “workbench” that consolidates all important information on a risk into one resource to provide a 360-degree view of the customer

·        Flexible architecture that allows for ease of configuration to a company’s specific needs

·        Designed with service-oriented architecture (SOA) for ease of integration and to embrace fully ACORD industry standards

Like other newly introduced components of the Elixir suite, Elixir New Business/Underwriting 4.0 is a Java-based “thin” client, Web-deployed solution that uses a flexible SOA-based architecture to allow for ease of customization. The solution’s open architecture helps to easily integrate and coexist with existing legacy applications within a carrier. Also, its support for ACORD XML standards enables rapid integration with third-party systems.

About MajescoMastek

MajescoMastek is a $156 million global software solutions and services provider. MajescoMastek offers Elixir, the only SOA-based enterprise platform for life and annuity carriers. Elixir comprises a suite of components that can be implemented in whole or in component parts. Elixir’s key components include compensation management, e-applications, policy administration, and claims management. Visit www.majescomastek.com.

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Hyland joins top vendors to provide pre-integrated solutions for insurers -

Hyland Software Inc., developer of the OnBase^® enterprise content management (ECM) software suite, announced it has joined Microsoft’s Insurance Value Chain (IVC) program. As an IVC member, Hyland will take part in Microsoft’s initiative to provide insurers with a comprehensive set of insurance-specific applications and services that seamlessly integrate with each other and with existing applications. 

Hyland is part of a select group of IVC software vendors that provide high-value solutions for Microsoft insurance customers. By integrating OnBase with various applications and products from other top vendors, Microsoft seeks to provide a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for insu rance companies. These top vendors provide business-processing software, ranging from point-of-sale-and-service to re-insurance. Additionally, IVC partners will be part of a framework for integrating their applications based on Web Services and industry standards to provide insurers with a complete solution.

“At Hyland, we are committed to providing tight integration with Microsoft products,” said Tim Tallaksen, director of insurance solutions, Hyland Software. “This partnership assures insurance companies that they can maximize all of their investments in productivity software. Insurers can be confident that the OnBase ECM solution will optimize capabilities of their existing business solutions in underwriting, claims, customer service and other business areas.”

About Hyland Software Inc.

Established in 1991, Hyland Software Inc. is the developer of OnBase, a rapidly deployable suite of enterprise content management (ECM) software applications. OnBase is a leading solution for optimizing content-driven business processes throughout insurance enterprises. More than 200 insurance customers use OnBase’s document imaging, process automation and content management capabilities to enhance process throughput, increase operating margins, improve customer service and minimize organizational risk.  For more information about OnBase, please contact an Authorized OnBase Solution Provider or visit www.onbase.com/insurance.

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Record Transaction Volume and New Solutions Increase Industry Efficiency

AMS Services, the leader in insurance agency automation, released connectivity transaction statistics that show tremendous growth and support for AMS Services real-time solutions. AMS TransactNOW®, a single-entry, real-time interface services platform, showed a 58 percent increase in transactions for the first quarter of 2007 over the same time period last year putting the company on track for more than five million transactions this year. AMS SETWrite™, a real-time, multiple-company rating solution, is also breaking records with a 483 percent increase in monthly real-time transactions over 2006.

"The industry is starting to see tremendous cost savings from real-time, multiple-company rating," said Bill Bunker, senior vice president of products and marketing, AMS Services. "We believe that solutions like ours will save the industry $30–50 million annually." *

With products like AMS TransactNOW—a solution that enables users to write new business with carriers and service clients in real time, without ever leaving their agency management systems—AMS Services is making it easy for agents and carriers to connect. Users are recognizing the benefits of connectivity and AMS TransactNOW usage is gaining traction with a 58 percent increase in transactions in first quarter 2007 over the same time period in 2006. More than 70 carriers now support the solution through AMS TransactNOW service transactions, endorsement processing, quoting functions and Carrier Passport—an automated sign-on portal.

Users of AMS TransactNOW recently received an automatic product update that improves performance, usability and workflow. This new release includes a modernized user interface for easier navigation, new tabs that support different transaction types and support for the latest Microsoft technology.

"Real-time agency interaction is important to easy, efficient business placement and using AMS Services connectivity solutions has corresponded to an upswing in agencies doing business with us," said Alpa Patel, CIO – Business Insurance, in The Hartford’s property & casualty organization. "We have gained a preferred position with agencies, in part, by supporting AMS Services technology and enabling real-time access."

AMS SETWrite, the industry's most comprehensive, real-time, multiple-company rating solution, is seeing prodigious growth with a 483 percent increase in monthly, real-time transactions over 2006. AMS SETWrite provides an intuitive workflow, one-time data entry and single sign-on so agents can get accurate, real-time rates from multiple carriers quickly and easily. With the advanced comparative rating capabilities in AMS SETWrite, agents have instant access to the best rates from leading national and regional carriers, along with the confidence that quotes are accurate. 

AMS SETWrite recently added Solutions at Quote powered by ChoicePoint®. Integrated into AMS SETWrite, Solutions at Quote further reduces data entry by eliminating the need to enter vehicle and driver information including Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) and drivers' license information during the quoting process. The vehicle and driver information is pulled directly into AMS SETWrite from ChoicePoint and is used in creating accurate, real-time insurance quotes resulting in more cost-effective operations and easier new business generation.

"Clark Associates uses Solutions at Quote to bring vehicle and driver information directly into AMS SETWrite. The sales agents no longer need to enter the 17 digit VIN, undisclosed drivers are automatically imported and it immediately provides us with the driver's basic information so we can quote more policies in less time," said Patti Deschaine, Clark Associates.

About AMS Services
Vertafore, Inc d/b/a AMS Services is dedicated to helping independent insurance agencies achieve maximum performance and operational efficiency. The business offers a comprehensive, insurance-specific solution for managing critical business activities, including agency management, rating, benefits, performance management and carrier connectivity. With more than 150,000 users in more than 15,000 agencies, as well as 600 carrier partners, AMS Services is a proven market leader providing the strategy and scalability to help independent agencies, MGAs and wholesale brokers excel now and in the future. For more information about AMS Services, please visit www.amsservices.com.

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INSTEC’s use of industry standards recognized at ACORD LOMA Insurance System forum

 INSTEC announced that it has received two ACORD Accomplishment Awards:  the Web Services Award and the Innovative Implementation Award.  The awards were presented to INSTEC during a luncheon at the 2007 ACORD Loma Insurance Systems Forum in Orlando, Florida.

The awards recognize companies whose XML implementations have provided leadership in the way business is processed utilizing web services and ACORD messages through unique, exceptional or innovative methods.  INSTEC received the awards based on two implementations including a web-portal project which utilized ACORD XML message pass-through, and a multi-vendor integration which was developed according to the Microsoft Insurance Value Chain (IVC) initiative, closely following ACORD standards.

INSTEC President, Ray Simon remarked, “Our mission is to consistently deliver policy administration solutions to best meet our customers’ P&C challenges. These awards are confirmation that our dependable software based on best practices and industry standards enable such consistency.”

“On behalf of ACORD, I congratulate INSTEC on their awards and for their commitment to the implementation of ACORD standards,” said Denise Garth, vice president, Membership and Standards. 

About INSTEC

Founded in 1982, INSTEC provides carriers and MGAs with comprehensive “best-of-breed” rating and policy administration software designed for the dynamic nature of Commercial Lines.  As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, INSTEC continues to demonstrate their expertise in Microsoft technologies and their commitment to deliver insurance software solutions that meet the high standards expected from software products developed for Microsoft platforms, including .NET.

For more information on INSTEC products and services, please call 630-955-9200 or visit our website at www.instec-corp.com

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InsFocus BI 1.4 includes powerful ETL engine, proprietary query accelerator and visual reports library

InsFocus Systems Ltd. (www.insfocus.com), a provider of business intelligence solutions for insurance companies, announced a new version of InsFocus BI, the company's end-to-end business intelligence solution designed specifically for insurance companies. The announcement was made at the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum.

Combining dozens of years of insurance know-how with business intelligence expertise, InsFocus BI enables insurers to gain insight into their business performance and profitability. InsFocus BI enhances insurance company profitability by delivering clearly analyzed and focused information to business executives and professionals in the marketing, underwriting, claims, reinsurance, actuarial and accounting domains.

The new version, InsFocus BI 1.4, includes a powerful and fast data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) engine, based on Microsoft's SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). The ETL engine takes the insurer's raw data as is, performs a full range of transformations, calculations and control processes, and loads the results into InsFocus BI's data warehouse. The ETL engine contains complete built-in insurance business logic including support for slowly changing dimensions (SCD), unearned premiums and outstanding losses calculations and more. A unique feature supports changes in the organizational structure of distribution channels, including automatic generation of portfolio transfer entries.

InsFocus BI 1.4 includes a proprietary query accelerator with pre-defined aggregated calculations, reducing query response time to split seconds. The insurance company's system administrator has full control over the query engine mechanism, adjusting it to the company's preferences.

In addition, the new version includes an advanced visual reports library, displaying miniaturized images of the reports, thus enabling easy and prompt visual search of any report.

"The new version greatly simplifies the implementation of InsFocus BI," said Uri Taiber, InsFocus Founder, President and CEO. "It is quickly implemented in just months, thereby delivering an extremely rapid ROI."

Easy to use and maintain, InsFocus BI is an intuitive system that allows non-technical insurance professionals to focus on what they know best – insurance. Spanning the full spectrum of the data warehousing process – from raw data transformation to clear and accurate reporting – the comprehensive solution helps insurance professionals at all levels make better business decisions and increase profitability.

“In a rapidly changing industry, insurance companies need to empower their employees with the right business intelligence tools to turn insight into action,” said Bill Hartnett, general manager of Microsoft’s U.S. Insurance Industry Group. “InsFocus is an important member of Microsoft’s Insurance Value Chain (IVC) program, driving innovation in business intelligence for their customers.”

About InsFocus Systems Ltd.

InsFocus Systems Ltd. (www.insfocus.com), a privately owned company, was founded in 2003 to meet the growing need of the insurance industry for insurance-specific intuitive BI applications. The company's mission is to provide insurance company executives with unique solutions to help them maximize their profits and control risks.

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WAUSAU, the industry leader in payment, remittance and document processing, announced that Christine Smith of the WAUSAU Remittance Solutions team will be a featured presenter at the Windy City Summit, an educational conference sponsored by the Treasury Management Association of Chicago for treasury management and financial professionals.

Smith, Technical Product Manager for WAUSAU, and Gary Raczek, Vice President of Cash Management Services at West Suburban Bank, will present “Increasing the Value of Lockbox Technology” on Thursday, May 24 in Chicago.  The presentation will examine advances in lockbox technology and how corporate practitioners can apply real-world applications in their remittance processing environment and experience a cost benefit analysis for specific aspects of wholesale lockbox during the session.

Session Title:                        Increasing the Value of Lockbox Technology

Presenters:               Christine Smith, Technical Product Manager, WAUSAU

                                    Gary Raczek, Vice President of Cash Management, West Suburban Bank

Date/Time:                 Thursday, May 24; 3:55 – 4:45 p.m.

Location:                    Hilton Chicago & Towers, Chicago

The Windy City Summit provides an excellent opportunity to stay abreast of changing governmental regulations, technological advances and the impact on today’s industry.

“Financial institutions of all sizes are able to tailor lockbox services on an individual customer basis, allowing for more opportunities to build new revenue streams through wholesale lockbox remittance processing,” Smith said.  “We look forward to sharing advances in lockbox technology and expense savings and profitability growth.”

WAUSAU recently announced its acquisition of DMP Payment Systems, a leader in wholesale lockbox solutions, which strengthens WAUSAU’s position as the industry leader in the remittance market space.

About WAUSAU

WAUSAU is a premier provider of payment and remittance processing solutions, serving businesses of all types to develop strategies that move money faster.  With its products, services and consulting, WAUSAU works with customers to speed check processing, electronic presentment, ACH payments, transaction processing, distributed capture and enterprise content management.  WAUSAU’s innovative solutions provide results for a wide range of organizations including financial institutions, insurance companies, utilities, retail businesses and governmental agencies.  Find more information about WAUSAU at www.wausaufs.com.

About West Suburban Bank

Since 1962, West Suburban Bank has offered a level of service and responsiveness that the mega-banks, despite their posturing, can never hope to attain.  Since our employees, from our tellers to our key decision makers, live in the communities we serve, the organization understands the needs of our communities and our customers.  And while many of the banks have been trimming staff and cutting back on personal service, West Suburban Bank has been adding experienced business bankers to the staff.  West Suburban Bank is over $1 billion in size and has a corporate lending limit of over $36.6 million to a single business.

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Exstream's Dialogue Live

At the ACORD LOMA Systems Forum, Exstream Software will be introducing to the insurance industry its Dialogue Live, groundbreaking new software designed to manage the editing of all types of interactive documents across the enterprise, while controlling content and costs at the corporate level. Exstream's Dialogue Live is the first solution on the market that merges interactive document completion in the field with corporate document production and fulfillment.

Integrated with Exstream's market-leading enterprise document automation Dialogue software for high-volume and on-demand production of personalized customer communications, Dialogue Live is ideal for insurance companies that want to provide customer-facing employees with the flexibility and autonomy they need to complete interactive, point-of-need, personalized documents for clients, while ensuring accuracy and costs are controlled through centralized production and fulfillment.

For example, a field agent can meet with a client and walk through an electronic version of a new insurance application. Each new form is pre-populated with relevant information from previously completed pages and content from a central database, then created on demand and given to the client on the spot to review and sign. The data inputted on premises is then dynamically transmitted back to the central database, where it will be stored and reused as needed for all subsequent interactions with the customer. The application process is therefore reduced from weeks to hours. Dialogue Live has transformed the static policy application into an interactive, intelligent document designed to gather and share data.

With Dialogue Live, companies eliminate manual fulfillment processes and point solutions for interactive document creation in the field, resulting in more productive employees, significantly reduced costs, less strain on IT resources, fewer calls to customer service, and happier customers.

Dialogue version 6.0

At the ACORD LOMA     Systems Forum, Exstream Software is also introducing to the insurance industry version 6.0 of its market-leading Dialogue enterprise document automation software, a comprehensive platform for companies to build and deploy all types of high-volume, on-demand, and interactive personalized customer communications-from complex statements, policies, and bills, to marketing, correspondence, proposals, and contracts created in real time or interactively. Emerging out of a 15-month development cycle that included testing and deployment by over 75 customers in Exstream's managed release program, Dialogue 6.0 includes over 250 enhancements and eight new modules. 

Some of the significant new capabilities in Dialogue 6.0 include:

            Hebrew and Arabic language support

            New SOAP and web services interface modules

            PDF form pass through, personalization, and data mining

            Support for PDF digital signatures, font subsetting, and file size optimization

            PDF/A support

            New testing tools for personalized rules management, AFP production, and browser-based campaign management using Dialogue Anywhere

            Four new modules for Dialogue Live interactive applications, including Dialogue Live Format (DLF) Designer, DLF Output, DLF Input, and DLF Fulfillment

            Image transparency  

            Six new charting capabilities

Exstream began shipping Dialogue 6.0 on April 30, 2007.

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Companies Leverage Enterprise SOA to Help Banks Reduce IT Complexity

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and SunGard (www.sungard.com) announced plans to collaborate to address the needs banks have to comply with increasing regulatory requirements and to control costs while simultaneously driving revenue growth. The goal is for SAP and SunGard to help customers tap the business value of enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) to reduce complexity, lower costs and benefit from leading compliance functionality on an integrated platform. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® ’07, SAP’s international customer conference, being held in Vienna, Austria, May 14 – 16.

The first offering will be a joint asset liability management solution. “This is the first step in what we hope will become a fruitful partnership between SAP and SunGard. It’s a win for customers, a win for SAP and a win for SunGard. The availability of the offering will begin in Europe,” said Harold Finders, division chief executive officer of SunGard’s Financial Systems business. “At SunGard we expect the number of enterprise infrastructure providers to get smaller in the coming years, so we are pleased to collaborate with a world leader to offer banks our best-of-breed BancWare ALM solution on SAP. SunGard’s BancWare solution is used by over 500 customers in more than 40 countries, including seven of the top ten global banks and six of the top ten European banks, and we look forward to expanding this footprint with SAP.”

“We’re very pleased that SunGard, a longstanding industry leader known for technical excellence and banking industry expertise will be deploying its application on a business process platform enabled by SAP,” said Léo Apotheker, deputy CEO, member of the executive board and president, Global Customer Solutions and Operations, SAP AG. “The decision to execute this strategy in the banking space was easy. Banking is a strategic industry for SAP and, through the work with our partners and banks, SAP is demonstrating a high level of commitment to co-innovate with industry leaders to deliver banking solutions that help banks be the next-generation performers.”

The collaboration joins the strength of SAP applications and business process platforms for banking and SunGard’s BancWare (ALM), a leading solution for balance sheet risk management. Precise measurement and management of balance sheet risks depends on fast access to accurate data. Delivering SunGard’s BancWare solution on a business process platform enables banks to gain a leading-edge analytical banking data management and integration platform for providing ready access to reliable data. The integrated offering enables financial institutions to measure and manage interest and foreign exchange rate risks accurately, consistently and comprehensively. Banks deploying this integrated banking management solution for asset and liability management are empowered to reduce their integration and administration effort and benefit from cost savings through lower total cost of ownership. Availability of the offering will begin in Europe.

SunGard’s BancWare Solution
A solution suite for integrated risk and performance management, SunGard’s BancWare (http://www.sungard.com/bancware) is used by banks, mortgage and credit lenders, and other financial services institutions. Designed for finance professionals, the solution’s modular software and consulting solutions for asset/liability management, budgeting and planning, profitability, economic capital, operational risk and Basel II compliance provide a unified view of risk to help improve capital management and better business decision making at all levels of the organization.

SAP – Powering the Next Generation Performers in Banking
Leveraging SAP technology and enterprise SOA, SAP is enabling a business process platform for the banking industry that leverages the SAP NetWeaver® platform to orchestrate industry-specific, reusable enterprise services and business process elements. The platform is designed to help banks capture business opportunities faster, efficiently and profitably. SAP’s partners enrich the platform by adding services that contribute to the banks’ business – but not to IT complexity. Also announced at SAPPHIRE ’07 Vienna is the broad adoption of a business process platform for banking that is fueled by the co-innovation with leading banks including ABN AMRO and Standard Bank, and leading software solution providers, including SunGard, amongst others contributing to the vision of how adaptable IT enables business growth. (See May 14, 2007 announcement, titled “Banks and Insurers Capitalize on New Business Opportunities Through Co-Innovation with SAP and Partners.”)

About SunGard
With annual revenue exceeding $4 billion, SunGard is a global leader in software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also helps information-dependent enterprises of all types to ensure the continuity of their business. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 50 countries, including the world’s 50 largest financial services companies. Visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.

Trademark Information: SunGard, the SunGard logo and BancWare are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

About SAP for Banking
SAP for Banking provides banking specific (transactional banking, CRM, risk management) and banking relevant (financial accounting, human resources management, procurement) services and solutions created on a single enterprise SOA enabled business process platform (BPP). With more than 600 customers in 60 countries worldwide, SAP for Banking provides an integrated set of tools and automated processes to manage every aspect of the front- and back-office banking environment—from high-volume transactional banking processes and customer relationship management to financial accounting, cost controlling and profitability and risk analysis. Based on the open architecture of the SAP NetWeaver® platform, SAP for Banking helps companies expertly manage transactions and relationships across the institution to quickly identify and exploit market opportunities and easily tailor new products to the specific needs of individual customers. (Additional information at <http://www.sap.com/banking>)

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 39,400 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at <http://www.sap.com>)

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SAP Drives Innovation and Community Collaboration in the Banking and Insurance Industries by Delivering Solutions on Business Process Platform

In a continuing demonstration of the maturity of its strategy and road map to deliver solutions based on enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA), SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) announced details on how it is enabling business process platforms for banks and insurers to quickly identify and capture new business opportunities while creating cost efficiencies and additional sources of revenue. Through co-innovation with SAP and its partners, banks and insurance companies can have one integrated technology platform at the center of innovation and improved business processes. This helps in differentiating their value proposition, bringing new products to market faster and competing more effectively, while gaining market share, increasing profitability and transforming their business networks. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® ’07, SAP’s international customer conference, being held in Vienna, Austria, May 14 – 16.

Leveraging SAP technology and enterprise SOA, business process platforms for the banking and insurance industries bring together the SAP NetWeaver® platform combined with industry-specific, reusable enterprise services and business process elements to help banks and insurers capture opportunities faster, efficiently and profitably. Through a business process platform, business processes are repeatable and software-enabled, so a bank and insurance company can easily manage and update such processes—and do so at a lower cost.

SAP Powering Next-Generation Performers in Banking
The banking industry is the one of the first industries to achieve business goals by transforming business networks with solutions delivered on business process platforms enabled by SAP. The broad adoption of business process platforms in the banking industry is fueled by co-innovation with leading banks, including ABN AMRO and Standard Bank, contributing to the vision of how adaptable IT enables business growth.

“SAP’s integrated approach for the banking industry allows us to take components of our existing systems and plug them with other systems; This is the flexibility we needed,” said Herman Singh, director, Architecture and Technology Engineering, Standard Bank. “With the combination of the technology and the innovative strategy of business process platforms, SAP was the best choice for Standard Bank. SAP is going to be around for the long term. Not many people are.”

Standard Bank will drive the integration of 91 legacy systems, with more than 240 interfaces that include 11 million customer records leveraging banking solutions delivered on a business process platform. The integrated platform will help Standard Bank to improve sales and marketing performances, operational efficiencies, speed-to-market and, most importantly, customer experiences. “SAP has spent a tremendous amount of time to map our step-by-step approach to ensure our success,” said Singh. “We have started our journey towards flexibility, and the business process platform strategy will result in a single system of records for all our customer information and all related involved parties.”

SAP’s partners enrich the platform by adding services that contribute to the banks’ business—but not to IT complexity. SAP also announced today a planned collaboration to deliver world-class assess liability management capabilities that, through enterprise SOA, can be integrated seamlessly into business process platforms. (See related announcement at: http://www.sap.com/company/press/press.aspx?pressID=7710)

The industry value network (IVN) for banks is another example of co-innovation. The banking industry-specific enterprise services identified and defined by the IVN members are the reusable services available for business process platforms enabled by SAP. (See April 18, 2007 announcement, titled “SAP and Banking Community Definition Group Unite the Worldwide Banking Industry Around Enterprise SOA Standards.”)

“Working closely with banks and partners, SAP has successfully delivered a business process platform to help the industry reach increased differentiation and at the same time increased efficiency,” said Thomas Balgheim, head of SAP’s global Banking line of business. “With one integrated platform that includes reusable services and business process elements, banks now have an evolutionary, predictable approach to enterprise SOA where they can more efficiently manage their business operations.”

SAP Creating the Road Map to Becoming a Networked Insurer
In addition to demonstrated success in the banking industry, SAP also announced the enablement of a business process platform for insurance that will help maximize operational efficiency across lines of business and geographic locations to lower expenses, improve relationships with agents and brokers and increase satisfaction among customers. This marks another milestone in SAP’s endeavor to help insurance carriers transform their business networks to address their customers’ insurance needs, facilitate consolidation and comply with changing regulatory mandates.

“The paradigm of service-oriented architecture holds tremendous promise for the insurance marketplace, and it is a promise linked more to business transformation than to the technology stack,” said Mark Gorman, strategic research advisor, Insurance TowerGroup. “SOA promises a path to system consolidation, process flexibility, enhanced reporting and expanded analytics through independent, loosely coupled functional components dynamically linked to provide flexible, robust support for mission-critical business processes. With the combination of standardized services and an SOA-enabled enterprise business process platform, insurers can gain the flexibility they need to meet the expectations of the changing environment.”

By integrating processes throughout the insurance value chain on a business process platform, SAP takes insurers a step beyond standard processes for property and casualty, life and annuities, and health insurance. The business process platform for insurance enables carriers to rapidly respond to new business requirements and regulations while maximizing existing IT infrastructures. A business process platform for insurance offers a unique, risk-controlled innovation environment to develop new applications and services as well as to enhance existing processes for agency distribution, policy inception, collections and claims management. It also provides cutting-edge collaboration tools with both internal and external resources, resulting in tighter integration with the varied stakeholders in the insurance value chain. It further creates optimal business and IT governance processes, resulting in a lower total cost of IT ownership.

“Transforming an insurance business requires an IT environment to provide efficient, end-to-end processing, as well as strong workflow and configurable business-rules engines for such functions as auto assignment and event triggers,” said Leo Schneider, senior vice president, Financial Services, SAP AG. “SAP offers insurance solutions and enterprise management solutions based on enterprise SOA, empowering insurers with a single, scalable business process platform. The platform leverages the co-innovation of SAP and its ecosystem of partners to help insurers achieve the operational efficiency and flexibility they need to capture business opportunities quickly in this rapidly changing industry.”

About SAP for Banking
SAP for Banking provides banking specific (transactional banking, CRM, risk management) and banking relevant (financial accounting, human resources management, procurement) services and solutions created on a single enterprise SOA enabled business process platform (BPP). With more than 600 customers in 60 countries worldwide, SAP for Banking provides an integrated set of tools and automated processes to manage every aspect of the front- and back-office banking environment—from high-volume transactional banking processes and customer relationship management to financial accounting, cost controlling and profitability and risk analysis. Based on the open architecture of the SAP NetWeaver® platform, SAP for Banking helps companies expertly manage transactions and relationships across the institution to quickly identify and exploit market opportunities and easily tailor new products to the specific needs of individual customers. (Additional information at <http://www.sap.com/banking>)

About SAP for Insurance
SAP for Insurance is an industry-tailored solution set designed to help insurance companies control costs and seize new opportunities while strengthening customer loyalty with applications that can be implemented in stages according to the company’s strategic business goals, priorities and available resources. Serving approximately 440 customers in 45 countries, SAP for Insurance seamlessly links core insurance processes with customer-facing functions and back-office operations—from first customer contact through policy and product management, collections, disbursement, and claims management. (Additional information at <http://www.sap.com/insurance/>)

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 39,400 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at <http://www.sap.com>)

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Adoption of online banking by U.S. consumers is going strong, outpacing growth rates for every other method of retail banking delivery.  New research from TowerGroup finds that online banking is becoming the most powerful retail channel banks have ever deployed, outpacing everything from ATM to call centers and increasing in use at an annual rate of 27 percent. The long touted promise of online banking is now hitting its stride.   

TowerGroup also finds that overall, consumers are interacting with their bank more than in previous years.  It predicts the growth in overall U.S. delivery channel transactions will be strong between 2006 to 2010 – increasing at an average rate of 10 percent across all channels (bank branch, ATM, online banking, and call centers). A graphic illustrating this point can be viewed and downloaded at: http://www.towergroup.com/research/content/page.jsp?pageId=1522

With ATMs and bank branches showing signs of flattening transaction volume, TowerGroup believes the Internet represents the future of bank delivery.  “Customer preferences are evolving from waiting in line for the teller, to going online for more and more of their needs,” said Jerry Silva, research director in the Retail Banking Delivery Channels practice at TowerGroup and author of the research.  “The call center is also becoming extremely popular in light of the penetration of mobile phone use in the U.S. However, unless banks improve the technological capabilities and complexity of their call centers, much of this channel’s growth will not convert into business opportunity for institutions.”

TowerGroup believes the real strength of bank delivery will occur with the increased collaboration between channels, to create a more synergistic environment for both customers and banks. Channel collaboration will allow the bank to better leverage growing numbers of transactions to increase brand awareness, market and sell products, and enhance household penetration over the next five years.

The TowerGroup report, titled “Delivery Channel Volumes in the United States, 2006-2010: From ‘In Line’ to Online,” by Silva, focuses on the trends driving retail banking delivery in the U.S.  The note discusses the current state of bank delivery and looks ahead to help the industry understand and prepare for the next generation of banking.

The report is available to qualified members of the press for review. To request a copy or to arrange an interview with Silva, please contact Jorge Lavina at +1.212.455.8041 or jlavina@cooperkatz.com.  At TowerGroup, Silva oversees research in the areas of core banking, transaction processing, customer information and relationship systems, and customer interaction systems. His areas of expertise include branch and call center strategies and technologies, as well as self-service channels like the ATM and online.

Sign up for the bi-weekly newsletter, TowerGroup News, to stay informed on the latest research and events.  To learn more, visit: http://ui.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?m=1101074606706&p=oi

About TowerGroup:  TowerGroup is the leading research and advisory services firm focused exclusively on the financial services industry.  A respected source for trusted information and advice, TowerGroup brings many of the world’s leading financial institutions, technology companies, and professional services firms a deeper understanding of the business and technology issues impacting their organizations.  Headquartered near Boston in Needham, Massachusetts, and with offices in North America and Europe, TowerGroup serves a global client base.  Visit www.towergroup.com for more information.

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The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America recently presented a Best Practices Award of Excellence to Applied Systems, Inc., marking the first time a vendor has received the prestigious award recognizing companies for outstanding advocacy of Best Practices philosophies.

Applied Systems Chairman and CEO James P. Kellner accepted the award during the 2007 Big “I” National Legislative Conference & Convention held recently in Washington, D.C. Other recipients are Central Insurance Companies, EMC Insurance Companies and Travelers.  The Big “I” recognized recipients for imaginative, outstanding and unique contributions in advocating Best Practices philosophies that enhance the independent agency system.

“Applied Systems consistently promotes the importance of agency value and advocates for its customers to strive for and attain Best Practices standards,” said Madelyn Flannagan, Big “I” vice president of education and research. Flannagan cited Applied Systems’ contributions as a Council for Best Practices participant and the company’s ongoing “staunch support” of Best Practices philosophies.

“We are gratified that the Best Practices program appreciates our commitment to advancing agency performance and value,” Kellner said. “We respect this important program’s mission, and we are delighted to continue our active support as we encourage our customers to improve performance for their own success as well as the strength of the independent agent and broker community.”  

Applied Systems, Inc., develops and supports insurance agency management systems and provides services for accounting, customer, policy, claims management, and all related agency functions. More than 126,000 users in 11,000 agencies of every size and complexity level use Applied Systems technology and services. The company leads the industry in agency-carrier real-time and batch communication solutions. Applied Systems automates insurance transactions at every distribution level from consumer through carrier, providing technical support and professional services to maximize customers’ return on investment. www.appliedsystems.com

The Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees. Members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. www.independentagent.com

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Financial services provider further expands global market presence

Open Solutions Inc.®, a leading provider of integrated data processing technologies for banks, credit unions and other financial services providers across the United States, Canada and other international markets, announced it has completed its acquisition of Canadian-based Fincentric Corporation, a leading provider of core retail banking and customer value management software to the global financial services industry.

Open Solutions believes this transaction will further enable it to expand its product offerings and presence in the Canadian and global marketplaces. As previously announced, Fincentric will become part of Open Solutions Canada, which is headed by its President, Blair Goulet. Fincentric will continue to operate from its location just outside of Vancouver in Richmond, British Columbia.

“We are very pleased to announce the completion of this acquisition and delighted to welcome the employees of Fincentric Corporation and their clients into the Open Solutions family,” said Louis Hernandez, Jr., chairman and CEO of Open Solutions. “We look forward to working closely together to further expand our company’s market presence and reach within the global financial services industry. We intend to leverage each organization’s strengths and experience to develop additional product offerings, new technologies and applications. Together, we are committed to Open Solutions’ ongoing efforts to offer industry-focused proactive solutions designed to help financial services providers better compete, and provide superior products and services to their customers.”

About Open Solutions Inc.
Open Solutions Inc. offers a fully featured strategic product platform that integrates core data processing applications built on a single centralized Oracle relational database, with Internet banking, cash management, CRM/business intelligence, financial accounting tools, imaging, digital documents, Check 21, remote capture, interactive voice response, network services, payments and loan origination solutions. Open Solutions’ full suite of products and services allows banks, thrifts, credit unions and financial services providers in the United States, Canada and internationally to better compete in today’s aggressive financial services marketplace, and expand and tap their trusted financial relationships, client affinity, community presence and personalized service.

For more information about Open Solutions or its financial product line, contact Mickey Goldwasser by email at mgoldwasser@opensolutions.com or by phone at 860.652.3153 or via fax at 860.652.3156. Visit Open Solutions’ Internet site at www.opensolutions.com.

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Partnership provides insurance companies with a game-changing data and analytic solution for enterprise risk and capital management.

Teradata, a division of NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR), and DFA Capital Management Inc. (DFA) announced that they are jointly investing in a strategic partnership to bring an innovative enterprise risk and capital management solution to the primary carriers and reinsurers in the property, casualty, life and annuity sectors of the insurance industry for North America and Europe.

Teradata and DFA are integrating their industry-leading technologies to deliver a comprehensive data and analytical solution for the rapidly emerging enterprise risk and capital management requirements of the insurance industry.  The joint solution will enable companies to realize real competitive advantage through greater accuracy in strategic decision-making, regulatory and ratings agency compliance, and the allocation of capital and resources.  The integration of DFA's Advanced Decision and Value Simulation Engine (ADVISE) and General Economic and Market Simulator (GEMS) with Teradata's industry-leading data warehouse technologies and capabilities marks a major breakthrough for fulfilling these stringent requirements.

"Our whole-company modeling approach not only satisfies new guidelines, but provides customers with higher quality information for decision-making. With this joint offer,  we provide unmatched capabilities to optimize return on risk across the enterprise and therefore increase the capital efficiency of our clients," says Markus Rohrbasser, chairman and president of DFA Capital Management, Inc.  

"We are excited to partner with DFA to offer the insurance market a new and unmatched opportunity for risk and capital management," said Jim Donovan, vice president, Global Industry Solutions, Teradata.  "With centralized data and powerful analytic software, insurance companies will be capable of identifying the best opportunities for maximizing the return on capital while meeting regulatory requirements with confidence.  Companies that deploy the solution will be able to realize measurable uplifts in the return on capital, develop focused strategies for funding the balance sheet, and create positions to reduce the costs of reinsurance." 

The Teradata and DFA solution will provide insurance companies with new capabilities to comply with regulatory bodies and ratings agency requirements.  It will enable companies to implement the best practices established within Solvency II, a European-developed regulatory model.  Solvency II was designed to ensure adequate policyholder protection, taking into account current developments in risk management, finance techniques, international financial reporting and best practices.

"The partnership between DFA and Teradata allows insurance companies to actively manage their data and risk analytics at a granular transaction level, as well as on a macro level for the balance sheet and income statement.  The combination of DFA and Teradata is prudent and timely because it is designed to enable companies to achieve superior risk management practices that address strategic, competitive and regulatory challenges," said Dr. Bob Mark, chief executive officer of Black Diamond Risk Enterprises, a provider of corporate governance and risk management consulting and transaction services.

DFA's ADVISE includes all of the functionality required to model a multibusiness-line insurance company and the regulatory and economic environments in which it operates.  This includes such features as U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), local statutory accounting, risk-based capital, tax accounting, rating agency metrics, managerial reporting and other analysis.

DFA's GEMS generates empirically validated realistic scenarios of global economic behavior and world financial market performance.  A forward-looking simulation model  underpinned by advanced modeling and estimation technology, GEMS captures the key short and long-term drivers of simultaneously evolving interrelated economies, and the appropriate foreign exchange rates between them.  This robust model makes transparent the real-world risks that have the potential to threaten a company's profitability or solvency and empowers the insurance enterprise to structure and test hedging strategies in real-world economic and capital market scenarios.

The components of Teradata Enterprise Risk Management solution include TeradataR Warehouse 8.2, a suite of hardware and software that provides an authoritative and comprehensive data platform for decision-making.  In addition, the solution is supported by Teradata's Financial Services Logical Data Model and a suite of professional consulting services.  Teradata's data management solution addresses the challenging issues of data integration and management across the enterprise.

About DFA Capital Management Inc.
DFA Capital Management Inc. (www.dfa.com) is the market leader in dynamic financial analysis software for the insurance and financial services industries.  DFA's software-based financial and risk management system is a foundation for competitive advantage for any insurance company with multiple business lines, reinsurance activities, rapidly changing business portfolios, and significant premium volumes.

Founded in 1999, DFA Capital Management Inc. is headquartered in Purchase, N.Y., with offices in Germany and Switzerland.

About Teradata Division
Teradata (www.teradata.com), a division of NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR), is the global technology leader in enterprise data warehousing, analytic applications and data warehousing services.  Organizations around the world rely on the power of Teradata's award-winning solutions to get a single, integrated view of their business to enhance decision-making, customer relationships and profitability.  As a growing business, Teradata is always looking for outstanding talent.  To learn more about Teradata career opportunities, visit www.teradata.com/careers.

About NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a leading global technology company helping businesses build stronger relationships with their customers.  NCR's TeradataR data warehouses, ATMs, retail systems, self-service solutions and IT services provide Relationship TechnologyT that maximizes the value of customer interactions and helps organizations create a stronger competitive position.  Based in Dayton, Ohio, NCR (www.ncr.com) employs approximately 29,500 people worldwide.

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eFreedom Annual Statement software builds on proven Fiserv expertise

Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), announced the introduction of eFreedom Annual Statement—a genuine breakthrough in NAIC filing software, with distinctive features that automate a highly complex regulatory function..

Fiserv already commands a leadership role in the category, with more than 20 years of experience and nearly 1500 clients. Utilizing Microsoft.NET technology, the eFreedom Annual Statement solution redefines the filing process from a regulatory accountant’s perspective. Over 300 current Fiserv clients pre-invested in eFreedom Annual Statement.

“It’s easy for statutory accountants to recognize that eFreedom Annual Statement was created by veteran insurance accountants with an intimate understanding of the intricacies and challenges associated with producing quarterly and annual statements under punishing time constraints,” said Deborah Hopkins, VP Compliance Solutions for Fiserv Insurance. “The screen designs are based on Microsoft Excel, which is very intuitive to accountants. We’ve used automation at every turn to eliminate keystrokes, present an array of statements and pages simultaneously, and provide instant access to underlying data elements and formulas. We are pleased to be working with Microsoft to deliver innovative solutions to our customers. The capabilities of Microsoft .NET technology will help us to deliver greater value and efficiencies to our clients.”

”Fiserv and Microsoft are helping insurers to realize competitive differentiation and superior financial performance by empowering their staff with information where and when they need it, and we refer to this as creating a people-ready business,” said Dennis Maroney, global manager of the insurance industry for Microsoft. “The eFreedom Annual Statement solution is a leading example of achieving operational efficiencies by giving our joint clients the power to innovate in the critical areas of compliance and regulatory response.”

Statement preparation often requires many participants and contributors, so eFreedom Annual Statement is designed for enterprise-wide deployments with role-based security that is strong, yet simple to deploy. Built-in project management features allow the reporting manager to assign pages to individuals and monitor overall progress toward statement completion. The system leverages Web services and promotes real-time collaboration by encapsulating business logic in the server tier and utilizing Microsoft SQL Server as the relational database. As a result, changes to one statement page are reflected almost immediately on related pages that are assigned to other team members.

A primary differentiator is the unique manner in