From Resource, August  2008  

Highlights of ISF Exhibit Hall  

ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum attendees were able to discuss their IT needs with exhibitors at many booths. Here are some examples of innovations. 

Finding the systems tools and partners to make business vision a reality is not always an easy proposition. It takes dialogue, understanding, and partnership. Even more, it takes looking at many different companies and solutions to make sure you have the best possible fit for your organization.

At the 2008 ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum in Las Vegas, NV, attendees had the advantage of talking to exhibitors at over 180 booths in the Forum Exhibit Hall. They were able to see live product demonstrations and network with exhibitors and other attendees to develop relationships and look for partnership opportunities. These professionals left the Forum with a better comprehension of the products and partners that are available to help them meet their needs in the current climate of uncertainty—understanding which ones might have solutions that would help ensure future safety and success.

Some exhibitors took the opportunity provided by the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum to unveil new products, or make announcements. Here are some of those announcements, along with highlights of the many products demonstrated.

AdminServer, Inc., Chester, PA, announced the launch and immediate availability of its new Rules Palette; an application designed to further increase insurers’ product development speed-to-market. The Rule Palette simplifies XML business rule configuration tasks for AdminServer’s entire product suite. AdminServer’s latest offering reinforces the company’s continued commitment to offer the industry’s most user-friendly, technologically advanced and flexible solutions. The Rules Palette provides intuitive functionality with easy-to-use visual editing and debugging tools, drag and drop capabilities and a customizable user interface—all designed to minimize a client’s learning curve and the need for in-house XML proficiency.

"Providing the industry with technological flexibility and freedom has been one of our key differentiators since AdminServer was founded in 1998, and our introduction of the Rules Palette serves to demonstrate our continued commitment to that promise," said Chris Doggett, Co-Founder of AdminServer.

Doggett added, "Previously, our clients needed to have some level of XML expertise as well as knowledge of the AdminServer elements, attributes, and values. The Rules Palette makes configuration much more intuitive, decreasing the learning curve so that products can be introduced to market more quickly."

The Rules Palette offers a wide range of visual editing tools to simplify configuration, emphasize reusability and make navigation more intuitive. Some of the Palette’s functionality highlights include:

* Customizable user interface which consists of movable explorer windows and panes

*  Logical folder structure that organizes clients, plans and all XML rules

*  Properties windows presenting all available options for configuration

* Tabbing system enabling multiple rules to be opened and configured
(at once)

* Recursive wizards that guide users through required tasks while providing all applicable options

*  Drag and drop screen, segment, and transaction configuration

*  Visual math configuration tools that simplify math development
and review

*  In-line integration of the Data Dictionary (assists in the creation of a uniform set of fields and variables that is consistent throughout
various products)

* Debugging tools for easy testing, error detection and correction

For more information, call
610-619-3100, e-mail info@adminserver.com or visit the AdminServer Web site at www.AdminServer.com.

EDS announced that Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company of Vietnam (Dai-ichi Life Vietnam) has selected EDS SOLCORP’s INGENIUM and ProductXpress application to support existing policies and new business development. Dai-ichi Life Vietnam has over 100,000 policies
under administration.

"We were very pleased that EDS products meet the criteria placed by Dai-ichi Life Vietnam," said Michael Scunziano, Vice President of Global Sales. "The Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company (Dai-ichi Life), a parent company of Dai-ichi Life of Vietnam, is a strong organization in Japan and is now positioning itself for rapid growth in Vietnam. It is an honor to be a part of the Dai-ichi Life strategy for success."

INGENIUM is a robust, proven administration solution that is highly flexible across many languages and a variety of environments. It works well as a consolidation solution in situations where organizations may be inheriting policy data from previous systems, as well as building new products. This was the case with Dai-ichi Life Vietnam. After evaluating the most appropriate way to simultaneously migrate existing policies and prepare for the launch of new products in 2008, EDS INGENIUM was chosen. Ease of customization and richness of functionality made it a natural choice.

ProductXpress is also being implemented to enhance new product development. ProductXpress is a fully extensible product rules and calculations engine. It enables IT professionals to rapidly model, test and deploy product rules and calculations in a highly governed environment. ProductXpress supports clients selling the full range of life, pension and investment products throughout
the world.

For more information, visit the EDS Web site at www.eds.com.

Computer Sciences Corporation
announced that The Phoenix Companies, Inc. has licensed CSC’s Customer Service Accelerator software to improve customer service for its 650,000 life insurance and annuity policyholders and the financial advisors who distribute its products.

CSC’s Customer Service Accelerator will present a consolidated customer view by integrating data from five disparate policy administration systems from multiple vendors, including two from CSC. Once the system is in place, Phoenix’s more than 200 call-center representatives and back-office users in Albany, N.Y., and Hartford, Conn., will no longer need multiple host system sessions open on their desktops. Instead, with the Web-enabled interface, they will be able to view data from all five systems on one screen, speeding access to pertinent information.

To further improve business processing, Customer Service Accelerator will also link with Phoenix’s in-house customer repository, CSC’s PerformancePlus agency compensation management system and CSC’s Automated Work Distributor.

"Life insurers and annuity providers are placing a higher priority on improving information management," said Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst. "Consolidated data must be used to promote better client-facing interactions and improve customer intelligence. Improving the call center and back-office will provide the technical foundation to begin to optimize customer interactions."

"By simplifying our desktops and neutralizing the complexity of our back-end systems, we can improve productivity and customer service, and reduce personnel training," said John V. LaGrasse, Phoenix executive vice president and chief information officer. "Our team has worked with CSC for more than 30 years, and we look forward to working together to enhance our business process management to benefit our customers
and advisors."

For more information, visit the CSC Web site at www.csc.com.

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Contact Resource at resource@loma.org