 |
 |
||
|
|
|||
Technology Update Approximately 225 people attended the 2010 AAMGA Automation conference in Orlando in mid-March to hear updates on a number of technology projects, including the E&S Working group, the CIAB LexisNexis insurance exchange project, and a keynote address on changing trends in technology.
The keynote address was delivered by Dr. James Senn and Dr. Upkar Varshney of
Dr. Senn noted that a dawn of a new era of technology started in 1981 when IBM came out with the first personal computer. While it offered limited technology, such as 140k of memory, it proved to be the onramp to the corporate data center. Today, the personal computer is viewed as a mature product.
In 1991 Nokia made the first GSM cell phone call and its engineers also developed text messaging. The same year the http, html and url protocols were developed and released to the public, along with the Linux operating system.
In 2001 Apple came out with the iPod, which has integrated music with the personal computer. The next biggest product was the Smartphone, introduced in 2007. He characterized the products as a move toward seamless integration and noted that the world is moving to a place where WWW will stand for “world wide workplace” and employees will find that they are always connected.
LexisNexis Insurance Exchange Frank Senter of the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers and Michael Mayo and Clyde Owen of LexisNexis discussed the insurance exchange, announced by the CIAB in 2009.
The exchange is intended to provide a single, on-demand electronic system through which agents and brokers will submit risks in real time to multiple insurance carrier partners and wholesalers and collaborate with them on the underwriting, pricing and placement of insurance coverage for those risks.
They said the concept is to take data from agency management systems and put into the exchange, and then within the exchange create a submission, which will be marketed to one or many carriers, depending on what one wants to do with that submission. Once the item is submitted the agent would be informed, based on appetite rules established by the individual carriers and brokers, who was interested and if additional documents are needed.
In order to ensure that firms could continue to deal with any firm they wanted, Mr. Senter said that firms would not have to be a member of the exchange to participate, however there would be benefits from being a member, such as tracking the conversations made through the exchange in the placement process.
The Insurance Exchange Trust will oversee the exchange and the trust will have representatives from all areas of the industry. Members will pay a membership fee and a monthly support fee, and possibly some customization fees. The exchange is expected to start later this year with mid-market commercial risks and then move to other risks.
Working Group The E&S Working Group reviewed progress on several project it has been working on, including potential transferring of data from MGAs to carriers. Several proof of concepts demonstrations on transferring data from an MGA agency management system to a carrier system were made as part of a presentation. In addition, progress on working to standardizing supplemental forms was reviewed and promotional campaign to talk about the workgroups efforts was also reviewed. A free webinar on the progress is scheduled for April 19.
|
|
|
|
