1. Leaping Toward the Future

   Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Sep 2 2010) Industry
   by Meira Primes (mprimes)

   The pace of technological change is creating unprecedented opportunities for insurers. I was especially excited by a recent report by Strategy Meets Action (SMA) on this topic, titled "Insight on the Future of Insurance: Looking at Technology through the Long Lens." According to SMA, insurers must fully integrate their business and IT strategies and processes to get the most benefit from ongoing technological transformation over the next ten years. While insurers can increase their efficiency ... (Read Full Article)
   

   Comment on Article Mentions:   SMA

2. Be a Hero: Do More With Less

   Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Aug 24 2010)
   by John Belizaire (belizaire)

   I spend a lot of time speaking with CIO’s about their business challenges and needs. And one of the themes that comes up time and again is the need to “do more with less.” Here are some of the strategies that those CIO’s are using to do more with less – and become heroes at the same time: · Forge relationships with the business side of the house. It’s personal! Instead of working at cross-purposes, ... (Read Full Article)
   

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3. Collaboration Helps Junior Underwriters to be Successful

   Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Aug 12 2010)
   by John Belizaire (belizaire)

   25,000 new underwriters. That’s how many underwriters Deloitte LLC predicts will be hired between 2004 and 2014. That’s a lot of new underwriters. It’s no wonder that so many carriers have expressed concern at training all of those new recruits. In fact, a few months back, we ran a sur (Read Full Article)
   

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4. Improving Insurance Operations – An IT Survey

   Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Aug 5 2010) Industry
   by John Belizaire (belizaire)

   The word “speed” doesn’t always come to mind when the average person thinks about insurance. However, at the 2010 CGI user conference, we confirmed that the race is, in fact, on. We surveyed 45 business or rating analysts, product managers, systems developers, and software developers (with lea (Read Full Article)
   

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5. THE WINNING TEAM: IT AND UNDERWRITING

   Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Jul 22 2010)
   by John Belizaire (belizaire)

   Walk into a meeting of IT professionals in almost any industry and you’ll hear “SSL, SSD, J2EE, VLAN, XML” and many other acronyms flying across the table. While this works for IT-only meetings, can these same IT experts converse in the language of insurance underwriting, which is just as (Read Full Article)
   

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6. Innovate or Die

   Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Jul 15 2010)
   by John Belizaire (belizaire)

   P/C insurers that embrace product innovation are capturing market share ahead of their competition. We’re used to seeing other firms (e.g. Apple) adopt such strategies but what about insurers? With declining premiums and le (Read Full Article)
   

   Comment on Article Mentions:   Gartner

7. Capture Your Knowledge Now

   Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Jul 8 2010) Industry
   by John Belizaire (belizaire)

   Property/casualty firms are grappling with the imminent retirement of thousands of underwriters. According to McKinsey in a Tech Decisions article, the number of insurance employees age 55 and up grew by 74 percent in the last decade, while only increasing by 45 percent across the entire workforce. (Read Full Article)
   

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8. Shining a Light on SOA

   Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Jun 4 2010) Industry
   by John Belizaire (belizaire)

   Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is breathing new life into aging policy administration systems (PAS). Since most carriers cannot afford millions of dollars or years of development time often required by large-scale PAS replacements, many are deploying SOA-based evolutionary solutions. For exa (Read Full Article)
   

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9. IT Investing for Stormy and Clear Skies

   Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (May 27 2010) Industry
   by John Belizaire (belizaire)

   Comment "Great!" - Mariana Felisberto

   As the economy’s engines start to hum, Wall Street is digging for companies best positioned to ride the wave of expansion. Are they the ones that dramatically cut their expenses and laid off thousands of employees during the recession? Exactly the opposite, according to a recent Wall Street J (Read Full Article)
   

   1 Comment Mentions:   Novarica

10. State of the Line

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (May 20 2010)
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    Earlier this month, we spent a few exciting days at the 2010 NCCI Annual Issues Symposium in Orlando. As a conference sponsor, we hosted an executive breakfast that attracted over 40 carrier executives along with partners and customers. Despite the early morning, the breakfast resulted in lively t (Read Full Article)
    

    Comment on Article Mentions:   Robert Hartwig   Ncci

11. Why Vocanoes Matter

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (May 4 2010)
    by Bill Cutting

    Last week, we attended RIMS in Boston, a major risk and insurance management conference. Here are a few discussions from two RIMS senior executive forums that especially resonated with us: Analytics – The broker executives agreed that analytic modeling was helping their clients reduce risks and (Read Full Article)
    

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12. AKPI: A FOUR-CYLINDER APPROACH TO PROFIT

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Apr 27 2010) Industry
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    As a soft market continues to challenge the industry, P&C carriers are scrutinizing their internal operations for ways to bolster growth and profitability. The firms that are succeeding despite slow or non-existent market growth have adopted a winning strategy based on what I like to call AKPI. To e (Read Full Article)
    

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13. The Art and Science of Underwriting Risk

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Apr 20 2010)
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    I recently participated in an AM Best Webcast on “Underwriting Processes and Disciplines for Stronger Profitability.” The topic must have a struck a chord because over 2,000 people registered, which my marketing department tells me is a big turnout. One topic covered was the balance of sci (Read Full Article)
    

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14. A Fresh Look at SaaS

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Apr 13 2010)
    by Meira Primes (mprimes)

    Until recently, insurers have not embraced Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions in their Core Systems environments. But the tide is shifting -- especially among P&C insurers and within lines if business such as worker’s compensation. In today’s market, the flexibility, low cost and fast deploy (Read Full Article)
    

    Comment on Article Mentions:   Novarica   Chad Hersh

15. Bridging the Divide

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Mar 30 2010)
    by Meira Primes (mprimes)

    We recently surveyed how agencies use carrier portals to handle their commercial lines business. Here are some survey highlights, which were published in a Rough Notes article. · The agencies cited worker’s comp as their biggest growth opportunity over the next three years · (Read Full Article)
    

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16. Risky Business

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Mar 23 2010)
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    Until we can accurately forecast the future, insurers will continue to rely on their underwriters to assess risk and price new business appropriately. To increase their profitability, insurers are focusing more on underwriting solutions that incorporate predictive analytics. Even so, not all unde (Read Full Article)
    

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17. Tackling the Talent Crisis

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Mar 16 2010)
    by Julian Pelenur (pelenur)

    Last week, at the NAMIC conference, we spoke to a packed room of underwriters about “Bridging the Gap with Collaborative Technology.” In an open-ended survey, we asked attendees about their challenges with hiring, staff development, best practices, and knowledge sharing. We received some exp (Read Full Article)
    

    Comment on Article Mentions:   National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies

18. Navigating the Storm

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Feb 25 2010)
    by pelenur

    We just returned from the NAMIC Commercial Lines seminar in Chicago and were energized by the buzz. At last year’s event, the economy weighed on everyone who was there. The mood this year was calmer and more focused on how to work smarter in what remains a tough climate. Dr. Robert P. Hartwig, (Read Full Article)
    

    Comment on Article Mentions:   National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies

19. A New Online Market

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Feb 16 2010)
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    If you’ve been anywhere near firstbest.com, you’ve probably read the news about our involvement as a core technology partner for the LexisNexis-CIAB Insurance Exchange. This week, I’d like to look at the role of carriers in Exchanges, generally speaking. There’s been much discussion about (Read Full Article)
    

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20. Freedom to Relate

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Feb 9 2010)
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    We all know technology can get in the way of live interaction. We see this when people interrupt conversations to look at their phones to see who just texted them. Some children skip outdoor play for TV, video games and the Internet. But what about when technology enables more face-to-face commu (Read Full Article)
    

    Comment on Article Mentions:   Mike Fitzgerald

21. Overcoming Data Dupe

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Jan 27 2010) Exchange
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    We all know how important it is to have good data. Whether we’re balancing our checkbook, planning a vacation or choosing a college, we all feel better about our decisions if we have quality information to back up our choices. Insurance agents, brokers, and underwriters want the best data too b (Read Full Article)
    

    Comment on Article Mentions:   Business Insurance

22. Are You a Change Agent?

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Jan 21 2010)
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    Insurance carriers are experiencing radical shifts in how they manage, market, secure, and grow their business. And changes in the agency world are just as dramatic. The most successful agents may be the ones who embrace some or all of these trends: Social media goes business-stream: Busine (Read Full Article)
    

    Comment on Article Mentions:   American Agent & Broker

23. Capturing Gen Y Talent with Knowledge Management

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Jan 12 2010)
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    Our biggest competitive assets are often right in front of us – sitting at the conference table, standing in the cafeteria line or listening to speakers at a conference. We’re talking about our employees and the talent on the street we hope to hire. Insurance carriers urgently need to retain (Read Full Article)
    

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24. Fast-Forwarding Your Way to Growth

    Explore Article Blog FirstBest - Collaborative Underwrit (Jan 11 2010)
    by John Belizaire (belizaire)

    We at FirstBest wish you a happy and healthy New Year and hope you are returning to work rested and re-energized. We are beginning the year cautiously optimistic as the ISO and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America recently released a report that property/casualty insurers experi (Read Full Article)
    

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