VIEWPOINTS/Partner Points

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  Big Data and Insurtech: A Carrier Perspective

  James Merz | May 19, 2020

  Insurance has always relied on large volumes of data to gauge customer behavior and more. But as big data has gotten bigger, insurtech has empowered...

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  Distracted Living: What It Means for Insurance

  Mark Breading | January 30, 2018

  One important trend in society over the past decade is our increasing ability to create and consume a seemingly unlimited amount of digital content...

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  In the Core Systems Hourglass, Sand is Falling Faster

  Karen Furtado | June 26, 2017

  The core systems replacement cycle is speeding up. Twenty years ago, even if you spent your entire career working at the same insurance company, you...

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  Targeted Ransomware Hits Insurance Data

  Bryant G. Tow | May 15, 2017

  Managed service providers are new targets and the cost of rescuing the data is exorbitant...

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  Insurtech and MatureTech: Blending the New with the Old

  Mark Breading | October 19, 2016

  The insurtech phenomenon reached new heights at the InsureTech Connect 2016 event in Las Vegas earlier this month...

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  Building Bridges: The Future of Insurance

  Staff Writer | August 30, 2016

  Strategy Meets Action will hold its annual Summit in Boston on Sept. 19. The focus of the event is on becoming a Next-Gen Insurer—bridging from today...

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  Beyond Transformation: The Convergence of Finance, Risk, and Actuarial Functions

  Doug French, Steven Abel and Carol-Ann Back | June 28, 2016

  C-suite executives and senior leaders in finance, risk, and actuarial are under intense pressure to navigate a wide range of megatrends and market...

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  New Players Find Insurance Isn’t for Them

  Karen Furtado | February 16, 2016

  Cargill, Monsanto, Wells Fargo, and John Deere are officially out of the crop insurance business, according to a recent article from Bloomberg...

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  Looking Back on a Pivotal Year for Insurance

  Deb Smallwood | January 04, 2016

  What we have all experienced the last 12 months in terms of decisions, investments, and developments are vastly different than we have ever seen...

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  Cybersecurity: Balancing Risk and Cost

  Chuck McGann | October 27, 2015

  There are ways to secure your data that don’t cost more than what you are trying to protect...

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  Insurance Innovation with a Realistic Eye

  Deb Smallwood | September 28, 2015

  The 2015 SMA Summit: Next-Gen Insurer focused on insurance innovation and transformation with a realistic eye. It was an action-packed day...

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  Will Emerging Technologies, Innovation Transform the Insurance Customer Experience?

  Mark Breading | September 08, 2015

  The world is abuzz with the potential of a new wave of emerging technologies aimed at transforming business, society, and our daily lives...

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  Drone Technology Soaring in Interest for Insurers

  Karen Furtado | July 20, 2015

  In early 2014 the first commercially available drone debuted in the consumer market. From the beginning, demand was phenomenal as both professionals...

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  Execution Wins in Core Systems Implementations

  George Grieve | June 01, 2015

  The best software package in the world is useless if it cannot be implemented correctly...

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  Turn to Government for Claims Innovation—Seriously

  Karen Furtado | May 04, 2015

  The federal government is likely not the first place you would look for innovative inspiration...

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  Agile Development Creates Collaborative Culture

  Janeen Blanton and Sujey Edward | March 31, 2015

  Bringing agile development across the enterprise requires a new roadmap...

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  Common Lessons for Insurers in Modernizing Policy Systems

  Karen Furtado | February 10, 2015

  Modern core systems are essential to an insurer’s ability to compete effectively in today’s increasingly complex and dynamic market...

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  For the Insurance CIO, the Future is Now

  George Grieve | February 03, 2015

  The CIO’s job is to stay in control of the complexity, maximize the benefits that it brings, and minimize its risks...

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  Consumer Electronics Show Highlights Business Needs

  Denise Garth | January 26, 2015

  The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the preeminent show for seeing, hearing, and feeling what is emerging and hot in consumer electronics at...

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  The Future is Now for Group Insurance Carriers

  Rob McIsaac | December 12, 2014

  As economists see it, the Great Recession has been over for more than five years. That said, the journey back from the high unemployment and negative...

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  The Difficult Task of Achieving IT Innovation

  George Grieve | December 05, 2014

  There can be no true innovation in insurance technology until carriers solve the basic problem of core system replacement...

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  Financial Crisis Still Takes a Toll on Insurers

  Jamie Macgregor | November 11, 2014

  In a post-global financial crisis world, continued low interest rates and lackluster investment performance continue to take their toll on the...

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  Right Before Our Eyes, Technology Vendors Are All Grown Up

  George Grieve | October 28, 2014

  When it comes to the insurance IT vendor market the closer you look the more differentiated and specialized the vendors become. Some vendors are...

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  Looking Beyond the Insurance Horizon

  Denise Garth | October 21, 2014

  Amazing. Extraordinary. Powerful. Disruptive. Transformative. Destructive. Constructive. Innovative. These are the words that describe what I heard...

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  Insurers Demand Analytics on the Go

  Cynthia Walker | September 29, 2014

  Secure, mobile insurance industry data offers high value insights on any device, anytime, anywhere...

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  Insurers Can Define Their Future Through Technology

  Robert Regis Hyle | August 26, 2014

  As research and consulting firm Strategy Meets Action prepares for its annual SMA Summit on Sept. 15 in Boston, SMA founder Deb Smallwood fielded...

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  Reflections of a Retired Insurance CIO

  Wayne Umland | May 20, 2014

  Glatfelter Insurance Group is one of the top 20 privately held brokerages in the country. I had the pleasure of serving as the company’s first Chief...

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  Reverse the Perspective and Become Demand-Led

  Matt Josefowicz | May 13, 2014

  The insurance industry has a tendency to view the world from the inside out, but the industry needs to reverse that perspective and look at itself...

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  Which Way Do You Lean on AXA/Facebook Deal?

  Denise Garth | May 02, 2014

  The reactions and responses to the SMA blog The Shot Heard Around the Industry: AXA and Facebook have been very interesting and enlightening. It has...

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  How Wearable Technology Can Impact Insurance

  Tom Benton | April 14, 2014

  As long as I can remember, I’ve been a gadget guy. Those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s were among the first generation to have a television in...

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  Four Ways to Modernize Core Legacy Systems

  Donald Light | April 02, 2014

  The benefits of modernizing core legacy systems are clear and compelling...

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  You Are a Target for a Cyber Attack

  Bryant G. Tow | March 19, 2014

  In the insurance space, I hear a few common statements about cyber security: “I am just an independent agent” or “We are only a small regional company...

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  Gaining a “Wow” Experience from Web Users

  Wendy Aarons-Corman | March 07, 2014

  For years the insurance industry has focused on providing Internet access to products and information to their agents. Insurers have responded to a...

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  Time to Shift from Business/IT Alignment to Business/IT Alliance

  Deb Smallwood | March 06, 2014

  There is no question that alignment between the views and actions of business and IT professionals is critical for synchronizing strategies...

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  Organization is the Key for Selecting Software Vendors

  Larry Fortin | February 12, 2014

  An inside look at how one insurance IT manager goes about the difficult task of keeping existing systems humming while searching for new software...

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  Analysts Expound on the Needs of the Mid-tier Insurance Market

  Robert Regis Hyle | February 12, 2014

  In each issue of ITA Pro, we will be asking a group of insurance technology analysts their view on important industry issues. This month, we have four...

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  Finding the Cure for Obamacare’s Website

  George Grieve | February 12, 2014

  The rush to implement the national healthcare website proved once again the danger of rushing a project before it has been tested thoroughly...

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  Life Insurers Fail to Follow Through on Customer Service

  Rob McIsaac | February 10, 2014

  We live in a time of remarkable convenience and incredible advances in the technologies which permeate our daily lives. The once unimaginable stuff of...

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