Recent Posts by Helen Pitts

Life insurance and annuity carriers continue to recognize the need to modernize their aging policy administration systems, but may be hesitant to move forward because of the inherent risk involved. To help carriers better prepare for what lies ahead LOMA's Resource Magazine asked Karen Furtado, partner of Strategy Meets Action, to help them chart a course in Navigating Policy Administration Selection, the cover story of this month’s issue. The industry analyst and research firm...

Oracle Insurance earned recognition for its continued leadership, adoption and implementation of ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) industry data standards for life insurance and annuities. The recognition came during a special ceremony held on November 3 at the ACORD Implementation Forum in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Oracle received two awards specifically for its use of ACORD web services standards by Oracle Insurance Policy Administration for...

Replacing legacy IT infrastructure with modern, rules-based core systems is a hot topic and is receiving much attention in the industry—just open up a recent insurance technology print or online publication. One of the carriers I spoke with last week at Oracle OpenWorld said this barrage of information had some within his company questioning what really defines a true, rules-driven policy administration system Olivier Lafontaine, director of strategy and solutions for EquiSoft,...

Growth continues to be foremost for North America life, health and annuity insurers, with carriers recognizing the need to refresh their distribution strategies to achieve this critical business imperative. To remain competitive in today’s dynamic market, insurers require the ability to accelerate the quote-to-issue process, while improving their speed of service through streamlined data distribution, consolidation and sharing with their producers and service providers. During...

Yesterday while watching The Blue Angels take to the skies over San Francisco in preparation for San Francisco Fleet Week I was reminded of a conversation that I had earlier this week with a client from an insurance carrier attending Oracle OpenWorld. In particular, it reminded me of the iconic line delivered by Tom Cruise’s naval aviator “Maverick” and his RIO “Goose” in Top Gun: “I feel the need…the need for speed.” This customer, a technology leader for a Tier I carrier and...

Carrie Burns, editor of Insurance Networking News , wrote an interesting article this week highlighting Celent’s new report, “Reviving the Insurance Core Systems Business Case.”  In “Core Systems Modernization a Concern for the Next Decade,” Burns notes that insurance technology experts have been discussing core systems modernization for the past decade—and based on Celent's research serious legacy modernization and transformation “will continue to be on insurers’ priority lists for...

Policy administration systems are core to a carrier's operation. Replacing these systems presents more risk than nearly any other IT project. Carriers should carefully weigh the risks against the benefits as they build the business case for embarking on a modernization project. In a previous Oracle Insurance Blog I highlighted best practices recommended bySecurian Financial Group's Denise Smieja about the company’s successful approach to replacing its legacy policyadministration...

How can insurers build an effective business case for policy administration system replacement? Insurance & Technology magazine recently asked a virtual roundtable of insurance industry experts, including Denise Smieja, Securian Financial Group, and Roger Soppe, Oracle Insurance, to weigh in on this hot topic and share recommended best practices for success. In discussing Securian Financial Group’s successful policy administration transformation project, Smiejaexplained that...

Oracle has received a “Positive” rating in the “MarketScope for   North American Life Insurance Policy Administration Vendors,” research published by Gartner, Inc., June 15.  Oracle received the “Positive” rating in evaluation of Oracle Insurance Policy Administration for Life and Annuity . According to the research—authored by Steven Leigh, a Gartner principal research analyst in the Insurance Industry Advisory Services—business drivers, such as system consolidation, legacyrep...