>>FRONT OFFICE
Technology Unleashes
Underwriters From Desks

team-building duties—these By Carrie Burns

UNDERWRITERS ARE NOW

abondoning their desks.

Rules-based engines are

enabling many of these profes-

sionals to move away from

their day-to-day manual pro-

cessing tasks and take on new,

more strategic responsibilities.

While the nature of these

jobs are putting underwriters in a position to become the insurer’s face to the agent. Now, in many cases, underwriters are maintaining and establishing successful relationships, driving product up-selling and cross-selling, and providing critical training support.

new tasks varies among insur-

ers—from making more high-

level decisions to taking on

With many downsized insurers hungry for additional business, the change couldn’t come at a better time.

GUARDIANS OF ENTERPRISE data find themselves besieged on all sides.

Advances in smartphones,
cloud computing, social net-
working and other productivi-
ty tools are creating additional
targets for thieves and malcon-
tents, stretching already thin
data security measures to their
limits. In fact, a recent survey
of security professionals report-
ed that 56% of the respondents
suffered a data breach within
the past 12 months.
Technology safeguards, how-
ever, can be difficult to implement
and complex to manage, ac-
cording to at least one expert.
So what’s a carrier to do?

Story on page 10

>>INDUSTRY PRIORITIES

AN ENTERPRISE CONTENT management (ECM) system can automate workflows to trim processing time, meet compliance requirements, enhance disaster recovery preparedness and facilitate straight-through processing. And the management capabilities of ECM packages also can help carriers better organize their workforces.

How to Realize the
Full Benefits Of ECM

may be less about the printing and storage costs the technology can eliminate and more about the business agility it enables.

The move to a paper-free environment, however, is not without challenges. ECM packages present a host of technical and cultural obstacles that must be overcome before the system’s true benefits can be realized.