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News Briefs

November 2006

HARTFORD TEAMS WITH TECH GROUP

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Hartford, Conn., is working with the largest technology trade association in Washington State to offer policies designed for the technology industry. The insurer will market the insurance to members of the Seattle-based WSA (formerly the Washington Software Association) through brokers and independent agents. Nationwide, the Hartford insures more than 50,000 technology companies.

BUSINESS OWNERS GET FASTER QUOTES

Montgomery Insurance, a Charlotte, N.C.-based member of the Liberty Mutual Group, Boston, is passing along faster, more precise quotes with help from the Commercial IQ SmartRisk underwriting and pricing system for business owners' policies. "We're going to the company that provides the fastest and most accurate quote, and that company for us is Montgomery," says Adam Itzel, vice president of Bay Area Insurance Agency Inc., Annapolis, Md. Liberty Mutual Agency Markets' strategic business unit developed the software.

MASSMUTUAL SITE EARNS ACCOLADES

A Web site operated by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Springfield, Mass., was judged the industry's best Internet resource for financial services professionals in six of the last nine quarters by Boston-based DALBAR'S WebMonitor. The site, called FieldNet, contains a Doing Business section that helps agents with daily work. A Reference and Learning section provides news about products, services and the industry.

GRC MARKET GROWING

Citing an increased focus on corporate governance and enterprise risk management, Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass., has combined governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) software into one area of study.

The GRC software platform market has grown from $85 million in 2002 to $590 million today, says Forrester, which projects that it will expand to $1.3 billion by 2011. Today's GRC software platform market is fragmented and includes 64 vendors - it's ripe both for further specialization of products and consolidation of small vendors, notes the research firm.

Integrating the four capability areas that Forrester considers essential for GRC software platforms-policies/controls, assessment, analytics, and loss/investigations-requires that the platforms demonstrate four integrated areas of functionality: enterprise content management, business process management, enterprise applications, and business intelligence/business analytics.

A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO EDUCATE UNINSURED

While the popular press estimates 43 million U.S. citizens are uninsured, studies show the long-term or truly uninsured figure at 8 million, according to the Foundation for Health Coverage Education. More than a year and a half ago, a private citizen, Phil Lebherz, started a small nonprofit organization and launched the California Uninsured Help Line, a free call-in center for Californians seeking public health insurance coverage programs. The FHCE's original mission was to focus on the uninsured population in California. However, news about the help line and Matrix, a hand-held guide that outlines all of each state's public and private health care options for individuals and groups in almost every demographic profile and offers a reference list of phone numbers and Web sites, traveled fast. Many states began asking the FHCE for versions based on their state's options. In response to the demand, the FHCE developed a customized Matrix for every state in the nation and provided each state's organization of insurance professionals with a beginning supply. The Help Line expanded to nationwide with a public service campaign to help the government do a better job of educating the uninsured about public programs that are "on the books" but underutilized, according to FHCE. To find more information about the program, visit www.coverageforall.org.

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