Product Watch

DocuSign Releases Latest eSignature Solution

December 6, 2012

DocuSign, an eSignature company, has released its Fall 2012 eSignature transaction management platform. This release includes new capabilities for enterprise use, deeper solutions for business industries and professionals, and enhancements to DocuSign Ink—the company’s mobile app for tablets and smartphones.

DocuSign says customer, partner, developer and employee insights have resulted in the Fall 2012 Release delivering an enterprise eSignature platform and deeper industry solutions, since highly regulated industries face unique challenges in moving to end-to-end electronic processes and require certain capabilities to fully transition. Also featured are new mobile capabilities as DocuSigning on mobile devices is accelerating for all types of consumers and professionals.

 

New Verisk Underwriting Software Seeks to Cut Fraud

December 5, 2012

The Underwriting unit of Verisk Analytics today announced the launch of RISK:check POS (Point of Sale), a new underwriting model for personal lines automobile insurers, which was designed to simultaneously identify applications with a high likelihood of future claims fraud and find rating errors that result in premium leakage.

Fraud is a pressing issue in the industry, Verisk asserted, and while consumers demand more options, including the ability to quote, buy and manage policies directly and via mobile devices, perpetrators of fraud are becoming more sophisticated.

The challenge to control fraud and rating error has never been more complicated, according to Verisk. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) has estimated 10 percent or more of insurance claims involve fraud. Furthermore, Verisk Underwriting has estimated that due to incorrect addresses, drivers not listed on policies, and other factors, premium leakage can represent 10 percent of unrealized premium.

"Carriers that offer a superior customer experience, control expenses and use technology at the point of sale to manage the small percentage of risks related to fraud and premium errors will enjoy a sustainable competitive advantage in the market,” said Neil Spector, president of Verisk Underwriting.

"The RISK:check POS model was developed through millions of carrier-provided policy and claims records," Spector said. "It has been further vetted and validated with more than 10 million new business policies in dozens of retrospective actuarial studies on behalf of regional and national writers. The model has been demonstrated to improve first year loss ratios between 3 and 6 points."

RISK:check POS can be incorporated into a fully automated underwriting process and is compatible with all personal auto distribution channels, including agency, call center, and Internet.

Applied Systems Releases Producer App for Tablets

November 30, 2012

Applied Systems, an insurance software company, has released MobileProducer, an app the insurer designed for producers to help increase productivity with access to insurance information through tablet devices.

According to the provider, the app enables access to accounts, activities, contacts, prospects, insurance policy information and other vital data to help drive business and meet customer demands. Producers can access email, add activities to agency or brokerage management systems, leverage GPS technology to map accounts and coordinate daily schedules.

Applied Systems says insurance agencies using the app have reported increased productivity and efficiency as key benefits of MobileProducer. Agencies also said on-demand access to accounts and customer and prospect details is a valuable feature, particularly for mobile agents who can be slowed by information lags.

MobileProducer is available for Apple iPads and tablet computers running the Android operating system, according to Applied Systems. Through integration with Applied Systems’ Epic and TAM agency management systems, producers have on-demand access to systems of record.

 

 

Towers Watson Releases Emblem XE 4.3 Pricing Software

November 29, 2012

Towers Watson has released version 4.3 of its Emblem pricing software, which was designed to deliver significant speed improvements, performing 20 percent faster than the previous version, according to Towers Watson. P&C insurers use Emblem to model claim experience and business demand in order to price premiums effectively.

Emblem XE 4.3 was designed for companies with exceptionally large data sets. It takes advantage of multiple processors, up to 128 processor threads and 64-bit systems. In comparative tests on a variety of typical pricing models and hardware/software configurations, Emblem XE 4.3 performed, on average, five times faster than the previous version and 30 times faster than the previous standard edition, Towers Watson said.

“These are substantial speed improvements that will help companies explore their data more thoroughly and maximize their profitability,” said Duncan Anderson, Towers Watson’s global P&C pricing and product management leader. “This is certainly the case for P&C insurers developing telematics usage-based insurance products, for example, where the volumes of data involved are absolutely vast, particularly if companies are collecting it on a per-second basis, which is what we recommend. As competition increases for telematics customers, data analysis capability will become even more important for product differentiation.”

Towers Watson said Emblem has been developed over the course of more than a decade, and that there are more than 1,400 P&C insurance users worldwide. Several life insurers also have begun using the product to enhance mortality analysis.

OneShield Releases Updated Dragon Designer for P&C Insurers

November 27, 2012

OneShield Inc., a provider of policy and billing core systems for P&C and general insurers, has released Dragon Designer v6.0, the next toolset for OneShield Dragon. This version was designed to improve configuration capabilities while attempting to cater to the needs of the business users with a wizard-based, graphical user interface. Dragon Designer also allows for quick access to data in consolidated views for easier updating, and improved and streamlined deployments.

According to OneShield, Dragon Designer v6.0 delivers the ability to significantly reduce errors and increase performance, with the addition of workflows, product definitions, object models, and interfaces to legacy and third-party systems.

The new Dragon Designer was designed in an attempt to provide better access to data in consolidated views; a more intuitive graphical user interface (UI); simplified error logging and validation for reducing coding errors; and more efficient deployments, according to OneShield. Other features include an updated rule editor to support free text, copy/paste and the ability to create templates, as well as support for multiple languages for the OneShield Dragon runtime application.

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