Workers' Comp Insurers Embracing Technology to React to Market and
Regulatory Challenges, Says New Novarica Sector Report
NEW YORK--(April 21, 2010)--In a new sector report published today, Business and Technology
Trends for 2010: Workers' Compensation, research and advisory firm
Novarica looks at recent technology initiatives by workers compensation
insurers and highlights top issues for 2010-2011.
"Competitive pressures drive price declines which eat into premiums
above and beyond recession-induced exposure losses. All of this makes
the marketplace intensely competitive, and technology-enabled
performance is the key to competition."
"New business growth is down due to increased business failures, and
fewer new businesses being started. Rising unemployment is eroding
payrolls and the workers comp's exposure base," notes Karlyn Carnahan, a
principal in Novarica's insurance practice and lead author of the study.
"Competitive pressures drive price declines which eat into premiums
above and beyond recession-induced exposure losses. All of this makes
the marketplace intensely competitive, and technology-enabled
performance is the key to competition."
Novarica's research finds that workers compensation insurers are
focusing on five key areas in their technology strategies:
1.
Claims. Carriers who are using modern systems are rapidly
gaining competitive advantages by improved efficiencies in claims
handling, and improved data leading to better outcome management.
2.
Business Intelligence. Predictive analytics tools for those
who have sufficient data are becoming more popular, but these
depend on having a solid data infrastructure in place.
3.
Portals. Extending functionality to the agents and the
consumers continues to rise in importance. It's less and less
about differentiation and more and more just the price to pay to
be in the game.
4.
Policy. Investments in core policy administration systems
are key to operational flexibility in a rapidly changing
marketplace
5.
Document Management. Despite the move towards structured
data, paper and electronic documents are still the predominant
information storage and transmission medium for many insurers, and
gaining control over this area is critically important.
The report provides an overview of business trends and data, analyzes
the players in the marketplace, and provides examples of over 20 recent
technology initiatives by named workers compensation insurers. The
report is available at Novarica's website at http://www.novarica.com/report_wc_sector.shtml
Novarica provides information, insights, and perspective on markets,
operations, and technology to financial services and insurance
executives and project teams. The company delivers its service through
published research, retained advisory services, and project-based
consulting. http://www.novarica.com
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