Welcome to the summer issue of our newsletter! While it doesn’t exactly feel like summer yet here in New England, we've had plenty of good news to keep us cheerful the last couple of months - starting with the success of this year's tradeshow season in Orlando, the launch of FirstBest Agent and several award wins.
In this month's featured article, Joseph Pilkerton, Founder and COO of FirstBest, shares his take on three key industry conferences in the article, "Back to Basics". Pilkerton observes a renewed sense of optimism compared to fall 2008 and an industry that's more positive and motivated about investing in IT for their businesses in order to better profit amid hard and soft markets alike.
Also in this issue is our annual Summer Reading List, where you'll find our selection of some interesting underwriting and technology articles in the past quarter. Learn how newer solutions are improving ease of doing business between carriers and agents, and how you can modernize your business systems and agent portals in order to remain competitive.
We hope you enjoy this issue. And even if the livin' ain't as easy as we would like it to be, we hope you take some time off to enjoy the summer!
Meira Primes
VP, Marketing
Back to Basics
By Joseph Pilkerton, Founder and COO, FirstBest
My co-founders and I joined other FirstBesters in making the annual treks to three key industry conferences in Orlando this spring. At NCCI, ACORD and IASA, we saw fresh optimism for the industry and noticed an overarching theme. The current economic environment is compelling carriers to look at their fundamental operations and get Back to Bascis.
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Summer Reading
Some insurance agents look at doing business through a carrier Web site or portal as a giant leap of faith, but carriers are finding their partners enjoy the ease of doing business and the improved underwriting relationships these newer solutions offer.
TechDecisions. Read More »
| Financial Crisis, Economic Stimulus and the Future of the P/C Insurance Industry: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities |
Insurance Information Institute (III) President and Chief Economist Robert P. Hartwig, Ph.D., CPCU, shared his thoughts about the state of the P&C industry, focusing on the impact of the financial crisis and the factors that could shape the industry's future in his presentation.
Insurance Information Institute. View the presentation »
| Insurers Embrace the Magic of the Dashboard |
The weather for this year’s Orlando-based ACORD/LOMA Systems Forum was decidedly un-Disney-like, with nearly continuous rain forcing conference-goers and vacationers alike to find alternate means of amusement as their children literally climbed the walls. That didn’t stop those on the show floor, however, from embracing the magic.
Insurance Networking News. Read more »
| Underwriting Workstation Power Analysis and Collaboration for Commercial Line P&C Insurers |
P&C insurers must automate the process of underwriting commercial line products to alleviate the manual burden that plagues underwriters. Doing so will enable traditional desk-bound underwriters to become mobile and collaborate with their distribution partners to drive organic growth.
Gartner (for Gartner customers only). Learn more » |
