Bharati Axa Life selects Intense iECM framework solution

Intense Technologies (BSE: INTENSETECH) the hyderabad-based enterprise software products company, today announced that Bharti AXA Life Insurance has selected Intense’s iECCM (intelligent Enterprise Customer Communication Management) Framework solution.

Intense's iECCM Framework is an integrated, intelligent enterprise customer communication management framework that enables enterprises to strategically manage customer communications. The framework has individual components like Bill formatter, Output manager, EBPP and self-care, all best-fit to operationally and strategically eliminate cost islands, enhance productivity and improve customer satisfaction levels.

"We are very excited to work with Bharti AXA and see this key project as a validation of the iECCM Framework’s solution scope and value proposition across the Insurance vertical.” said Raghav Sahgal, CEO of Intense Technologies.

“We already have Bharti Airtel as a preferred client for our iECCM Framework and I am really pleased to add another Bharti group company to our clientele. We are confident that Bharti AXA Life will gain a significant Return on Investment over the years by deploying our iECCM solution and experience a substantial reduction in its customer communication costs going forward. Intense’s agile customer communication solution will also complement Bharati AXA’s consistent efforts to deploy advanced IT solutions for building its brand image and enhancing its customer intimacy levels.”

Mr. Tim Thomas, Chief Operating Officer of Bharti AXA Life said, "The implementation of a customer communication management solution within the very first year of operations reiterates our customer focus. I believe that this user-friendly solution from Intense will help us achieve our goal of offering our customers a more personalized experience. This solution will also improve our operational efficiency through intelligent printing and delivery options”.

Celent names 3i Infotech as a leading provider for Insurance technology services

3i Infotech, a global provider of IT solutions has been named a ‘Traction Index’ leader in a recent report from research and advisory firm, Celent, based on the analysis of key software vendors for the insurance industry in North America.

3i Infotech was also named a leading provider in the Full Policy Administration Systems category, based on the number of deals the company inked in 2005 and 2006.

"Leaders in our Traction Index are demonstrating strong market momentum among insurers, which gives them the kind of experience that many carriers are looking for," says Craig Weber, Senior Analyst with Celent and author of the report. The Traction Index is a weighted score that measures the volume and type of deals that software companies made during 2005 and 2006.

With a long-term focus on the insurance market, 3i Infotech has augmented its insurance software offering PREMIA to deliver an integrated solution for insurance companies around the world.

Commenting on the achievement, Mr. Hari Padmanabhan, Deputy Managing Director, 3i Infotech, said “Over the last five years in particular, we have invested significantly in creating a solution that can effectively address Insurance companies the world over. This is of particular interest to Insurance companies who want to migrate to or invest in a technology platform that will enable them to compete effectively in the rapidly changing insurance market. This Celent report is an acknowledgement of US market`s acceptance of PREMIA”.

The company provides services to more than 100 customers globally, with PREMIA having a good patronage from insurance companies among its client base.

Domain insurance.mobi purchased for US $ 42,005

London: Sedo-run auction generates high interest and revenue, and demonstrates diversity of upcoming mobile content.

dotMobi, the company behind the .mobi Internet domain, successfully closed its first-ever online auction on October 3. dotMobi auctioned 100 domain names through Sedo.com, and is the first domain company to offer selected names directly to the market via an online auction process rather than a traditional "first come, first served" process.

Dozens of names were purchased generating a turnover of US $850,000 during the event last week.

With bidders from 34 countries, the auction's most desired names were hosting.mobi (sold for US $101,000), bank.mobi (US $51,501), download.mobi (US $51,500), currency.mobi (US $47,000) and insurance.mobi (US $42,005).

insurance.mobi was purchased by Insurance.com, an independent, online insurance agency which enables consumers to instantly compare and buy competitive auto insurance quotes directly from more than a dozen leading insurance companies. "We see the long-term value of the mobile internet," said Joe Singleton, Director of Information Technology, Insurance.com. "The .mobi domain will be a valuable tool in continuing to build our future consumer offerings."

"With more than 1.6 billion mobile users around the world, it's obvious that brands are quickly realizing that the audience for mobile content is enormous," said David Ryder, dotMobi's Chief Marketing Officer. "This auction proves that dotMobi has some of the most-wanted domain names in the world, and it's exciting to start seeing how they'll be used for content."

Tim Schumacher, CEO of Sedo, said, "We knew that the dotMobi's premium names portfolio would be a success on the Sedo platform; however, the results of this auction went beyond our expectations. We are now even more excited about our upcoming .mobi auction on October 31 when names like car.mobi, gps.mobi, kiss.mobi, love.mobi and map.mobi will be available."

dotMobi is a consortium based in Dublin, Ireland with offices in Washington, DC and Beijing, is leading the growth of Internet use from mobile phones with the .mobi domain name. It is backed by leading mobile operators, network & device manufacturers, and internet content providers, including Ericsson, GSM Association, Hutchison 3, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, TIM, Visa and Vodafone.

Sedo an acronym for "Search Engine for Domain Offers," is the leading online marketplace for buying and selling domain names and websites. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.

Google SMS services launched in India

Google announced today the launch of Google SMS™ for mobile users in India. This beta offering brings the power of Google™ Search to users’ fingertips, making information available on the move, without the need of a computer or an Internet-enabled phone.

With Google SMS mobile messaging service, users can get business listings, movie showtimes and more simply by sending a text message to the shortcode 54664 [5GOOG] from their mobile phones. This service is currently available on the Airtel, Aircel, BPL, BSNL and Reliance networks, and has relevant local data for mobile users in Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Carriers' premium text messaging rates apply.

"There's no denying the importance of text messaging in India, and the launch of Google SMS is a natural next step for our mobile strategy," said Vinay Goel, Head of Products, Google India. "Millions of new mobile users are being added every month, and Google SMS will provide them with a quick and easy way to get the information they need when and where they need it."

Searching through Google SMS is simple. For example, a user seeking information on pizzerias in Andheri West can text message [pizza andheri west mumbai] to 54664, and a list of pizza restaurants in that area will be delivered to his or her phone within seconds. Google SMS allows for searches by common locality names, and ranks results by proximity to the specified location. The service also saves time by saving a user's location, so they don't have to type their location every time they search.

Check out http://www.google.co.in/sms for an online demo and additional features, and the attached appendix for more information on how to use Google SMS

Microsoft unveils Web-based health portal

Microsoft has launched a free, ad-supported Web-based health portal called HealthVault, a resource that allows people to upload their medical records online and share their information with doctors.

It is reported that other companies, such as Google and Steve Case's Revolution Health, as well as the federal government (USA) have been working on similar projects.

Although some are concerned that such sites could make users sensitive to hackers, Microsoft says it has consulted with experts to ensure that HealthVault will keep personal information private.

While it is estimated that such an electronic medical-record network would save more than $500 billion in medical costs over 15 years, it is reported that doctors are slow to adopt technology that has been around for more than a decade.

Source: ProWEB Wire

Applabs and Knowledgecore partner to offer Service Oriented Architecture

AppLabs today announced it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with KnowledgeCore, an enterprise software solution company to support organizations in their implementation of Service-Orientated Architecture (SOA).

AppLabs and KnowledgeCore have developed a unique solution for the banking, financial services and insurance industries to help plan, prepare and implement high quality SOA developments and applications.

SOA is a significant development in uniting Business and IT. According to leading analysts, this approach will be used in more than half of new mission-critical operational applications and businessprocesses designed in the next 12 months.

"The adoption of SOA is increasing at a phenomenal rate. Our partnership with KnowledgeCore will allow us to deliver a comprehensive quality management and testing solution with a real time dashboard. With SOA, organizations must get it right first time and therefore all stakeholders (Business and IT) need access to decision-making information instantly said Gary Davies, Vice President of Strategic Alliances, AppLabs.

David Sudworth, Marketing Director, KnowledgeCore, commented: "The nature of SOA implementation is extremely complex and traditional approaches to testing are insufficient. By partnering with AppLabs, we are able to provide a service that guarantees quality and testing is given the attention it deserves to ensure our clients effectively meet their business objectives."

LIC in the process of electronic transformation

Madurai: The Madurai Division of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) will phase out the use of paper slowly with the introduction of Enterprising Data Management System (EDMS), which would pave way for keeping records in electronic form.

S.Chandrashekar, Senior Divisional Manager of the LIC said the EDMS would facilitate LIC transactions by a policy holder from anywhere in the country.

The EDMS facility had been introduced in Madurai division as a pilot scheme in the south zone. It is the second division in the country to get it. The uploading of the data has already begun and the exercise would be completed in a year’s time, he said.

The LIC has also introduced Electronic Clearance System (ECS) in all its Madurai Branches to enable policy holders pay premiums using automatic debit facility from banks. There was also a plan to introduce credit card after the ECS.

ICICI Prudential Life introduces smart cards for policy-holders in rural areas

ICICI Prudential Life, in yet another innovative way to market their products and services has launched the biometric smart cards in the rural areas. The smart cards will store the policy details and enable the policy holder a hassle free way of maintaining his policy related activites.

Some of the features are as below:

• Carry all policy details without any papers
• Store transaction details
• Pay renewal premiums and service transactions (service to be launched)
• Help customers during the time of claim

Anita Pai, executive vice president, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance said, "As the company is expanding and reaching out to policyholders across the nation, it is critical for us to maintain our service experience amongst customers. The card will enable us to move away from the connectivity and infrastructure barriers and provide real time solutions to policyholders in the rural segment."

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has launched this unique service in partnership with Financial Information Networks Operation (FINO) and policyholders can utilise this service at various FINO Fintech access points created across India’s rural areas. The biometric smart cards will be issued at no extra cost to the customer. The first set of the biometric smart cards will be handed to over ICICI Prudential Life policyholders in in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh.

ICICI Prudential has 700 branches in 500 locations. "We are looking at setting up 500 FINO points across the country in next 7 to 8 points," said Pai.

Smart Cards Usage

A `smart card' is a plastic card with an IC (integrated) chip capable of storing and processing data stored in it. It is like a computer in your wallet. Smart cards have many applications, for example, in Telecommunications (SIM/Payphone cards), Transport segment (Vehicle registration, Driving licences), in Banking, Healthcare, Iinsurance, E-governance, besides physical and logical access control.

Depending upon the application and information storage capacity required, smart cards, besides having a microprocessor (in most cases) chip for secure information storage and processing, come with optional magnetic strips, bar codes, optical strips, holograms, etc, on a variety of card bodies

To use a smart card, either to get information from it or store data in it, you need a smart card reader, a small device into which you insert the smart card.

The first smart card was developed in 1974, by independent inventor Roland Moreno. Axalto (A Schlumberger Company) delivered the world's first commercial application of smart cards in 1980. These were pre-paid memory smart cards and smart card payphones.

The prime mover for smart card usage was to curb fraud, and technology has effectively contributed to this end. After public telephony, the banking industry followed the usage of smart card technology, which incorporated microprocessor-based smart card technology. The early 1990s again saw the telecom industry adopting smart cards in a big way and this time GSM was globally standardised on smart cards as SIM cards.

The mid-1990s saw the advent of Open Platform cards. The Java cards invented in 1996 gave a boost for multi-application cards. Technology and market requirements later adopted usage of complex cryptography in smart cards making them a favourite user media to store, carry and transact with digital signatures.

Applications based on contact-less technology and the invention of combi cards (contact + contactless) in 1996-97 opened up a whole new segment in smart technology. The invention of .NET technology in 2002 saw the memory capacity of smart cards growing further.

With the increasing need for security, smart cards are being viewed as the ideal medium for implementing national ID/citizen ID cards globally. Identification and e-Governance are seen as the largest consumers of smart card technology in the near future. In the transport sector, smart card-based driving licences, vehicle registration, mass transit and toll applications are expected to form yet another large segment of smart card usage. GSM SIM cards and wireless telephony applications are also expected to receive a boost as wireless technologies gain momentum.

ICICI Prudential Life SMS helpline services for policyholders

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance announced the launch of its SMS Helpline service, today. This innovative service will enable the company’s policyholders to receive instant update on their policies through a simple SMS to 56767.

ICICI Prudential Life’s policyholders can now know the policy status, due date for paying premium, policy NAV and portfolio fund value by sending a simple SMS from their mobile phones. Policyholders can get these details by typing PST followed by space followed by their policy number and sending an SMS to 56767.

Commenting on the new service, Ms. Anita Pai, Executive Vice President, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance said: “In tune with our philosophy of providing innovative products and services for customer convenience, we have now launched the SMS Helpline. Today, the mobile technology has reached far and wide and it was the apt time for us to leverage the technology and connectivity to our advantage. The SMS Helpline is a customer-friendly service that will benefit our policyholders for its sheer simplicity. Now, policyholders can avail of the desired information anytime anywhere, no matter where they might be.”

Policyholders should register their mobile numbers with the company to avail SMS Helpline service. To register, policyholders can type REG followed by space followed by their 8 digit policy number followed by their DOB in DDMMYYYY format and send the SMS to 56767.

Satyam partners with SISTRAN to help insurance customers expand into global markets

Satyam Computer Services Ltd., a leading global consulting and information technology services company, today announced a global partnership with SISTRAN, a leading software and services provider for the insurance industry. The combination of Satyam services and SISTRAN solutions enables insurance organizations to more efficiently extend a common platform to offices around the globe. The extended, end-to-end solutions resulting from the partnership also help insurance companies more easily serve high-growth markets around the world.

Many of our insurance customers are focusing on expanding into high-growth markets, primarily in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East," said Tim Montgomery, leader of Satyam's Global Integrated Insurance Business. "To meet the challenges associated with this new frontier, these customers need management systems that are quickly adaptable and scalable, and SISTRAN's suite of tools accommodates those requirements perfectly. The suite provides the flexibility that will enable Satyam to deliver value to insurers faster.

"We are excited to collaborate with SISTRAN and benefit from its industry expertise and successful history in Latin America to transform insurance companies all over the world."

Moreover, the strategic partnership enables SISTRAN, a company with an excellent track record in insurance software, to leverage Satyam's renowned Insurance Practice and strong global presence. In addition, Satyam can implement, optimize, and support SISTRAN's world-class solutions globally. Satyam is also more effectively able to address complex business challenges and provide flexibility across the entire insurance value chain. As such, its insurance customers can respond rapidly to market changes.

"By joining forces with Satyam, SISTRAN can substantially increase its presence as the business expands in these global economies," said Alex Pineda, SISTRAN's chief executive officer. "This alliance enables SISTRAN to bring world-class, end-to-end insurance solutions to customers around the world. At the same time, it adds a great deal of efficiency and value to our software implementations, product development, and support."

SISTRAN serves more than 100 insurance carriers, from small businesses to large enterprises. The company's solutions allow insurers to enhance their operational and financial performance by improving the processes of risk-acceptance and loss-mitigation, automating underwriting, reducing claim cycle time, and managing increasing compliance and regulatory requirements.

"The partnership was a natural fit due to the synergies between Satyam's global solution delivery methodology and support, and SISTRAN's expertise in the insurance software business," said Juan Mazzini, VP New Markets at SISTRAN.
"Both companies are dedicated to providing customers with complete solution delivery and support, customer-oriented solutions, and low system maintenance costs," Montgomery added. "These common values are the foundation of a partnership that will deliver new and enhanced value to insurance customers worldwide."

About Satyam
Satyam , a leading global business and information technology services company, delivers consulting, systems integration, and outsourcing solutions to clients in 20 industries and 57 countries.

Satyam leverages deep industry and functional expertise, leading technology practices, and an advanced, global delivery model to help clients transform their highest-value business processes and improve their business performance. The company's 42,500* professionals excel in engineering and product development, supply chain management, client relationship management, business process quality, business intelligence, enterprise integration, and infrastructure management, among other key capabilities.

Satyam development and delivery centers in the US, Canada, Brazil, the UK, Hungary, Egypt, UAE, India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia serve 570* clients, including one-third of the US Fortune 500. For more information, see www.satyam.com.

About SISTRAN
SISTRAN has been providing software solutions and services for the insurance industry since 1977. Its solutions include a rules-based insurance product designer; a policy administration system; mobile and wireless solutions; a claims administration system; a reinsurance system; regulatory reporting, billing, accounting, and a general ledger system. SISTRAN provides a wide range of services including outsourcing, consulting, integration, and maintenance services to carriers, MGAs, and TPAs.

From small companies to multibillion-dollar enterprises in the Life and P&C industry, SISTRAN helps define insurers' IT and operations strategies while evaluating, designing, developing, and implementing the systems and processes that best solve their business challenges.

Source: PR Newswire