Gregory Maciag

Joint Industry Forum

ACORD is one of several industry organizations that convene the Joint Industry Forum in New York City each year. Here is a highlight from the CEO Panel discussion. Please go to video.acord.org  to see all the clips in JIF 2010 under Industry Events.

Howard Mills on Systemic Risk

Howard Mills participated in our London Board of Directors Meeting. Howard is currently with Deloitte and former New York State Insurance Superintendent.

ACORD Executive Committee 2010

Piciured are Andy Fogarty (Standards), myself, John Leonard (Chairman), Sal Branca (Finance), David Findley (Vice Chair), John Kellington and Larry Brandon (Audit). Together with Barbara Koster (Prudential) and Rainer Janssen (Munich Re), the Executive Committee meets throughout the year between the two Board Meetings to discuss updates from the various committees. The meeting was held this week in New York City.

London Roundtable

We have convened a series of Roundtable Discussions in 2009 in our office, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. Here is the last one for the year held at Lloyd's of London. We've been talking about ACORD 2020, a vision for the future. I will report more on our findings this year.

 

ACORD Board Meets in London Office

The Board of Directors convened its winter meeting in the ACORD London office this year.  The office opened ten years ago as a result of the merger with WISe, the successor industry organization to WIN (World Insurance Network, RINET (Reinsurance Network) and LIMNET (London Market Network).  ACORD Life Standards had been used in various regions, but the WISe merger was the culmination of a decade long relationship with various London and European industry initiatives with reinsurance and large commercial lines. We have always had an open door policy when it comes to cooperating with other organizations.  It increases the value of ACORD Standards and eliminates barriers to open trade.

New Look and Tag LIne Announced at NAILBA 28

Spoke with Jack Chiasson, NAILBA Executive Director, about current events today after he announced the new NAILBA look at the meeting here. Since everyone knows NAILBA, they introduced a tag line "The Voice of Independent Brokerage Distribution". NAILBA Website

 

I am attending the National Association of Independent  Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) conference this week in Fort Lauderdale. Brian Marable (ACORD) is our primary liaison to NAILBA.  Art Jetter will be replacing George Van Dusen on the ACORD Board of Directors in 2010. NAILBA continues to be extremely supportive of industry standards and see the benefits for the broker community. I'll keep you posted on our plans for 2010.

Are ACORD Forms Still Relevant?

Interesting question. Some vendor systems may print ACORD Forms when needed, but transmit data electronically to insurers. Some agents print the forms for signature, PDF the signed form for the record and shred the paper. So why do ACORD Forms continue to have legs after 40 years? ACORD Forms exist for only one reason, to replace proprietary forms created by insurers and regulators. If proprietary forms did not exist, there would be no standard ACORD Forms.  

The digerati refer to ACORD Forms as the physical representation of the electronic standards. That's somewhat true, but the relationship between electronic messages and forms is more complicated. The good news is that we are updating all 700+ ACORD Forms to make them smarter. We created an eLabel database for every piece of data on every form.  We provide eForms that enable online completion and we're building better integration tools for software developers.  The line between the paper and the digital world is blurring.

Someday, you may never actually print an ACORD Form on paper for any reason once we all agree on electronic signatures. But you'll probably continue to see ACORD Forms because they also provide a standard view for consuming information. Don't underestimate the value of a consistent look and feel.

The Future presents itself in waves. We are engulfed in a blend of old and new technologies. Some fade away, others endure for awhile as new compounds emerge from the mix. You'll continue to see ACORD Forms in the mix somewhere.

AUGIE Ends Long Time Rivalry

Now that they have accomplished this primary goal, the ACORD User Group Information Exchange (AUGIE) can now focus on supporting the implementation of ACORD Standards said Jim Armitage, Chairman. Pictured are Steve Aronson (Boston) donning the Yankee cap and Keith Savino (New York) who was unable to attend the parade today to celebrate the victory.

We Need Your Participation Too!

Yes... we missed you.  The ACORD User Group Information Exchange (AUGIE) met today in Fort Lauderdale at the ACORD Implementation Forum.  The open meeting attracted 150 participants and it was followed by an AUGIE Leaders meeting chaired by James Armitage, President of the AMS Users Group. The primary mission of the group is to facilitate the implementation of ACORD Standards. They recommend and coordinate participation on various working groups and reach out to insurers among other things.

If you are an agent, take a look at the AUGIE website and please consider volunteering for some of the working groups... or just one. If you are an insurer, please attend the next meeting. I asked one insurer systems person why he attended the meeting. He said, "This is a great opportunity to spend quality time with our agents, better understand the issues and work on solutions."  Apparently, some people working in Operations or Systems don't get this opportunity often. Where else can you see agencies, insurers and vendors sitting around the same table. You'll be amazed by the value of this kind of open dialogue. Contact Cal Durland for more information. cdurland@acord.org

AUGIE WEBSITE

ACORD 2020: The Next 10 Years

I am working on an ACORD 2020 project as part of our strategic planning process. David Smith has been working with me. David is from Global Futures & Foresight and here is a copy of his slides and a link to his website.

Download David Smith - Fort Lauderdale 2009 Notes

GFF Website

IBM Contributes IAA Assets to ACORD

Today, IBM contributed its Insurance Application Architecture (IAA) Business Object/Data Model and the IAA Product Specification Diagram (PSD) to ACORD.  This contribution will result in a single Information Model as part of the ACORD Framework for the insurance industry. This is a signficant contribution of IBM intellectual property assets. Now we are going to harmonize the contribution with our existing Model and publish Version 2 so we can begin mapping all ACORD Standards and Forms. Pictured with John Kellingtonn and me is Inder Gopal from IBM who made the announcement.)

Here is the IBM Press Release 11-04-2009

ACORD on TV in South Africa

  Here is a clip from a local television show featuring ACORD and the SAFIA.  ACORD in South Africa

Hotel & Hotspot Security

Here is an interesting piece given to me by Jeff Yates from the Agency Council for Technology.

Download Hotel Hotspot Security Concerns Murray Oct 2009

Lloyd's of London Sets ACORD Upgrade Deadline

The Steering Committee for the Lloyd's Exchange set 19 February 2010 as the date all participants must upgrade to ACORD RLC 2009.1 release from the present version now being used. Here is the release together with a related story from BestWire.

Download EPSG decision on 2009-1

Download Bestwire-13oct2009

South Africa Brokers Association Joins ACORD

South Africa's Financial Intermediaries Association (FIA) became members of ACORD today. We have been working in South Africa with several organizations over the past year and the FIA has been taking the lead on several fronts. Here is the FIA Home Page  and the Press Release. Download FIA Membership

CIAB & Lexis Nexis Launch Insurance Exchange with ACORD Standards

The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers announced the creation of an Insurance Exchange. The service targets commercial lines, but will be expanded to all P&C lines and non-P&C as well. The Exchange will handle both structured and non-structured data and rely on the same interfaces with agency systems as insurer portals today. Download CIAB Exchange

LexisNexis

 

Mike Morrissey, President & CEO of IIS

Mike Morrissey, the new President & CEO of the International Insurance Society (IIS) visited ACORD today to discuss potential partnership opportunities in the future.  Mike replaced the retiring Pat Kenny.  Aside from their annual summer event, IIS partners with the Geneva Association on research and maintains the Insurance Hall of Fame. We agreed to continue to work together and reach out to other industry trade organizations in what can be a very silo-ed landscape.  IIS Home Page

Australia Brokers & Insurers Working in ACORD

Australia is one of our industry success stories. Eight firms joined ACORD, they include: CGU, IBNA, InsuranceConnect, NAQ Technology, Suncorp, Sportscover, Steadfast and QBE. Several additional firms are planning to participate. Australia brokers along with their key markets took the lead with industry standards several years ago. Some of our international members that do business in Australia are also participating. I am delighted to see this kind of cooperation and proud that ACORD was the catalyst for their success.

 

Lloyd's Update for NAPSLO

Here is a brochure prepared for the surplus lines folks created by Lloyd's of London.

Download Lloyds NAPSLO

ACORD Standards and the Lloyd's Exchange

ACORD Standards are used by the Lloyd's Exchange created by Lloyd's of London for moving information among it's trading partners.  Here is an interview I did with Sue Langley, Head of North America Operations. 

Innovation in Insurance

Take a look at this website that focuses on insurance technology and innovation.
Innovation

Lloyd's of London Supports ACORD Standards

Richard Ward did a Q&A with Business Insurance today at 31 August 2009.  Here is a copy of the text. Keeping Up Momentum

ACORD in Australia

One of the interesting occurrences over the past ten years has been the participation of new markets and geographies in ACORD. Yes, our work in the United States continues, but others are looking to capitalize on the progress in this evolving global marketplace.  I remember having a meeting with a group of independent agents from the USA held in my office in London.  It didn't take long for everyone to realize that the value chain is long and deep. We all interact with each other in one way or another. Silo's aren't bad thing as long as they can be connected. And the similarities among the various markets is rather obvious.  Ther bottom line is that the value of ACORD Standards increases exponentially with adoption, no matter where it happens.  Download Insurance and Risk Professional

 

Ask Questions

 I spoke at the AASCIF (American Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds) this week in Portland Maine.  Several hundred state funds, private insurers and their suppliers attended the event. One question posed was how do I get started with ACORD Standards.

Not everyone is a decision-maker, but many people do influence decisions regarding how informaion moves in and out of their areas of responsibility.  While IT and people working on software and system development projects are typically more involved with ACORD Standards, everyone can play a role.

Just ask questions? Where is this information (data) coming from? Are we getting it electronically? Are we re-keying it or adding data to it? How do we move it around our organizagtion? Where do we send it and how do we send it? Do we translate data coming into the organization? Do we need to translate outbound data? Why?

When you ask questions you can influence decisions. And knowing that ACORD was created by the industry to help with the answers, you will be on your way to bringing ACORD Standards into the process.