InsuraTech - Strategies for online insurance sales, quoting, application submission.

Linkedin, AFSA Webinar, AMBest Conference

2008-09-05T08:30:00.004-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesOne of my favorite conferences of the year, A.M. Best's E-Fusion conference, is coming up in Philadelphia in October. If you are interested in insurance e-commerce/e-business, looking to network, share, and learn new stuff, this is the place to be. No kidding, this is the conference in the insurance biz where I get a raft of new ideas. Check it

Vlog #1 - Ground-breaking Site Architecture??

2008-08-29T14:17:00.007-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesJudge for yourself, but based on everything I've seen around the industry, FTJ looks like ground-breaking site architecture. Interested in comments....Copyright © 2008 Mike WiseAll rights reserved.

What's killing our health insurance system

2008-08-08T14:40:00.008-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesShort-term thinking - IMHO.Quick story.... Was working on a potential opportunity to develop a cutting edge new broker portal for an individual medical carrier (sorry no names - but trust me - true story). So I get an email last week saying, "ABC (and most other major carriers) reduced its '08 earnings forecast and thus, began cutting costs. ....

2008 PIMA Summer Conference - very very good

2008-07-26T05:49:00.012-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesThe 2008 PIMA Summer Conference kicked off with a bang. Played golf at the Newport C.C. Not only that, but the weather was perfect, my son came along to take pictures and be a spotter, my host was magnificent, my partner bought me and Zach a new pair of golf shoes and NCC hats for the family, and to top it all off, I played the best I have in

What are the essential elements of a Web presence?

2008-07-09T13:01:00.006-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesThings seem to have changed a lot in the past three years. I'm curious as to what people feel are the essential ingredients of a comprehensive Web presence for a marketing company, especially insurance, given the state of the Web today?IMO, the presence need to accomplish the following critically important functions. (I got these from Bill Tyson

Some interesting stats re the Web and social networking….

2008-06-30T14:49:00.005-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesSocial networks - Possibly the next frontier of affinity and association marketing… Some interesting stats:MySpace – 1 billion visits/month (did not even exist 5 years ago)Facebook – Traffic ranking among all websites increased from 60th to 7th from 09/06 to 09/07 (source: Alexa)Linkedin – 700% growth in

Opening the door to outsourcing Web development

2008-06-17T14:09:00.004-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesBest of times, worst of times... Dickens?So I got two calls out of the blue this week from major insurance carriers known for doing things in-house. They both said that senior management is changing their tune and now opening the door to outsourcing Web development. Hallelujah! Needless to say, the business unit folks are ecstatic, if you can say

Major Launch - Ground-breaking?

2008-06-06T14:45:00.005-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesPostlude to the Social Networks series: Interesting article on Corporate Blogging and how it can lead to NEW BUSINESS! I'll go further than that. I got a call this week from a major player in a major insurance category who found me via a Google search on 'online insurance quoting'. I came up in third place on his natural results. I was happy to

Social Networks and Insurance - Part 4

2008-05-30T06:33:00.007-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesBut first... Why are Friday's SO much better than Monday's?!?! ...Been a while since I posted. Been working on the underpinnings of this Blog. Switched from blogspot to WordPress, hosted on my insurance technologies site. From a visitor standpoint, everything is the same. But now I have a little more control of site technology and content

Social Networks and Insurance - Part 3

2008-05-08T09:27:00.005-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesPart Three: Private Networks –Please comment on any of this.Embedded – customizable, plug-and-play utilitiesSome possible sources of SN software to plug into your site...http://www.smallworldlabs.com/blog/calling-all-competitorshttp://www.alstrasoft.com/efriends.htmhttp://www.onesite.com/http://www.kickapps.com/Lots of others...some

Social Networks and Insurance - Part 2

2008-04-18T08:37:00.004-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesWe are in the middle of a conversation on Social Networks and insurance marketing. Again, I could be all crossed up, but from an affinity marketing point of view, Social Networks seem to show promise as insurance direct mail response rates decline and keyword inflation enters stage-left on the search engine marketing scene.Last week - Part One:

Social Networks and Insurance

2008-04-11T14:55:00.007-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesOver the next couple weeks, let's consider Social Networks and insurance marketing. I could be way out in left field, but from an affinity marketing point of view, as I've said in the past, I think Social Networks show promise as insurance direct mail response rates decline. There's a lot to cover, so I'm going to break it up into a few parts.Part

Service Oriented Architecture

2008-03-17T15:02:00.006-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesService Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a very cool thing. What is it? As with most innovations, it's a way of looking at an old concept in a new way. What first was known as a "Web Portal", now becoming known as a "Mash Up", is SOA personified. A 'service' is a way to get information into the hands of the user. So if you are using Google Maps

Terrific article about Agent Portals

2008-03-07T07:40:00.003-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesTerrific article about Agent Portals in Insurance Marketing magazineTitled "Improving Your Agents' Online Experience", the article makes some key points. (Wish I could link to it, but the magazine doesn't have a Web site - doh!)."Independent agents, especially, view online capabilities as a key factor in deciding who to work with. Often the

Insuratech Episode #21 - PIMA 2008 Annual Meeting - Jim Gallagher, SVP AIA and Social Networks

2008-02-19T11:00:00.007-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesAt the 2008 PIMA Annual Meeting in Cancun, I also had the chance to connect with Jim Gallagher. Jim is one of the top guys with AIA, an Agency in Columbus (last year we heard from Jeff Roedel from the same Agency at the 07 Annual Meeting) focused on the Alumni insurance affinity market. I find Jim's comments interesting in that Alumni Associations

Insuratech Episode #20 - PIMA 2008 Annual Meeting - Chris Burke, President AMA Insurance Agency and the New Consumer

2008-02-15T09:15:00.013-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesThe 2008 PIMA Annual Meeting was outstanding. At the meeting, in the blur of activity, I found the time to do a podcast with Chris Burke. To give you a little background, Chris runs AMA Insurance Agency, the insurance brokerage for the AMA, American Medical Association. As a tech savvy guy, Chris stepped into a great opportunity a couple years

Awesome Preso at the Medicare Advantage Conference

2008-01-31T15:37:00.001-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance Technologies(Next week I'm at ICMG and then directly to PIMA. I'll try to post some sound bites and pics.)Last week at the Medicare Congress, I saw the best presentation I've seen in many years. Sherman Rogers with Fine Light gave an incredibly insightful look at the boomer market and what they are going to expect from insurance company and agency Web sites.

Social Networks; Geo-targeting

2008-01-18T09:24:00.000-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesCall me crazy, but I'm starting to get the power of Social Networks. I've been watching my kids use MySpace and now Facebook for the last year or so - posting pictures, poking friends, coordinating events, staying in touch with friends that have moved, even making posts from the car when we were on trips! Very cool.Then over the holidays, an old

Medicare Congress; Important Article; PIMA & ICMG

2008-01-11T13:19:00.000-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesThis week I was referred to a well-attended conference on Medicare trends, etc. Medicare Congress sounds like a great event to network with Medicare Insurance marketing folks. Looking forward to it.Lindsay Resnick sent me an article this morning that I think hits on some things that have been building in the industry for that last several years,

Disposable Web Sites

2008-01-04T14:35:00.000-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesHAPPY NEW YEAR!!!Question: What kinds of things come to mind when you think of a disposable camera?Most people have said things like... "You can throw it away.... cheap.... easy to use.... gets the job done." Precisely.So how does that relate to an insurance Web site? Think about it: In the insurance marketing space, many insurance products come

Medicare Part D News, PIMA MarkeTTech 2008, IdeaStar in the Media

2007-12-13T15:55:00.000-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesCurious thing came across my screen today..."Effective immediately, CMS will not allow an agent to earn a commission if the application for Medicare Part D is submitted on an electronic application."WOW! This would be big news, and in my book, seemingly incomprehensible. I'm trying to corroborate this information before I launch into a rant. I've

Call for Prayer

2007-12-07T11:34:00.000-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesOriginal interview with Joan...Times like these are the hardest times of all. Last Fall I did a podcast with a fellow PIMA member (see above). Please remember Joan in your prayers. Joan's daughter was involved in a tragic accident in South America while on assignment with The Peace Corps. Not sure of the details...Joan, my heart goes out to you.

Insuratech Episode #19 - 2007 PIMA MarkeTTech Reflections

2007-11-19T11:47:00.000-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance TechnologiesThe 2007 PIMA MarkeTTech conference seemed to be a big hit, if I may say so. I've updated my photo-site on SmugMug with selected pictures from the conference. Following are a few... Out to dinner at Cafe Spiaggia Jon Kaplan, Karen Roy, Rick

2007 E-Fusion Award Recipient; 2007 PIMA MarkeTTech

2007-11-09T11:21:00.000-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance Technologies2007 AM Best E-Fusion Award Recipient Click on the link to watch the Award announcement. I won't spoil your surprise if you haven't already heard. But I will say the winner did a heck of a job on their site - very impressive. Yes, as usual, I was a little late for the call... :-)So I'm off to the 2007 PIMA MarkeTTech Symposium. The good news is

Web 2.0, Agent Forums and Usability

2007-10-26T13:09:00.000-05:00

By Mike Wise, VP IdeaStar Insurance Technologies2007 AM Best E-Fusion Award Judging It's been fun. It's been a learning experience. Paul and Lee have once again been masterful facilitators - this year all online. But I do miss the face to face interaction. I hope we can return to an in-person event next year. I'll be interested to read and hear Paul and Lee's 2007 postmortem. How many