May 9, 2011

The 2011 SIR Webinar Series will continue on May 19th with Chris Sirota of ISO discussing "Not So Plug-n-Play Telematics", and Members can register at no charge.

To register for this webinar, which will begin at 3:00 Eastern/ 12:00 Pacific, simply email the SIR Vice President – Events, Richard Skyba. (If your email security has disabled the link, email Richard at rskyba@comcast.net and make the subject line of your email "Registration for 5/19 webinar".)

About the 5/19 webinar: Are you planning to pilot a telematics-based insurance program? The top 20 and some mid-sized auto insurers are actively piloting telematics-based auto insurance programs, and some are even commercially available in some states. These insurers see the potential of using this new data source in improving their underwriting, rating, and claims processes. These insurers are also sharp enough to see that early adopters will not only increase their opportunity to attract better risks, but will gain the advantage of overcoming the telematics implementation learning curve. This session will present an overview of current telematics activity in the insurance market, walk listeners through a roadmap of decision points, and include the following topics:

• What did ISO learn about hardware and data collection when it deployed telematics on its own fleet?
• What do consumers think about sharing their driving locations with insurers?
• What costs can be expected?
• Should you hit the delete button for traditional rating variables?
• Are you too late to the party?

About the speaker: Christopher Sirota is Product Development & Research Manager in ISO’s Applied Informatix business unit. The unit’s mission is to gather and analyze data from installed telematics equipment — devices that transmit data about vehicle usage — in private passenger and commercial vehicles. He has been researching insurance uses of event data recorders, GPS and telematics devices for over 10 years and has frequently spoken on the topic, including at the National Transportation Safety Board’s Highway Vehicle Event Data Recorder Symposium, ISOTech, Best’s Review webinar series, Telematics Update Insurance Telematics Conference and the CPCU Annual Conference. Mr. Sirota is also an inventor of a pending patent related to telematics and location privacy.

Future webinars The next webcast in the series, on June 6th, will feature Bob Hartwig and Steve Weisbart of the Insurance Information Institute. Watch for more information to be announced separately.

New research at the SIR portal

As you know, the SIR-Members-Only resource at www.sirportal.org brings industry news and tools to your desktop in real time and you can tailor the view to emphasize your particular lines of business. This year the Society began delivering to Members, via the portal, white papers and other content of the sort that used to be linked to the Research page on www.sirnet.org.

Currently featured is CCC’s annual "Crash Course", this year titled "Changing Expectations of the Connected Consumer". Developed by CCC Lead Analyst (and SIR speaker) Susanna Gotsch, the work focuses on new technology providing transparency to companies & customers in auto-physical damage.

Also recently added to the "SIR Featured Research" tab of the portal is a summary of the 2010 PC Industry Results analysis produced jointly by ISO, PCIAA, and III. These leading organizations assess the industry’s 2010 performance and current strength and outlook in terms of income, profitability, surplus, underwriting results, capacity, and other variables.

The Society will continue to bring you research from partnering organizations, posting to the new "SIR Featured Research" tab of www.sirportal.org as acquired, so please check back often.

Did you know you can import your favorites?

Have you accumulated dozens or hundreds of links saved as favorites in your web browser? So many, in fact, that it is hard to find an individual link when you need it? You can bring all or selected favorites from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape or Safari into the "My Links" tab of your SIR Portal, and have just one place to go for everything! There, you can see them all at once rather than clicking through layers of folders. You can use the intuitive editing tools to organize links into logical groups, and use color, font, &/or emoticons to make the most important items stand out. Just go to the "My Links" tab of www.sirportal.org, click on "Import Favorites" at the upper right, and follow the instructions there.

If you have any questions about your SIR membership, your access to Members-Only resources, or any of the Society’s activities, please contact Ed Budd at 317-398-3684.

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