Strategy Meets Action Announces the 2013 SMA Innovation in Action Award Winners

BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Strategy Meets Action (SMA), a leading insurance strategic advisory firm, announced the winners of the SMA Innovation in Action Awards during its annual SMA Summit at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Boston.

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The 2013 winners in the insurer category were Amica Mutual Insurance Company, Great American Insurance Group, Oregon Mutual Insurance, and Western & Southern Financial Group. The winner in the IT solution provider category was Xpertdoc for their solution for forms and template migration.  

"The quantity and quality of submissions were again remarkably impressive – with a significantly higher number of nominations this year," said Karen Furtado, SMA Partner. "Innovation is indeed happening in our industry, and the progress that is being made by capitalizing on next generation technologies is amazing. The resulting innovation is impacting the industry in many dimensions."

The SMA Innovation in Action Awards are presented each year to celebrate innovation in the insurance industry. SMA launched this award program to inspire, share, and recognize solutions that enable an insurance company to move beyond modernizing and optimizing to real innovation and transformation, ultimately creating differentiation and competitive advantage. The program spotlights both insurers and solution providers that have successfully implemented solutions that best leverage next generation technologies such as mobile, analytics & big data, social, cloud, collaboration, or telematics, or that reflect the spirit of innovation that is taking place.    

SMA Innovation in Action Award winner Amica Mutual Insurance Company exemplifies incremental transformation of the claims experience based on a modern claims management system. Using GIS capabilities, appropriate action can be initiated, rather than waiting and reacting when probable claims situations occur. Costs have been reduced, and customer satisfaction has significantly improved.   

Great American Insurance Group (GAIG) received recognition as an SMA Innovation in Action Award winner for demonstrating that innovation is possible without a huge budget and a big drain on existing resources. The culture for innovation that has been established through their i-Lab projects is not only incenting new and innovative solutions, it is creating an environment where ideas are valued and employees are encouraged to improve every process and interaction.

Rating accuracy in the comparative rating world and speed to market are critical to an insurer's success. SMA Innovation in Action Award winner Oregon Mutual Insurance fulfilled these requirements by using a cloud-based approach. The results show what an energizing impact modern technology can have on an entire organization – yielding greater accuracy and the insight that enables informed action. Speed to market is driving a better result as well as increased satisfaction.

Award winner Western & Southern Financial Group has developed a creative new collaborative needs-analysis and fact-finding tool that demonstrates how the effective use of next generation technologies can improve productivity and accuracy. A very personalized approach to improving the communication of detailed, subjective information has increased sales and made the user experience for the client and the agent much more engaging and exciting.            

Xpertdoc, the winner in the IT solution provider category, offers a cloud-based, patent-pending solution for forms and template migration. The solution is 100% automated and infinitely scalable. It provides a collaborative workflow that is backed by advanced analytics that further support the management of the massive data sets resulting from processing tens of thousands of forms.

The insurance company award winners were selected by the partners at SMA. The SMA Insurer Forum, an established community of insurance decision makers and influencers, selected the IT solution provider award winner. The SMA Summit, where participants were given a unique opportunity to experience and explore how next generation technologies have been and can be used across all aspects of the business, provided a perfect time to distinguish those that have demonstrated exemplary innovation.

Inquiries for additional information about the award program or the 2013 winners should be directed to Karen Furtado, SMA Partner, at [email protected].   

About SMA Strategy Meets Action

Exclusively serving the insurance industry, Strategy Meets Action blends unbiased research findings with expertise and experience to deliver business and technology insights, research, and advice to insurers and IT solution providers. By leveraging best practices from both the management consulting and research advisory disciplines, SMA's services are actionable, business-driven, and research-based – where strategy meets action – enabling companies to achieve business success. For more information, please visit the SMA website at strategymeetsaction.com.

SOURCE Strategy Meets Action