| In This Issue
|
| Seasons Greetings from CDS
|
| Featured WebEx: Straight Through
Processing |
| Featured WebEx: RiskMeter Now
Featuring RMS Data & Analytics
|
| FEMA Flood Map Updates
|
| San Francisco Preliminary Flood
Maps |
| KY Premium Tax Deadline
|
| New Report: Green River Flooding
Areas |
| Just Added: Distance to Closest
Levee |
| What Reports Does the RiskMeter
Online Offer? |
| Upcoming Events
|
| Online Training Schedule
|
| Welcome to our Newest Customers
& Partners |
| New Integrated Customers
|
| Please Add Us to Your Safe
Sender List |
| Unsubscribe |
| |
Issue: # 12
|
December 2009
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|
Seasons Greetings from
CDS
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CDS Business Mapping would like to
wish all of our customers, prospects,
partners and vendors a happy and safe
holiday season. We'd like to thank
everyone for making 2009 a success,
and we look forward to working with
you in 2010!
2009 Year in Review
With 2009 rapidly coming to a close,
RiskMeter would like to review some
of the highlights from the past year.
For new customers this is definitely
worth checking out. To view our 2009
highlights, go here
Comments/Feedback
We will continue to improve upon our
RiskMeter service. If you have any
feedback or ideas on how to improve
the RiskMeter, please contact Dan
Munson, Founder, RiskMeter at 617.737.4444 or
Email
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| Featured WebEx: RiskMeter
Online Integration Enables Straight Through
Processing |
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|
Eliminating repetitive steps during
the quoting and underwriting process
is vital in today's competitive insurance
industry. More and more organizations
are seeing for themselves how automation
has improved underwriting efficiency
and helped to boost agents' sales.
By integrating with the RiskMeter
Online, it's possible to:
- Eliminate duplicate data entry
- Validate information as it is
entered
- Pre-fill natural hazard data and
building characteristics
- Truly quote and bind online, because
the data is validated prior to being
bound
Make straight through processing
a reality! RiskMeter
understands the need to streamline
your processes and can help you make
that happen. Integrating the RiskMeter
into in-house or 3rd party quoting
and underwriting systems is easy!
We have excellent tools and support
available, including sample programming
code, documentation, an XML generator
and a complete integration support
portal.
On Tuesday, January 12th at
2pm (EDT) Dan Munson, Founder,
RiskMeter Online will lead a live,
online demonstration about the various
integration options available, their
advantages, as well as answer any
questions. To secure your spot
for this event, please register here Note: If you don't
see the event, please click on the
upcoming tab
|
| Featured WebEx: RiskMeter
Now Featuring RMS Data and Analytics
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|
RiskMeter Online is proud to
announce it has formed an alliance with
catastrophe modeling firm Risk Management
Solutions (RMS). RiskMeter users will
now be able to get RMS hazard data and
ground-up Average Annual Loss (AAL)
and Probable Maximum Loss (PML) metrics
for the following natural hazard risks:
- Earthquake
- Windstorm (Hurricanes)
- Winter Storm
- Severe Convective Storm (Tornado
& Hail)
Underwriters and MGA's will now have
access to RMS' industry leading data
from their desktops by simply entering
a few pieces of information. Underwriters
can leverage RMS data and analytics
anytime, anywhere and receive results
within minutes.
RMS hazard data retrieved through
RiskMeter includes: Distance to the
RMS Coastline, MMI (Mercalli) Scores,
Soil Type, and much more. RMS' proprietary
hurricane and earthquake scores and
risk profiles are also available.
For more information, please contact
Dan Munson, Founder, RiskMeter Online
at 617.737.4444 or
Email
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| FEMA Flood Map
Updates |
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| New developments, changes in
the environment and topology all have an affect on
how areas flood. RiskMeter's number one
priority is to give its users access to the best
and most up-to-date flood data. That's why
our flood information is refreshed on a monthly
basis. During the course of the year FEMA
will issue roughly 12,000 - 18,000 map revisions,
which will be digitally updated on the RiskMeter
Online. To see our latest map revisions,
click here.
There are many things an insurer
should know about flood maps. First, FEMA
does not have digital copies of all of their flood
maps. We do. In addition, many of the
digital GIS maps shown on FEMA's web site are out
of date. With their flood mapper, much of the data
they use is referred to as "Q3 data", which is
more than 10 years old! So be careful; Since
there are many updates during the course of the
year, using 10 year old data is very risky
when underwriting and pricing business.
Second, RiskMeter makes the determination for you,
so there's no map interpretation required.
This makes it possible for you to run schedules
using our Online batch tool. Furthermore,
with our mapping technology, we now allow you to
overlay flood maps (and other hazards) right on
top of the aerial photo. For larger risks,
this feature can help you to understand what parts
of the facility or which buildings are in flood
zones and which are not.
Finally, FEMA flood maps do not accurately
depict areas susceptible to Storm Surge, so we
recommend users leverage our Storm Surge report in
coastal areas.
For more information on our Flood reports,
please contact Dan Munson, Founder, RiskMeter
Online at 617.737.4444 or
dmunson@cdsys.com |
| San Francisco Preliminary
Flood Maps |
|
Believe it or not, some major
cities in the US do NOT have FEMA flood
maps. To become a participating community,
cities have to adopt several standards, and in
some instances, they have refused to do so.
So in many areas, there are no official FEMA flood
zone maps. San Francisco, CA happens to be
one of these cities.. Some of our customers,
who write risks in CA, are very concerned about
this and we responded with a solution.
As a
community prepares to enter the FEMA flood
program, preliminary flood maps are drawn
up. They then go through community review
and revisions before they are officially
adopted. San Francisco is in the middle of
this process and preliminary flood maps have been
released. CDS has obtained these preliminary
maps, and they are now available on the Flood
Determination and Flood Elevation
reports.
Special flood zones have been
created by CDS, which are the following:
- A (Preliminary)
- D (Preliminary)
- V (Preliminary)
- X (Preliminary)
These special
zones have been created to alert users that these
maps have not been adopted yet and to isolate
these results from the official maps.
CDS plans to add additional preliminary
maps to the system as they become available.
If there are other cities that you are interested
in, please let your account executive know and we
may be able to add
them. |
| Kentucky Premium Tax
Deadline is January 1, 2010. Are You
Ready? |
|
|
In August CDS Business Mapping announced its
RiskMeter Online Premium Tax Report had been
verified by the Kentucky Department of
Insurance. This report was created in
response to Bill HB 524, which requires insurers
to use a verified
electronic risk location system to assess
premium taxes by January
1, 2010. Because of the
looming deadline, insurers must
act now!
Despite best intentions,
assigning policies to the wrong tax jurisdictions
has been a major issue for insurers who write
business in Kentucky, and has resulted in class
action lawsuits, as well as insurers having to pay
fines due to over/under charging for premium
taxes. The RiskMeter Online has automated this
process and by simply typing in an address, it's
possible to append the correct premium tax code,
city code, city name, county and fips code to each
policy. In
addition, the tax rates for each jurisdiction and
line of business can be returned.
Also, there are very specific exceptions to these
rules and we can make exceptions available to you
as well.
Three different delivery methods are
available: individual locations, batch processing
and integrated services. Since the RiskMeter
Online only requires a web-browser, this can be
used immediately to ensure compliance with the
state laws. There is no software to install,
and no programming needs to be done. Longer
term, the RiskMeter integrated services allows you
to automatically pull this information into your
point of sale and underwriting systems.
Finally, the Online Batch Tool enables you to
run schedules or your entire book through to
ensure compliance.
For more information on this report,
please contact Dan Munson, Founder,
RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444 or
Email
KY Tax Code WebEx
RecordingA few weeks ago Dan
Munson, Founder, RiskMeter Online hosted a live
online seminar where he discussed Kentucky Tax
Codes and shared some of his consulting
experiences. He also demonstrated
RiskMeter's individual lookup and batch processing
features and answered attendees' questions.
For those of you who couldn't make it, we have
recorded this event and archived it so it can be
viewed at your convenience. To receive a
copy of this WebEx, please contact Ryan Turgeon,
Customer Service & Training, at 617.737.4444 or
rturgeon@cdsys.com
and he will send a link for the
event. |
| New Report: Green River
Flooding Areas - Are You in Imminent Danger?
|
|
The Army Corps of Engineers
is investigating two sinkholes at the
Howard Hansen Dam, which was damaged
during flooding last January.
This dam is vital for the area because
it regulates the flow of water down
the Green River Valley. The Green
River flows through several towns before
it reaches Puget Sound, including: Auburn,
Kent City, Renton and Tukwila.
Worried that the dam may fail, the Corps
plans to reduce the amount of water
behind the dam to roughly 60% of capacity
to reduce stress. In the event
of heavy rainfall, water may have
to be released from the dam and it could
breach levees protecting communities
downstream. The current
estimate given by the Army Corps of
Engineers of having to release water
causing a flood is 1 in 4!
King County Officials are assuming the
river's levees would mostly contain
waters below 13,900 cfs (cubic feet
per second) and county officials have
been preparing government buildings
for flooding up to 17,600 cfs, but they
realize the overflow could be much less
or much more.
Many insurers writing excess flood,
Difference in Conditions (DIC) and Business
Interruption (BI) insurance are concerned
about the possibility of large claims.
The Army Corps has released maps of
what areas they expect to flood at different
flow levels. CDS has added these
maps to the RiskMeter so that insurers
and brokers would be able to determine
if an address fell in the areas susceptible
to these abnormal floods. To be
conservative, we have identified all
areas that would be affected in the
worst case scenario.
This report is now available.
If you would like this report added
to your account, please contact your
account rep, or for more information,
please contact Dan Munson, Founder,
RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444 or
Email
This report is very similar to
our CA Dam Inundation Report.
The State of CA has commissioned maps
to identify probable flood areas in
case of dam failure. These maps
cover all dams in the state! If
you write flood in CA this maybe of
interest to you. We plan to add
additional states when they become available.
|
| Just Added: Distance to
Closest Levee Report for CA and LA |
|
Levees are used throughout
the United States to prevent river and
coastal flooding. Unfortunately,
as we learned from past events, levees
in Louisiana and Sacramento are prone
to breaching and failures. That's
why CDS has added a distance to closest
levee report for CA (mainly Sacramento
area) and LA. By simply typing
in an address, users will be able to
find out the distance to closest levee,
name of levee, protection (river or
coastal) and in some cases levee height.
In addition, this report is the perfect
compliment to obtain more information
if someone runs a Flood Zone Determination
report and gets zones BL and X500L, which are
areas protected from a 1% annual chance
flood by levees.
We are planning to add more states to
RiskMeter's distance to levee report.
For more information about this report,
please contact Dan Munson, Founder,
RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444 or
Email
|
| What Reports Does
RiskMeter Online Offer? |
|
| As you may know, the
RiskMeter Online continues to add additional
reports as we see a need. We have recently
added reports like storm surge, wind speed maps
for additional states, online batch tool and new
background images. We also know that your
needs change over time, as you add lines, enter
new states or refine your underwriting guidelines.
To see a complete list of
reports, please view here.
If you need additional information or would
like to test drive a report for free, please
contact Ryan Turgeon at
617.737.4444 or rturgeon@cdsys.com |
| Upcoming Events - Meet the
CDS Team! |
|
| RiskMeter Online will be
attending or exhibiting at the following upcoming
conferences. Whether you're a customer or
prospect, we'd love to meet with you onsite at
these exceptional events! Don't hesitate to
stop by our booth or if you wish to schedule an
appointment, please contact Daniel Munson
(dmunson@cdsys.com) or Bradley
Sherwin (bsherwin@cdsys.com) at
617.737.4444
CIWA
January
13-15, 2010 * La Jolla, CA
NAMIC Commercial
Lines
February 23-25, 2010 * Chicago,
IL
NAPSLO
Mid-Year
March 3-6, 2010 * Scottsdale,
AZ
AAMGA
Automation
March 13-16, 2010 * Orlando,
FL
|
| Online Training
Schedule |
|
|
In order to help you utilize the RiskMeter
Online more effectively, we are now offering
complimentary training to all RiskMeter Online
customers. This is a great way for your
organization to have its most pressing questions
answered, learn about various risk reports and
discover how to utilize cutting-edge features,
such as: Birdseye Geocoding,
One Click Ruler and
Manual Placement. To
register for an upcoming Webcast, click on one of
the links below or for more information, please
contact Ryan Turgeon at 617.737.4444
or
rturgeon@cdsys.com
Note: If you don't
see the event, please
click on the upcoming
tab
National Risks Wednesday, January
6, 2010 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EDT)
Event Info
Featured WebEx: RiskMeter
Online Integration
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EDT)
Event
Info
Western
RisksWednesday, January 13,
2010 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EDT)
Event
Info
Featured WebEx:
RiskMeter Now Featuring RMS Data &
Analytics
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EDT)
National Risks
Wednesday,
January 20, 2010 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EDT)
Event
Info
Western Risks
Wednesday,
January 27, 2010 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EDT)
Event
Info
|
Welcome to Our Newest
Customers &
Partners
|
|
Carriers
- Ariel Reinsurance
- Lighthouse Property & Casualty Ins. Co
- Phoenix Mutual
- Prepared Insurance Co
MGAs/Wholesale
Brokers
- McAuley Woods & Associates
Agents & Brokers
- Arthur J Gallagher - Fresno, CA
- ISU Derby
- MHBT
Other
- Deep South Insurance
Services
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| New Integrated
Customers |
|
RiskMeter is excited to
announce that the following companies have
integrated the RiskMeter into their underwriting
or quoting systems.
- Mueller Insurance Services
As you
know, there is a big trend towards straight
through processing, and making it easier to do
business. Integrating the RiskMeter into
your systems can make you much more efficient,
reduce your costs, ensure validated data, and make
it easier for your business partners to do
business with you. Dozens of companies have
already integrated with the RiskMeter, and we're
working with our vendor partners to bring
RiskMeter functionality into off-the-shelf quoting
and underwriting systems as
well.
|
| Please Add Us to
Your Safe Senders List
|
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In order to ensure you receive the RiskMeter
newsletter in your inbox, please make sure to add
the RiskMeter Online into your Safe Senders or
Safe Recipients list. If you're not sure how
to do this, please follow the steps below.
- In the newsletter Email, click on the
outlook actions menu (located between tools and
help)
- Select Junk Email
- Scroll down to "Add Sender to Safe Senders
List" and click on it
- Click "Ok"
button
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| Unsubscribe |
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| To be removed from our
mailing list, please
Email pptashnick@cdsys.com and
type REMOVE in the subject line.
| |
|
The RiskMeter Online is committed to
providing our users with a competitive edge.
We hope this newsletter was informative
and useful to you. Please forward this
newsletter to a friend or colleague who might
benefit from it. We only ask that you send
the entire newsletter.
Thanks,
Paul Ptashnick
Director of Marketing, CDS Business Mapping
Tel: 617.737.4444
Email:
pptashnick@cdsys.com
| | |
