A highlight of the systems portfolio is INSpeed. In 2004, Baltimore Life launched the electronic application and automated underwriting system developed in conjunction with the former NaviSys, now part of Accenture. The straight-through processing system is designed to allow policies to be underwritten and approved at the point of sale. When a field agent is ready to complete a sale, the agent contacts a representative at the company's call center. The representative speaks to the potential policyholder to complete the application. The conversation is recorded, and the client's answers are inputted into an Internet-based system. During the call, INSpeed accesses medical history data from the Medical Information Bureau and integrates that information into the application and underwriting processes. The entire process takes about 20 minutes.

Sixty-five percent of all applications are approved while the agent and client are on the phone with the call center. "We're now working on the next generation of INSpeed to see where we want to take it," Patterson says. "We're looking at how we can expand different products in different markets using that technology."

In other projects, the IT team is building simple-to-use databases to improve business intelligence and reporting functions. It is creating Internet platforms, portals, and dashboards using IBM's DB2 software with Microsoft's SQL Server and .NET architecture. As part of a companywide goal to operate in a paperless environment by 2009, Patterson expects the team to implement workflow and imaging systems, as well.

With more than 25 years of IT experience, Patterson is a veteran at implementing complex systems and processes within companies. Patterson left Andersen Consulting in the mid-1990s to form his own regional systems integration and consulting firm, HMG Technology. One of the company's first clients was Baltimore Life.

By the late 1990s, Patterson was working as a part-time CIO at Baltimore Life while continuing to run his own company. In 2002, he joined the carrier full time as CIO and head of operations, a combination that makes perfect sense to him.

"By combining customer service, underwriting/new business, and legal/compliance with IT, our strategies and projects are common and focused between all the business units that serve the agents and policyholders," he explains.

With an IT department of only 30 employees, Patterson says he constantly is challenged to spread his team's skills around. "We have to be able to do practically everything a big company does but with a whole lot fewer people doing it," he notes. "We can't have any one person who can work on only a single system."

Such versatility within IT proved particularly important during Baltimore Life's transformation, in which system upgrades and new product offerings played a crucial role. "IT is core to every strategy that is critical to an organization today," Patterson concludes.