One of Jackson's first priorities when he came on board was to help the company move toward an SOA environment. As an initial step, HealthMarkets implemented Haley Rules' Business Rules Management System in 2007, which allowed the company to make business rules changes quickly and develop a business rule repository. Last year, HealthMarkets began implementing an SOA solution from TIBCO as the next step in its SOA strategy.

"Our approach to implementing TIBCO is opportunistic and focused on critical business processes such as claims workflow," Jackson contends. "The ability to create an abstraction layer of business rules is facilitating improved cost reductions and reduced cycle times."

HealthMarkets is implementing TIBCO services as part of its high-priority business projects that will provide benefits beyond SOA, according to Jackson.

"Rather than redesigning processes for the sake of SOA, we are leveraging existing business projects to implement services," he says. "Our highest priority is to continue to develop products and services that our customers need in the evolving individual health space. We will continue to focus on medical management, improved sales automation, and lowering our administrative costs."

To that end, this year Jackson and his IT team will work on implementing a Web-based process to help agents reduce application cycle times. To further promote ease of business, the company plans to implement agent portal software and tools to support personalized agent Web sites and digital asset management.

Compliance is another area that will be targeted in 2009. HealthMarkets currently uses e-discovery tools to search and save data related to legal and compliance matters as well as Compliance 360 solutions to manage and track compliance issues.

"Because HealthMarkets operates in 44 states, compliance is crucial," Jackson explains. "Technology is critical in helping us manage the complexity of supporting numerous regulatory requirements."

Additional IT projects include helping HealthMarkets augment its use of Web technology to strengthen its brand and implementing solutions to support improved automation and ease of reporting with agents.

During his 17 years in the industry, Jackson has seen insurance catch up with other industries in its ability and willingness to adopt and leverage technology to deliver more effective and efficient products. In today's healthcare market, IT continues to offer companies tremendous benefits.

"The national trends on privacy, cost pressures, and federal/state regulations have made the adoption of technology imperative for all companies," Jackson contends. "Those who do it well will be the winners."