IBM unveiled a packaged software offering to help insurance carriers boost client service, increase agility, optimize business efficiency, and better manage risk.

With advanced analytics and process optimization and collaboration capabilities, IBM's Insurance Industry Framework is designed to help insurance companies automate their processes and turn raw data into actionable intelligence for smarter decision making.

Built on open standards technology, IBM's Insurance Industry Framework provides the base upon which insurance carriers can upgrade and transform their business models, without ripping-out and replacing legacy technologies. Connecting disparate systems across the enterprise and exposing key information to their distribution channels in a coordinated fashion, the framework enables a company's progressive transformation with proven technology capabilities already employed by dozens of insurance institutions.

As a result, insurance carriers are now able to safely and securely update their infrastructure on the fly, more cost effectively and quickly.

Another feature of the framework is that it enables smarter business processing through rules and workflow automation. Business processes automation dramatically reduces complexity and cuts administration

"Smarter Insurance is about applying the strategic use of technology to anticipate client needs and deliver innovative products faster and more consistently than the competition," says Mark Lewis, general manager, global insurance industry for IBM. "IBM's unified software offerings are designed to serve as a springboard for transformation so that clients can focus their efforts on growth and innovation."

(To learn what IBM found in its recent survey of insurance industry CEOs, click here.)