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If ``turning on'' and
``tuning in'' also meant ``dropping out'' in the 1960s, it has just
the opposite connotation today.
In the 1990s, ``turning
on'' to the Internet and its graphics-heavy World Wide Web section is
fast becoming a national obsession. And risk managers on the so-called
Information Superhighway will find a virtual reality where colleagues
are using technology to increase their awareness of developments
affecting their industries.
But beware: Prolonged use of
these mind-expanding substances can be addicting. "You have to be
careful how you use it,'' said James Garven, an insurance and risk
management professor at the University of Texas in Austin who
developed a popular risk management forum on the Internet called
RISKNet. "Otherwise, you'll look up from your PC and find out
that four hours have gone by.''
And some risk managers will
find they need to get regular "fixes'' because the information on
the Internet is updated constantly.
"Everything I
publish has a half-life of about one week,'' noted Mr. Garven, whose
2-year-old RISKNet mailing list now has close to 1,200 subscribers.
``Everything changes so fast.''
But because of its
widespread reach and fast transmission speed, risk managers must learn
to be judicious about using the Internet, said David Parker, risk
manager for the Arizona Department of Transportation. ``I made a big
mistake about six months ago,'' he confessed. ``My common practice is
to click (with a mouse) on a return receipt request so that I know
someone has received the e-mail.'' But one time he didn't turn off the
return receipt request when he sent an e-mail to everyone on a
particular mailing list. ``I realized what I'd done within seconds,
but it was too late. I received over 800 return receipt e-mails within
the first week,'' he recounted.
Since that debacle, Mr.
Parker's electronic mailbox is filled with an average of 50 messages
per day, even after condensing some from mailing lists like RiskNet
into a single daily digest file.
``I've read interesting
comments regarding benchmarking, loss control, deductible levels and
some pretty good lawyer jokes,'' observed Cheryl Johnson, director of
risk management for the Dallas Public Schools and a RISKNet subscriber
for about three months. ``But it's too large and too broad. Most of
the subjects don't apply to me. I get 10 to 20 messages per day. It's
really a mess when I've been out of town for a few days.''
But
the Internet's vast scope and rapid turnaround is precisely why the
global computer network and the World Wide Web can be valuable tools
for risk managers today, according to Larry Sherman, director of risk
management services for broker Litchfield Insurance Group in
Torrington, Conn.
Few barriers remain to prevent risk
managers from getting onto the World Wide Web. Access requires a
computer with a modem, inexpensive browser software to navigate the
Web, and connection with an Internet access provider.
``Before,
I used to get my information the traditional way,'' by reading
newspaper and trade press articles, he explained. ``But now, by the
time I read it in the trade press, it's often old news.''
Not
everyone, though, agrees (see story, page 61) The Internet also
provides ``a global perspective that you don't get from other
avenues,'' such as regional professional association meetings, Mr.
Sherman added. ``Now when I enter a discussion on the Internet, I find
out not only what people in Connecticut think, but what people are
thinking throughout the nation and the world. It's like having an
ongoing international convention.''
``I use RISKNet daily to
keep in touch with current risk management and insurance issues, to
share information and ideas with my colleagues, and to stimulate my
brain for pieces in Risk Management Reports,'' said H. Felix Kloman, a
former Tillinghast consultant, who edits the newsletter from Lyme,
Conn.
``I also keep in touch with risk management leaders
around the world this way,'' Mr. Kloman said. Likewise, Arizona risk
manager Mr. Parker says the Internet keeps him on his toes
professionally. ``It keeps me `thinking outside the box,''' he
quipped.
So what can risk managers find online? Among the
most useful information Mr. Parker has found is risk management and
safety information from such sources as RISKNet; Safety List, a
mailing list for safety professionals; and the Federal Register.
As
a public entity risk manager concerned with high country road hazards,
Mr. Parker also uses the Internet to collect weather information. Much
of the material that risk managers find useful comes not from
databases or reference materials but from fellow Internet users.
Internet
mailing lists, such as RISKNet, allow ``no holds barred'' online
discussions, explained Texas' Professor Garven. A recent sampling of
e-mail posted at his site gives risk managers an idea of who is
seeking what out there. In one note, a public entity risk manager
asked whether speed bumps reduced traffic accidents in residential
areas. Another note, by several insurance company executives,
expressed concern about how the company's computer systems would cope
with the end of the century when policy dates would end with two
zeros. And still another was from a risk manager researching the
efficacy of safety-incentive programs.
Discussion areas are
designed ``to allow you to network with other professionals in
specialized areas and to share information in a collegial way that's
not always possible with local competitors,'' explained Mr. Sherman of
Litchfield Insurance.
Other sites on the World Wide Web
offer access to risk management-related newsletters, research papers
and other educational materials, statistical information, related
articles in newspapers and trade periodicals, some state and all
federal regulations in areas including safety, workers compensation
and insurance, court rulings on coverage issues, and even information
on insurance coverage and policy forms. (A by-no-means comprehensive
list of World Wide Web sites of interest to risk managers appears on
page 12.)
Once a government-funded link between the U.S.
Defense Department and high-level university researchers, the Internet
now connects millions of people around the world. Developed during the
height of the Cold War in 1969, the Internet was purposefully
decentralized to protect its data in the event of a nuclear attack. So
it has no central hub.
The current commercial free-for-all
on the Internet began in 1991 with the addition of the user-friendly
World Wide Web. Information is delivered on the Web in a page-like
format, with some pages featuring color photographs, graphics and even
sound and video programs.
Though unregulated, the Internet
is divided into two types of networks: While information accessed from
the Internet remains free, the World Wide Web offers profit
opportunities for commercial users. This realization has sparked some
tremendous growth, with some estimates that by the year 2001 every
man, woman and child in the United States will have an Internet
electronic mail address.
Users need web browser software to
navigate the Web, as well as a phone link to an Internet access
provider, such as EarthLink, America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy.
Users of such access services pay a monthly fee for a set amount of
online time, plus an additional hourly charge for online usage that
exceeds the basic package limits.
Security of the
information published online is the primary reason cited by many
insurance industry and risk management organizations for their
hesitation to join the current Internet rally. The Risk &
Insurance Management Society Inc., for example, offers no services via
the Internet. Its online ``RIMSNet'' service-which includes news
digests, ratings information and information about RIMS itself, among
other features-is available only to subscribers who pay a monthly fee.
``Security is a concern, so we're taking it slowly,'' said
Robin Ellowitz, a RIMSNET program assistant in New York. RIMS is
particularly concerned that other Internet providers will be able to
access its membership and mailing lists, subjecting subscribers to an
avalanche of junk e-mails. ``Anything that is confidential or
concerning a company secret must be encrypted,'' Mr. Ellowitz said.
``There are a lot of people connected to the Internet trying to
intercept messages and break into your computer to see what is
there.''
While some organizations have built so-called
``firewalls'' to prevent that, ``all it does is slow them down,'' Mr.
Parker said. Firewalls are combinations of hardware and software that
examine network traffic and allow only approved data to pass through.
Such concerns have not prevented companies, associations and
individuals from creating hundreds of home pages related to insurance
and risk management.
At least one RIMS chapter, in fact, has
developed its own site. For the last six months, the Southwest Florida
RIMS Chapter's home page has disseminated information to both members
and non-members about meeting programs, speaker biographies and
upcoming workshops. ``It helps to spread the word to non-RIMS
members,'' said Doug Baird, president of the Southwest Florida RIMS
Chapter and manager of treasury services for Naples, Fla.-based
agribusiness and real estate company Barron Collier Co. ``And it beats
the heck out of mass mailings.''
Chapter Director Dennis
Slaybaugh approached the membership about publishing a home page early
this year after the Naples Chamber of Commerce launched its online
``Naples FreeNet'' project to encourage economic development. The
Chamber picked up the development cost and stores the page on its own
Web server. Security is not an issue because the page only provides
information installed on the Chamber's Web server.
Still,
Mr. Baird says he is not concerned about whether other Internet users
obtain the chamber's membership roster or start sending him unrelated
e-mails. ``RIMS hands out a membership list every year at the national
conference,'' he pointed out, adding that he'd rather get junk mail
electronically than to have several people in his office spend time
handling it. ``I can tell which e-mails I want to read pretty
quickly,'' explained Mr. Baird, who uses the America Online service to
access the World Wide Web.
As access to the Internet
increases, other organizations are developing Web sites, and numerous
service providers have sprung up to target insurance industry clients.
Michael Turner, formerly of MedStat and Corporate Systems,
formed a company called Infotech Consulting Inc. in Ann Arbor, Mich.,
specifically to develop a Web page for risk management information
systems users. RMISWeb eventually will provide online access to the
Business Insurance annual directory of RMIS vendors.
A
California group on Nov. 1 launched InsWeb, a site designed to be an
online marketplace, initially for personal lines and small business
coverages and eventually for big commercial policies as well.
And
William R. Storie & Co. Ltd., a consulting firm in Hamilton,
Bermuda, which previously had set up an online newsletter about
Bermuda business, is starting Internet Strategic Planning Ltd. The
company, which will also have a London office headed by Peter Rolland,
will help international insurance and reinsurance industry clients
develop Internet marketing schemes.
As the Internet evolves,
more and more insurance and risk management experts say that their
financial futures will depend on whether they have online
capabilities. ``It's hard to say how fast it will grow,'' said
Infotech's Mr. Turner. ``But there's one absolute certainty: It won't
go down. I believe the Internet is the printing press of our time.''
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