I would have found this trend surprising if I had not received my first Indian recruiting email two days ago. Do read the comments to the online article for a better understanding of the issues.
Cost-Conscious Firms Find India Offers a Down-Home Recruiting Touch | workforce.com
I found this fascinating quote today from a post highlighting a survey done by Microsoft:
A growing interest in remote working has been spurred in part by rising energy costs, environmental concerns and the recent economic crisis. Remote working is widely understood to provide companies with access to a larger talent pool, improve productivity, and lower overhead for items such as workstation space, common office space, insurance, utilities, maintenance and parking. However, today’s survey results suggest business leaders need to do more to encourage adoption to realize these benefits.ResumeBear Blog, Mar 2009
You should read the whole article.
OKC is on the list of best midsize cities for remote workers.
Remote underwriting turkeys
This post marks the beginning of a periodic series covering remote underwriting management issues. Based upon search engine traffic there seems to be a high level of interest on this topic, hence a new periodic series. Personally I have experience in several aspects of the remote underwriting experience. I have managed remotes. I was a project manager for the design and implementation of a paperless workflow system from the technology side. I’ve functioned as an Interim Chief Underwriter managing remotes. I have worked remotely for numerous companies (not all at the same time).
I am remote.
Again, thanks for visiting. Please leave a comment or two.
(the picture was taken in my brother’s backyard while working remotely from Marlborough, MA)
Revised October 16, 2010
The first version of the post was written nearly two years ago. A lot has changed since then. One of the more interesting developments for my business is the continued development of the Google search algorithm. I just recently discovered what happens when you search on Google for “remote underwriting jobs”.
This post is on page one of the search results. You’re probably looking for a remote life underwriting job and you got this page. I figured I better revise this post for clarity. So here we go…
Underwriting Solutions LLC is a consulting company based in Edmond, OK. We do provide outsourced life underwriting services and have multiple technology partners to help your company improve efficiency, effectiveness, and time to issue all while lowering costs. At the present time my company has no opportunities for remote underwriting work. Due to the current economic environment and the continually evolving life underwriting landscape most of my activities have been strategically focused elsewhere.
I do have friends in several companies that provide outsourced underwriting support who may have openings. Feel free to email me with your contact information. Also do explore this site for posts on other companies in the hiring mode as I try to pass along information on open positions as I come across them. I also have some links to job boards on my home page.
Best of luck in finding what you’re looking for. But if you’re in management and trying to figure out how to do remote underwriting from the technology and management perspectives, call me. I’d love to chat about APS medical summaries, structured XML databases, and our flexible hybrid fixed/variable underwriting model. I have a mortgage, one kid in college, one kid in medical school, health insurance premiums and a small fleet of cars to support. Call me.
Insurer Offers Option for Surgery in India – NYTimes.com
My orthopedic surgeon says I have the worst knees he has ever seen. I countered that statement by asserting he had not seen enough severely arthritic knees to make that judgment. Then the good doctor showed me the pictures.
I’ve had arthroscopic procedures bilaterally. There is a strong probability I’ll need a TKR.
It’s a good thing I like Indian food.
A year ago I was in Phoenix to participate in one of the sessions at the spring SOA meeting. I was given five minutes to make a point. While five minutes is not a lot of time, it was more than enough time to make a point, especially if no one else is debating you. To celebrate my five minutes of fame I have reprinted my brief, yet scintillating talk. The point I was trying to make was underwriting needed to become an insurance company’s strategic intellectual asset. Of course, re-reading what I wrote/spoke a year ago, I never mentioned my point in exactly that fashion. Not that it mattered. After all, I was talking to a bunch of actuaries.
Society of Actuaries Life 2007 Spring Meeting
May 10th Session 43
Speed Underwriting: At Least 10 New Ideas in 90 Minutes
Strategic Outsourcing
Strategic outsourcing represents a significant shift in the way businesses operate to stay competitive in the global economy. Outsourcing strategies have evolved from short-term tactical cost savings to higher-level strategic initiatives that drive revenues and profits. Cost reduction is tactical, not strategic. As insurance companies focus on core competencies and migrate away from fixed cost to flexible variable cost models, outsourcing becomes more and more attractive. Outsourcing must be pursued on a partnership basis. The buyer should get excellent service at a reasonable cost and the provider should make a profit or service quality will suffer.[1]
Strategic outsourcing begins with careful planning. Explore your strategic options for the current reality: a supply and demand imbalance in underwriting talent that will persist for many years to come. Downsizing and demographics have combined to create the current reality. What are your company’s strategic plans to attract, acquire, and retain talent? What does your company’s long-term underwriting training program look like? Does your company have a strategy to capture its underwriting knowledge before that knowledge walks out the door?
This reality is not a short-term threat. Unfortunately, our minds do not perceive longer-term threats because the human mind is not equipped to comprehend the modern world we have created.[2] Decades of downsizing and the aging of the Boomers are simply two drivers of strategic outsourcing.
Skills and knowledge can be taught. Talent must be acquired.[3] And talent needs to be matched with the work to be done. The scarcity of talent demands different approaches.
Combined intelligently, your company’s core competencies plus extensive outsourcing strategies can improve returns on capital, mitigate risk, provide greater flexibility, and make you more responsive to the needs of your customers.
Disclaimer: Strategic Outsourcing Program LLC Edmond, Oklahoma is not me. I was doing a Google search with the term “strategic outsourcing” and I found this company based in the same town I live in.
[1] The American Management Association (AMACOM) published a guide in 1999 titled Strategic Outsourcing: A Structured approach to Outsourcing Decisions and Initiatives by Maurice Greaver.
[2] New World New Mind, Robert Ornstein and Paul Ehrlich. This is a great book published by Simon & Schuster in 1989 and will provide a fundamental understanding of our cognitive shortcomings.
[3] First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. Another fine book from Simon & Schuster that explains why conventional thinking in business is not always correct.
lifeunderwriter.net 
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