Entries by MapleTech

A Bigger Commercial Auto Picture

The December 2025 edition of Best’s Review contained an article entitled, “Stuck in Reverse: Commercial Auto Losses Keep Mounting”, that contended: The U.S. commercial auto insurance line continues to burden the overall property/casualty industry, accounting for more than $10 billion in net underwriting losses over the past two years … the sector has now generated […]

I Can See Clearly Now

Property & Casualty insurers quite rightly pay attention to operational efficiency. But they may not pay attention to operational transparency or connect it to effective data management and operational efficiency. That constitutes lost opportunity because effective data management significantly enhances operational transparency and efficiency by giving insurers better access, accuracy, and utilization across processes. Here’s […]

Simplicity Within Reason: Part Two

In the first post in this series, we wrote about our notion that insurance is a business of universal requirements that are simple but subtle. As a test of that notion, we wanted to see if we could explain what a policy administration/core processing system should do as briefly but completely as possible. We did […]

We’re Careful of Our Own Expectations

Some years ago, at an insurance industry conference the name of which escapes us, we attended a session put on by one of the insurance trade publications that proliferated at the time. At the end of the session, the moderator asked this: “Given the choice between a feature article written by the publication, an advertorial, […]

An Open Letter to a Property & Casualty Insurer

Dear Insurer, This letter is to acknowledge your challenges, in particular, your technological challenges. Generally speaking, we suspect those challenges are operational efficiency, the experience of your agents and policyholders in working with you, and risk management. While we’re not saying all these things are true for you, there are several specific challenges that are […]

What’s Self Got to do With It?

The October edition of Best’s Review contained an article with the headline, “Self-Driving Shift Comes With Early Costs, Changing Landscape for Insurers”. All things considered, that may be an understatement. Here are three reasons why, among others: Exhibit A Although AVs [autonomous vehicles] haven’t fully hit the road, insurers are already getting a glimpse of […]

The Value Equation

People who make things for a given market have to take three things into account — cost (what does it cost to make it?), price (what should they sell it for?), and margin (how much profit do they need to continue making the product?). Similarly, people who buy things have to take two things into […]

Size Matters

In the last century, there was a popular saying in technology circles that went like this or some variation of it: “No one ever got fired for buying IBM.” In hindsight, it’s apparent that saying cut two ways: In an earlier part of the century, it referred to IBM’s tried-and-true technology. Later in the century, […]

COVID-26

Most people don’t equate insurance with good news. But in 2026, there is some. And believe it or not, it’s attributable, at least in part to the post-COVID new normal. Here’s what we mean: At the onset of pandemic, lockdowns led to fewer people driving, resulting in a dramatic drop in accidents and claims. Many […]

How Do You Spell Commodity?

commodity (noun): an economic resource the market treats as equivalent or nearly so with no regard for who produced it We’ve often heard it said auto insurance is a commodity. Forty-nine states require it. The only exception is New Hampshire. But drivers there have to prove they have the financial wherewithal to cover damages in […]