ADVISORY/Live Analyst Briefing: Economic Recovery and Business Process Migration to Enable Growth for IT and Telecom Providers in the Insurance Market.

News Editors/Assignment Desks/High-Tech/Insurance Writers

ADVISORY...for Thursday (Feb. 26)

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 2004

Frost & Sullivan, a global leader in strategic growth consulting, will host a live and interactive analyst briefing as it presents the latest analysis from its Vertical Markets coverage, "Vertical IT and Telecom Spending by Insurance Companies," Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. ET.

For IT and telecom service and product vendors, growth opportunities are increasing for the insurance industry. Insurance companies that have struggled over the past few years due to the recession are expected to increase spending for IT and telecommunications services for the foreseeable future. Of the five sub-segments that are explored (staffing, hardware, software, consulting and telecommunications services), software and telecom services offer the greatest growth opportunities, based on migrations to new software claims systems and the growing need for IP and wireless services to lower operational costs and to better enable field agents, especially in the property & casualty insurance market.

"As the U.S. economy emerges from recession, and as insurance providers migrate towards becoming larger scale financial services companies, revenues for insurance carriers should show modest growth over the next few years," says Rod Woodward, program leader for Vertical IT and Telecom Research at Frost & Sullivan. "There are growth opportunities within the IT and telecom sub-segments, and vendors that proactively develop solution sets to meet their customers' challenges should expect to benefit from organic revenue growth and increased customer satisfaction."

The briefing will provide vendors, service providers, end-users and other industry participants with an overview of the challenges, drivers and restraints. Highlights of the briefing will include: a brief look at current trends, market segment metrics and a success factor discussion in view of an estimated timeframe of impact.

To participate in this free session, please e-mail Dustin McVey ([e-mail]) with the following information:

-- Name

-- Title

-- Company

-- Phone No.

-- E-mail Address 

Upon receipt of the above information, directions on how to enroll will be e-mailed to you.

This service study profiles the insurance industry and the opportunities available to IT and telecom vendors serving that industry. This service is part of Frost & Sullivan's Vertical Markets Subscription and the Business Telecommunications Subscription.

Frost & Sullivan, an international growth consultancy, has been supporting clients' expansion for more than four decades. Our market expertise covers a broad spectrum of industries, while our portfolio of advisory competencies include custom strategic consulting, market intelligence and management training. Our mission is to forge partnerships with our clients' management teams to deliver market insights and to create value and drive growth through innovative approaches. Frost & Sullivan's network of consultants, industry experts, corporate trainers and support staff spans the globe with offices in every major country.