Chicago - Insurance Networking News magazine, a SourceMedia publication, released the results of its 2007 INNovators Award, a special designation intended to advance the spread of business technology acumen in the insurance industry.

Nominees for the 2007 INNovators program included insurance carriers, agencies and brokerages. Their "innovation" was required to have been in production long enough to have returned demonstrable, tangible results.

A panel of distinguished insurance industry experts, including industry analysts, consultants and members of the INN Board of Advisers, chose the winner from the nominees chosen by INN readers.

"The winners are deemed to have led or contributed to a business application, innovation or project anywhere in the insurance industry supply chain that uses technology to meet business requirements," noted Holli Gronset, Insurance Networking News' Associate Publisher. "In that regard, technology solution providers played a key role in helping these companies achieve their goals."

First Place : CUNA Mutual Group, Madison, Wis.

CUNA Mutual provides insurance to the credit union marketplace. CUNA's IT department implemented a specialized claims processing solution (designed by MajescoMastek) that included an end-to-end automated workflow, resulting in a 75% decrease in claims process payment backlogs and an increase in automatic payments by 30%. Partnering with their business units, the IT team then conducted a closed file audit to determine best practices, and incorporated further changes to improve the claims process even further. (Mumbai-based Mastek's US subsidiary MajescoMastek provided consulting services.)