Hallmark Services Corporation
Company: Hallmark Services Corporation, Naperville, IL
Company Description: Hallmark Services Corporation (HSC) provides a full range of Health Ins. Admin. Services. An industry leader, and backed by unparalleled customer service, HSC is consistent with the dictionary definition of Hallmark - def. a distinguishing quality. HSC employs 812 people to service 1.3M members and 3B in prems.
Nomination Category: Information Technology Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Information Technology Department of the Year
Nomination Title: Hallmark Services Corporation's IT Department
Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since January 1 2010 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
Hallmark Services Corporation (HSC) IT Organization has been pivotal to its 2010 successes. Since HSC's inception in 1992, top executives at HSC continuously overlooked the company’s IT department: business systems and infrastructure went ignored, spending was limited, and key positions went unfilled. Since 2008, however, things began to incrementally change. The company’s IT Leadership Team has emphasized maturity and change. With this IT Leadership Team came a new drive, determination and discipline, coupled with a spirit of creativity and innovation; HSC’s IT organization is now an invaluable asset to the organization.
The current economic crisis and Obama’s Healthcare Reform has left no insurance
company, budget, or IT organization untouched. HSC has not been immune to
this, in fact, the technological innovations and efficiencies achieved during
2010 were done so with a stretched workforce. Forced to do more with limited
resources and deliver greater economies of scale, expectations were set for the
IT organization to remain lean, yet deliver high-quality services and
support. This required the IT organization to develop more process-oriented,
efficient and effective mechanisms to maintain infrastructure and business
systems.
A few examples of the IT Team’s 2010’s successes include:
(1) Iterative SDLC Approach – Saved $3.85M one year earlier than planned
(2) Renegotiated IT Contracts – Reduced IT vendor fees by $750K
(3) IT Outsourcing Data Center Support– Reduced annual cost by $80K
(4) IT Outsourcing Print & Mail – Reduced annual cost by $85K
(5) IT Outsourcing Mainframe Hosting – Reduced annual cost by $3.4M
(6) Automated Insurance Policy Assembly – Reduced annual cost by $145K
(7) Online Policy Portal – Reduced annual cost by $500K
(8) Consolidated Business Operations to One Physical Location – Reduce annual
cost by $1.1M
(9) Desktop Virtualization – One-time savings of $40K. Reduce annual cost by
$6K
(10)Server Virtualization – One-time savings of $1.5M. Reduce annual cost of
$200K
(11) Agent Portal - Key contributor to 14% increase in direct sales
The IT Department's devotion to enable growth and efficiency has created
incredible results. For instance, from 1996 to 2008, HSC had experienced an
annual 4% policy growth. By means of IT innovation, business process
redesign, and changes in IT executive leadership, the policy count has exceeded
growth expectations for 2009 and 2010. In particular, Hallmark has experienced
15% growth since 2008.
EVEN MORE NOTEWORTHY, HSC reduced its overall workforce during this
extraordinary growth by way of the efficiencies gained through technologies.
Very few insurance organizations can claim unprecedented growth during the
current economic instability and the unpredictability of healthcare reform.
IT Department's impact on the overall company results:
2010 Total Employees 812
2009 Total Employees 827
2008 Total Employees 884
2010 IT Employees 59
2009 IT Employees 53
2008 IT Employees 50
2010 Members In-Force 1.32M
2009 Members In-Force 1.27M
2008 Members In-Force 1.15M
2010 Revenue Administered for HCSC $3.1B
2009 Revenue Administered for HCSC $2.6B
2008 Revenue Administered for HCSC $2.4B
2010 Administrative Expenses $93M (3%)
2009 Administrative Expenses $88M (3.3%)
2008 Administrative Expenses $84M (3.5%)
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
From the link below, search for "Kaderabek" or "Hallmark" for recognition as
one of Chicago's Most Effective IT Tearm Award.
http://www.sim-chicago.org/views/recent
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated organization/department:
The IT Leadership Team has responded wonderfully in 2010 by delivering what
every business wants from their Leader’s - the ability to take responsibility
and to lead with integrity. Specifically, the IT Leadership Team is taking
responsibility by responding to challenging situations with confidence and
commitment to finding solutions that align with business vision, inspiring
responsible risk taking to find innovative, value adding solutions, and owning
the results of their actions, leading the way for others to do the same. In
regards to integrity, the IT Leadership Team is passionate about living the
commitment to deliver what they promise.