Insurance, SOA and business rules

This article about IBM donating insurance process definitions to ACORD shows how Insurance is adopting standards like XML (through ACORD/SPX) and how keen it is to develop modern, Service-Oriented Architectures to support key processes like Underwriting and Claims. IBM already uses business rules in these insurance processes to deliver decisioning-services and the dramatic growth of the use of business rules in insurance is just part of how the Insurance industry is re-inventing its core processes. Heavily regulated, risk-managed industries like Insurance are ideal for applying business rules and, ultimately, EDM.