Information technology

Information technology
Last Updated: January 2009
The Indian information and technology industry has played a key role in putting India on the global map. Thanks to the success of the IT industry, India is now a power to reckon with. According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the apex body for software services in India, the revenue of the information technology sector has grown from 1.2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in FY 1997-98 to an estimated 5.5 per cent in FY 2007-08. The net value added by this sector, to the economy, is estimated to be 3.3 to 3.9 per cent for FY 2007-08.
The phenomenal growth of the Indian IT Software & Services and ITES-BPO sector has had a perceptible multiplier effect on the Indian economy as a whole. In addition to the direct positive impact on national income, the sector has grown to become the biggest employment generator, and has spawned the mushrooming of several ancillary industries such as transportation, real estate and catering, and has created a rising class of youthful consumers with high disposable incomes. This, in turn, has triggered a rise in direct-tax collections and propelled an increase in consumer spending.
The total IT Software and Services employment is expected to reach the 2- million mark in 2007-08 (excluding employment in the hardware sector), as against 1.63 million in 2006-07, a growth of 22.7 per cent year-on-year. This represents a net addition of 375,000 professionals to the industry employee base, this year. The indirect employment attributed by the sector is estimated to about 8 million in year 2007-08. This translates to the creation of about 10 million job opportunities attributed to the growth of this sector.
The Indian IT industry is recognised the world over for its quality. Today, India leads the world in terms of the number of quality certifications achieved by centres in any single country. As of December 2007, over 498 India-based centres (both Indian firms as well as MNC-owned captives) had acquired quality certifications with 85 companies certified at Software Engineering Institute (SEI), Carnegie Mellon Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Level 5 – higher than any other country.
India's IT growth in the world is primarily dominated by IT software and services such as Custom Application Development and Maintenance (CADM), System Integration, IT Consulting, Application Management, Infrastructure Management Services, Software testing, Service-oriented architecture and Web services.
The government expects the exports turnover to touch US$ 80 billion by 2011, growing at an annual rate of 30 per cent per annum, from the earlier few million dollars worth exports in early 1990s.
As per NASSCOM's latest findings:
Indian IT-BPO sector grew by 33 per cent in FY 2007-08 to reach US$ 64 billion in aggregate revenue (including hardware). Of this, the software and services segment accounted for US$ 52 billion, growing by 28 per cent over FY 2006-07.

Information technology

Information technology Information technology (IT), as defined by the InformationTechnologyAssociation of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information.
Today, the term information technology has ballooned to encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and the term has become very recognizable. The information technology umbrella can be quite large, covering many fields. IT professionals perform a variety of duties that range from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as the management and administration of entire systems.
When computer and communications technologies are combined, the result is information technology, or "infotech". Information Technology (IT) is a general term that describes any technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or disseminate information. Presumably, when speaking of Information Technology (IT) as a whole, it is noted that the use of computers and information are associated.
The term Information Technology (IT) was coined by Jim Domsic of Michigan in November 1981.[citation needed] Domsic created the term to modernize the outdated phrase "data processing". Domsic at the time worked as a computer manager for an automotive related industry.
In recent years ABET and the ACM have collaborated to form accreditation and curriculum standards for degrees in Information Technology as a distinct field of study separate from both Computer Science and Information Systems. SIGITE is the ACM working group for defining these standards.ology

Life insurance

LIFE INSURENCE Life insurance or life assurance is a contract between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the insured individual's or individuals' death or other event, such as terminal illness or critical illness. In return, the policy owner agrees to pay a stipulated amount called a premium at regular intervals or in lump sums. There may be designs in some countries where bills and death expenses plus catering for after funeral expenses should be included in Policy Premium. In the United States, the predominant form simply specifies a lump sum to be paid on the insured's demise.
As with most insurance policies, life insurance is a contract between the insurer and the policy owner whereby a benefit is paid to the designated beneficiaries if an insured event occurs which is covered by the policy.
The value for the policyholder is derived, not from an actual claim event, rather it is the value derived from the 'peace of mind' experienced by the policyholder, due to the negating of adverse financial consequences caused by the death of the Life Assured.[edit] Parties to contract
There is a difference between the insured and the policy owner (policy holder), although the owner and the insured are often the same person. For example, if Joe buys a policy on his own life, he is both the owner and the insured. But if Jane, his wife, buys a policy on Joe's life, she is the owner and he is the insured. The policy owner is the guarantee and he or she will be the person who will pay for the policy. The insured is a participant in the contract, but not necessarily a party to it.
The beneficiary receives policy proceeds upon the insured's death. The owner designates the beneficiary, but the beneficiary is not a party to the policy. The owner can change the beneficiary unless the policy has an irrevocable beneficiary designation. With an irrevocable beneficiary, that beneficiary must agree to any beneficiary changes, policy assignments, or cash value borrowing.
In cases where the policy owner is not the insured (also referred to as the celui qui vit or CQV), insurance companies have sought to limit policy purchases to those with an "insurable interest" in the CQV. For life insurance policies, close family members and business partners will usually be found to have an insurable interest. The "insurable interest" requirement usually demonstrates that the purchaser will actually suffer some kind of loss if the CQV dies. Such a requirement prevents people from benefiting from the purchase of purely speculative policies on people they expect to die. With no insurable interest requirement, the risk that a purchaser would murder the CQV for insurance proceeds would be great. In at least one case, an insurance company which sold a policy to a purchaser with no insurable interest (who later murdered the CQV for the proceeds), was found liable in court for contributing to the wrongful death of the victim (Liberty National Life v. Weldon, 267 Ala.171 (1957)).

[edit] Contract terms
Special provisions may apply, such as suicide clauses wherein the policy becomes null if the insured commits suicide within a specified time (usually two years after the purchase date; some states provide a statutory one-year suicide clause). Any misrepresentations by the insured on the application is also grounds for nullification. Most US states specify that the contestability period cannot be longer than two years; only if the insured dies within this period will the insurer have a legal right to contest the claim on the basis of misrepresentation and request additional information before deciding to pay or deny the claim.
The face amount on the policy is the initial amount that the policy will pay at the death of the insured or when the policy matures, although the actual death benefit can provide for greater or lesser than the face amount. The policy matures when the insured dies or reaches a specified age (such as 100 years old).

[edit] Costs, insurability, and underwriting
The insurer (the life insurance company) calculates the policy prices with intent to fund claims to be paid and administrative costs, and to make a profit. The cost of insurance is determined using mortality tables calculated by actuaries. Actuaries are professionals who employ actuarial science, which is based in mathematics (primarily probability and statistics). Mortality tables are statistically-based tables showing expected annual mortality rates. It is possible to derive life expectancy estimates from these mortality assumptions. Such estimates can be important in taxation regulation.[1] [2]
The three main variables in a mortality table have been age, gender, and use of tobacco. More recently in the US, preferred class specific tables were introduced. The mortality tables provide a baseline for the cost of insurance. In practice, these mortality tables are used in conjunction with the health and family history of the individual applying for a policy in order to determine premiums and insurability. Mortality tables currently in use by life insurance companies in the United States are individually modified by each company using pooled industry experience studies as a starting point. In the 1980s and 90's the SOA 1975-80 Basic Select & Ultimate tables were the typical reference points, while the 2001 VBT and 2001 CSO tables were published more recently. The newer tables include separate mortality tables for smokers and non-smokers and the CSO tables include separate tables for preferred classes. [3]

Insurance

INSURENCE Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk o a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed small loss to prevent a large, possibly devastating loss. An insurer is a company selling the insurance; an insured is the person or entity buying the insurance. The insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage, called the premium. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.
large number of homogeneous exposure units. The vast majority of insurance policies are provided for individual members of very large classes. Automobile insurance, for example, covered about 175 million automobiles in the United States in 2004.[2] The existence of a large number of homogeneous exposure units allows insurers to benefit from the so-called “law of large numbers,” which in effect states that as the number of exposure units increases, the actual results are increasingly likely to become close to expected results. There are exceptions to this criterion. Lloyd's of London is famous for insuring the life or health of actors, actresses and sports figures. Satellite Launch insurance covers events that are infrequent. Large commercial property policies may insure exceptional properties for which there are no ‘homogeneous’ exposure units. Despite failing on this criterion, many exposures like these are generally considered to be insurable.
Definite Loss. The event that gives rise to the loss that is subject to insurance should, at least in principle, take place at a known time, in a known place, and from a known cause. The classic example is death of an insured person on a life insurance policy. Fire, automobile accidents, and worker injuries may all easily meet this criterion. Other types of losses may only be definite in theory. Occupational disease, for instance, may involve prolonged exposure to injurious conditions where no specific time, place or cause is identifiable. Ideally, the time, place and cause of a loss should be clear enough that a reasonable person, with sufficient information, could objectively verify all three elements.
Accidental Loss. The event that constitutes the trigger of a claim should be fortuitous, or at least outside the control of the beneficiary of the insurance. The loss should be ‘pure,’ in the sense that it results from an event for which there is only the opportunity for cost. Events that contain speculative elements, such as ordinary business risks, are generally not considered insurable.
Large Loss. The size of the loss must be meaningful from the perspective of the insured. Insurance premiums need to cover both the expected cost of losses, plus the cost of issuing and administering the policy, adjusting losses, and supplying the capital needed to reasonably assure that the insurer will be able to pay claims. For small losses these latter costs may be several times the size of the expected cost of losses. There is little point in paying such costs unless the protection offered has real value to a buyer.
Affordable Premium. If the likelihood of an insured event is so high, or the cost of the event so large, that the resulting premium is large relative to the amount of protection offered, it is not likely that anyone will buy insurance, even if on offer. Further, as the accounting profession formally recognizes in financial accounting standards, the premium cannot be so large that there is not a reasonable chance of a significant loss to the insurer. If there is no such chance of loss, the transaction may have the form of insurance, but not the substance. (See the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board standard number 113)
Calculable Loss. There are two elements that must be at least estimable, if not formally calculable: the probability of loss, and the attendant cost. Probability of loss is generally an empirical exercise, while cost has more to do with the ability of a reasonable person in possession of a copy of the insurance policy and a proof of loss associated with a claim presented under that policy to make a reasonably definite and objective evaluation of the amount of the loss recoverable as a result of the claim.
Limited risk of catastrophically large losses. The essential risk is often aggregation. If the same event can cause losses to numerous policyholders of the same insurer, the ability of that insurer to issue policies becomes constrained, not by factors surrounding the individual characteristics of a given policyholder, but by the factors surrounding the sum of all policyholders so exposed. Typically, insurers prefer to limit their exposure to a loss from a single event to some small portion of their capital base, on the order of 5 percent. Where the loss can be aggregated, or an individual policy could produce exceptionally large claims, the capital constraint will restrict an insurer's appetite for additional policyholders. The classic example is earthquake insurance, where the ability of an underwriter to issue a new policy depends on the number and size of the policies that it has already underwritten. Wind insurance in hurricane zones, particularly along coast lines, is another example of this phenomenon. In extreme cases, the aggregation can affect the entire industry, since the combined capital of insurers and reinsurers can be small compared to the needs of potential policyholders in areas exposed to aggregation risk. In commercial fire insurance it is possible to find single properties whose total exposed value is well in excess of any individual insurer’s capital constraint. Such properties are generally shared among several insurers, or are insured by a single insurer who syndicates the risk into the reinsurance market.

Market share is the portion or percentage of sales of a particular product or service in a given region that are controlled by a company. If, for example, there are 100 widgets sold in a country and company A sells 43 of them, then company A has a 43% marketmarketmarket shareshareshare. You can also calculate marketmarketmarket shareshareshare using revenue instead of units sold. If company A sold widgets for a total cost of $860 and the people in the country spend a total of $2,000 on the same widgets, then the marketmarketmarket shareshareshare is $860/$2,000 or 43%. The two different methods of calculating marketmarketmarket shareshareshare won't always provide the same answer, because different companies may charge slightly

Hurricanes and Terrorism

After the very active 2005 Hurricane season it’s likely that travelers will be more interested in Hurricane coverage than ever before. People’s eyes have definitely been opened as to how easily travel plans can be ruined long term, and many feel as though Hurricane coverage may help protect them and their investment when traveling to areas that may be affected. Likewise, the events of September 11, 2001 have people thinking more seriously about terrorism insurance. Unfortunately, neither hurricanes nor terrorism are things that you can predict, so buying the insurance coverage for either of these items is something you have to do as a precaution, and hopefully you never have to file a claim concerning either type of coverage.

Hurricane Insurance

Hurricane coverage is not something that will typically be sold with a travel insurance policy, so you’ll have to request this separately, if you are interested. You’ll find that Hurricane insurance usually isn’t all that costly, though we may see dramatic increases in the next year or so after the very active 2005 season.

Hurricane coverage can be tricky, because you cannot wait too long to purchase it. If you have paid for your trip in advance, you should also pay for hurricane insurance at the same time. The problem for a lot of people is that they book their trip and then put off buying hurricane insurance, only for a hurricane to hit the area in the days before you are scheduled to travel, or even worse, while you are there. Unfortunately, lodges and airlines will often refuse to refund you, even if the area is not one that can be traveled to and from after a hurricane hits.
If you believe you are traveling to an area that has even a remote chance of being threatened by a Hurricane, you should buy hurricane coverage when you purchase your trip. The reason for this is because you cannot buy hurricane coverage once a hurricane has been named in that particular area. Hurricane coverage will allow you to be refunded for all payments made, and if you are there and injured or suffer a loss of property you will also be reimbursed for those items. Hurricane insurance really is worth it if you are traveling to islands, or areas of the country or world that is on the water. Once a hurricane hits it’s too late, but when you plan ahead you may be saving yourself hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Terrorism Coverage

Terrorism coverage is a tricky thing, as it simply doesn’t exist for a lot of insurers, and for those that do carry it, it has so much fine print attached to it that you aren’t even all that sure what it covers. Terrorism coverage is a reality though, with acts of terrorism being in the news and on our minds.
Generally, you can buy terrorism coverage that will help you recover losses for airfare, lodging expenses and other various expenses. Terrorism coverage usually isn’t all that expensive, though it’s increased in the last couple of years. The problem with getting terrorism coverage is that many insurers will state that there has been a “terrorist event” in a particular area within the last 90 days, making the area disqualified for the coverage. Each insurer has a different definition of a terrorist event, so be sure to inquire. If you are traveling and you feel as though you would like terrorism coverage, it doesn’t hurt to ask for it. Think about all the costs you will inquire if you are stuck in a city for 10 days, paying for meals and lodging until the airports are up and running again should they be shut down. Terrorism insurance will help you cover these expenses, making it a very logical purchase should it be available to you.

Terrorism insurance has changed in the last few years, because of the terrorism that has been seen all around the world. It’s a sound concern, and even if you do not use the insurance it’s a good idea to have that protection. The people stuck all around the world when 9/11 happened could have never predicted such an event, or the expenses that they suffered as a result. So, plan ahead, it’s the best policy you can have when traveling.

Viatical Life Insurance Settlements

What is a Viatical Trust Settlement Agreements?

A viatical life insurance settlement is an agreement between a business firm (specializing in such transactions) and a life insurance policyowner insuring the life of an individual with a life-threatening or terminal illness, normally with a life expectancy of two years or less.

The firm purchases the policy at 60 to 80% of the face amount, expecting to profit as the new policyowner. The insured is provided with tax exempt discounted value during the terminal illness, relinquishing all ownership rights to the buyer (e.g. an insured has a $100,000 policy and the Viatical Agreement is $60,000, the new owner upon the insured's death could profit up to $40,000 less a very minimum business expense). The discounted proceeds are received by the insured at the time of the agreement. The policy must be in force when the agreement takes place. This is the latest use of life insurance.