This article reports a study conducted to identify the needs for continuing professional development for life insurance sales representatives and to examine the competencies needed by those sales representatives. A modified Delphi technique was used. Most life insurance companies in the USA implement an education and training plan advocated by the Life Office Management Association. Insurance companies in Taiwan implement similar education and training plans, but they do not seem to result in the successful performance of their sales representatives. Besides augmenting knowledge of various financial products and marketing approaches, this study also suggests that life insurance companies need to train their sales representatives to an adequate standard in competencies of problem solving, communication, information technology utilization, culture compatibility, emotional intelligence, collective competence and ethics.

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Although various sales channels exist for insurance products, no existing research compares their sales efficiency. This study offers a comparison of bancassurance and traditional sales channels in Taiwan. Using a data envelopment analysis approach, this study first computes the efficiencies of bancassurance and traditional sales channels separately. The efficiency score of the traditional sales channel is significantly higher than that of a comparable bancassurance channel. Furthermore, the efficiency relationship between the bancassurance and the traditional sales channels is independent. These findings have significant implications for the insurance industry and ongoing research in this field.

-Cloud computing may lead to both costefficiency and flexibility, but it also inevitably triggers a certain degree of loss exposure. Unfortunately, there is little objective, scientific research focused on identifying and evaluating the loss exposure that results from cloud computing. In this study, a modified Delphi method and the analytic network process were employed to identify and evaluate risks of cloud computing. This research finds all solutions for "contract or agreements", "crosscloud compatibility" and "social engineering" can only reduce the risks of recurrence (risk frequency) but not eliminate recurrences. In other words, risk is inevitable, but risks with severe consequences may be heavy burdens. Purchasing insurance, if possible, is also strongly recommended.