Toronto, On. (March 24, 2003) — IBM announced today an insurance industry first — an agreement with Canada Life™ for insurance software applications that will be delivered on demand — paid for according to the volume of insurance policies processed.
Canada Life is the industry’s first insurance company to sign this innovative systems provider agreement, which draws from the expertise of IBM’s new Insurance Solutions Centre and Genelco software, enabling Canada Life to focus on its core business, while IBM manages capacity planning for the customer’s application environment.
“Unlike IT outsourcing initiatives that focus primarily on driving down costs, Canada Life is adopting a flexible approach that allows it to rapidly adapt to market conditions,” said Doron Cohen, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Canada Life.
IBM’s new Insurance Solutions Centre will provide Canada Life, and other insurance companies with the specialized industry knowledge and technological expertise to respond quicker to industry and competitive pressures. This new centre specializes in the design, development and management of software applications for insurance providers.
By using the IBM Insurance Solutions Centre, insurance companies can realize estimated cost savings of 15 to 30 percent, improve their customer service levels and enhance application capabilities, faster and at a lower cost. Insurance companies can also benefit from services that consolidate and unify group, life and health administrative services, as well as core activities such as underwriting, policy administration, claims adjudication, and customer relationship management.
“As the first insurance company to introduce and purchase applications based on business outcomes at IBM’s new services centre, Canada Life is redefining how life insurance and benefit plans are delivered,” added Cohen. “Canada Life has enjoyed various working arrangements with IBM in the past. This agreement however, is different since it provides us with the opportunity to deliver faster, more efficient service to our clients, and an attractive ability to cost effectively integrate new blocks of business without any disruption in our customer service levels.”
“Our customers are demanding more specialized knowledge of their industry needs,” said Katie Bambrick, Vice President, Application Management Services, IBM Canada Ltd. “IBM is responding by investing in global industry centres that deliver applications on demand. IBM will use its insurance industry expertise to help Canada Life and other insurance companies around the world to drive costs down, push customer service levels up and accelerate business growth.”
IBM Global Services
IBM Global Services is the world’s largest information technology services provider, with professionals serving customers in 160 countries and annual revenue of more than $36 billion (2002), or 45 percent of IBM’s total annual revenue. IBM Global Services offers a broad range of capabilities — consulting, IT services, hardware, software, research and financing — to help companies of all sizes realize the full value of information technology. For more information, visit: www.ibm.com/services
About Canada Life
The Canada Life Assurance Company, Canada’s first domestic life insurance company founded in 1847, has total assets under administration in excess of $68 billion. Headquartered in Toronto, the Company operates in Canada, the United States, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong and the Caribbean.
Tags: IBM, industry first, on-demand
