2012 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Awards
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Distributors Nominated for 2012 ICTAs
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Each year the nominations for an Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Award are a great mix of interesting applications, some of which are small in scope, others large. Some have been developed from the ground up, in-house or by external developers; others were provided as a package or a component thereof. They collectively represent the variety of ways that technology is being deployed today in the Canadian P&C insurance industry. Here are selected nominations – distributor category – from the 2012 submissions.
Charlie Cooke Insurance (Auto STP) – Technology by Brovada
From the NexCentre suite on a broker’s desktop, Automobile new business submission is in production in NB, NS, and PEI, joining Billing, Policy and Claims Inquiry [This submission described the business flowing to SGI Canada].
This technology pulls data directly from the Power Broker system, additional questions are asked to ensure all underwriting criteria has been met, a premium is displayed and billing information is submitted, including the set up of payment plans, all in under 2 minutes. Having the flexibility of issuing the policy immediately or emailing the policy to the policyholder, is an added benefit. This system reduces data entry, processes policies faster with real-time rating and issuing capability, and enhances customer service.
Charlie Cooke Insurance (Commercial Lines STP) – Technology by Policy Works
Group submission with SGI Canada
SGI CANADA developed a straight-through processing solution for the upload of commercial lines quote submissions and download of the resulting quotations using CSIO XML standards. From within a Policy Works desktop application, a broker is able to send a full submission electronically to SGI without having to email the document or re-enter data into a portal, and SGI avoids rekeying as well. The result has been improved efficiencies and faster turnaround. “We are now uploading and downloading commercial business,” states Donna McNeill, CIP. “When we receive the commercial quote back from ICPEI, it is all in a standard electronic format, along with all of the related policy information. We don’t have to re-input any data; everything is there and can be opened right up in Policy Works.”
Bowman & Gibson Insurance Brokers – Technology by Keal
Group submission with Unica Insurance (Technology by iter8)
‘Keal Connect’ links Keal’s BMS, sigXP directly to Unica without any middleware or thirdparty software required by the broker by sending CSIO XML data in real-time. Each transaction begins, and ends, in sigXP, with inquiry transactions requiring no engagement with the York portal. The benefits include improved customer service times, dramatically reduced workload (reduced data entry), cost savings and ease of use.
Donovan Insurance Brokers – primary technology by Keal **Winner**
We have complete file information for our customers with history available at a click. We have very carefully selected 3 key technology pieces to not only enhance the storage of information regarding our customer transactions; but also to expedite the sales transaction with our customers. We do understand what product our clients have purchased, when they have purchased it, what they have paid, what might be outstanding, and what changes they have made. We also capture how the information was received: by telephone (with voice recordings), e-mail, or snail mail (by scanning). All information is captured in detail, dated, and filed in a very efficient, coherent manner. We have accommodated all staff with duo-screens. Our employees are key to success; we continue to support their growth and knowledge. The gross benefit, we have substantially increased our Policies in Force, and our bottom line while continuing to increase our client retention numbers consistently.
HUB International – technology by TELUS
HUB implemented TELUS Secure Contracts, a Software as a Service product, integrated with TAM to enable HUB brokers to communicate paperwork to remote customers, and for those customers to complete, sign, and return the paperwork without having to print/sign/mail it. HUB realized tangible, lasting benefits which included a shorter time to complete business processes (shortening the insurance sales process results in shorter time to revenue/compensation, and lowers the abandoned deal rate); elimination of not-in-good-order documents; increased revenue by reducing administration work and increasing time available to sell; and cost reduction throughout the business process – elimination of data re-entry, reduction in NIGO paperwork, mail/print/fax savings, storage/archiving savings, etc.
Ingle International *Finalist*
Ingle International offers international student health and accident insurance to students through the schools. The internally-developed system – Ingle School Microsites – enables rapid build, customization and deployment of microsites for each school with logos / co-branding, colour schemes, which products are included, whether products are mandatory or optional, and custom-branded claim forms and/or policy booklets. By school the system may be information only (school insurance plan), pre-chosen products (purchase from Ingle, choosing from specific products pre-selected by the school) or buy-up products (purchase from Ingle, choosing from Ingle’s full range of options). The ISM platform has increased agility, decreased costs, improved service levels and improved customer satisfaction.
Josslin Insurance Brokers – eDocs (Technology by Zycomp and Mastercom)
(Group submission with SGI Canada)
Using the CSIO Standards, Mastercom and Zycomp developed a technology solution that allows the downloading of the Broker Copy of Policy Declaration Pages and Broker Memos as part of their daily EDI download transactions, with no broker intervention. These electronic documents are automatically filed to the brokers’ client files and abeyanced so the brokers know of its existence and/or are able to follow up, if necessary. Compared to prior approaches of either receiving paper copies, or signing into company portals and retrieving digital copies, this automated approach yields considerable processing efficiencies.
A.P. Reid’s Zipsure *Finalist*
ZipSure.ca is the only 100% self-serve and 100% on-line insurance brokerage in Canada. It’s products – tenant insurance in apartment buildings – are unique and exclusive to ZipSure.ca. ZipSure.ca is essentially a self-service website. The system contains the physical attributes of hundreds of apartment buildings across Atlantic Canada and uses those attributes to calculate the Tenants Insurance Premiums. When a prospective client visits the site to obtain a quote, they need only know their address and are instantly given a premium. All future service including arrangements for monthly EFT payments is handled directly through the website in a self-serve environment – supported by a technical support team who can walk a client through challenges navigating the site, if any.
RIO Insurance
A self-service Certificate of Insurability (COI) system is a fully-automated underwriting and issuance system. Applicants can apply for and purchase IT professional indemnity insurance on line (traditional policy), or apply for the insurance and purchase a certificate evidencing they can obtain the insurance in the event they are awarded the contract (pre-approved policy). The time and effort associated with a traditional underwriter and payments approach are avoided, thus a reduction in costs. The system available anytime is convenient for the bidder.. For the bidder, the certificate reduces initial costs, and for the tendering party the pool of bidders for a contract can be larger. The system can be readily extended to additional professional indemnity products.
Robichaud Insurance
Over the last few years, Robichaud implemented a near-paperless office. Based on Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 and the suite of tools, plus Share Point Services, scanners and two monitors on each desk, most transactions can be handled without reverting to paper at all. The previous transactional filing system was moved to a digital one. Monthly and daily reports, with security authorizations, are stored the same way. All insurance manuals and policy wordings have been stored on an internal website. Faxes, inbound and oubound, are handled digitally. A more recent innovation is electronic signatures whereby a client can sign a document without coming to the office, using their smartphone. In conclusion, Robichaud managed to drastically reduce costs, dramatically increase productivity, reduce the environmental carbon footprint and used the technology to its full potential. The result: an environment that we are proud of and look forward to coming to on a daily basis.
Tench Insurance Broker – Technology by Custom Software Solutions Inc.
With the “Remarket View” our staff, when invoicing a renewal policy can find the file, invoice it, check it with all insurers, do the new remarket quote, and do the new application, all in under 2 minutes. As this was laborious previously, we were not doing very many renewal quotes, and as a result our retention was not as good as it is now. Similarly, when endorsing policies, we can immediately see if the change warrants a switch to a new insurer (with one mouse click). This has a huge benefit on customer retention. As well, it eliminates the need to do a new quote for a policy change, as it is done automatically. When customers ask for quotes for possible policy changes, it now takes approximately 50 seconds. This small change, easy to use, has had a significant impact on our brokerage.
Western Financial Group
TotalGUARD is WFG’s proprietary Employee Benefits Program which provides comprehensive life, health and dental plans. Back end systems handle the core processing but recent extensions and two front end interfaces have brought many benefits. The CSRs are responsible for ensuring that the client’s policy was setup correctly, including completeness of information, the definition of policy specific business rules and accuracy. Then the CSR using the CRM grants client access to the Online Admin site. Online Admin is an online web-based application that enables the Employee Benefits client base to administer their policies / group benefits plan. Changes are made more quickly and efficiently. The productivity of the CSR staff has increased significantly and clients have a more convenient way to manage their benefits programs.
