Nonetheless, some carriers have elected instead to make policy information
available only to agents on their Web
sites. Yates says agents generally would
prefer to have the policies on their own
systems. “With download, the policy information goes right into the agency
management system, enabling a better
workflow for the agency than if it comes
via e-mail,” says ACT’s Yates.
Giving agents the ability to use down-
load to transmit and receive information
may ultimately result in more business
for EMC, says Gass. “We deal exclusively
with independent agents who do busi-
ness with a multitude of insurance carri-
ers, and if they have other carriers who
don’t use download, they are likely to
throw more business our way,” Gass
points out. “From the very beginning, it
was clear that this was a win for both
agents and carriers.”
A third positive for the carriers is that
download tools ensure that their data
meshes with that being used by their
agents in the field. “There are benefits to
the carriers because download drives the
consistency of the data,” says Malta Col-
lins, senior specialist and assistant inter-
face manager at Cincinnati Insurance
Companies, which uses download soft-
ware from Vertafore, Bothell, Wash.
Most of the benefits from installing
and maintaining download technology
accrue to the agent rather than the carrier, Collins adds.
For instance, download software enables agents to respond almost instantly
to a policyholder’s inquiry. “If the agent
gets a call from a customer, they can look
in their system and get the answer right
away, instead of having to call the carrier
to find out,” Collins says. “At renewal
time, the agent can send the policy up to
the company to get a quote. Being able to
answer a customer’s question faster, helps
the agent to retain customers, and that’s
a benefit to the carrier,” Collins adds.
P&C SOLUTIONS
HyLANd SOftwARE
RELEASES ONBASE 10.0
Hyland Software, a Cleveland-based enterprise content management company, has
released OnBase 10.0.
Hyland says that, to expand its current
case management capabilities, the main focus of the OnBase 10.0 is the new client,
adding that there are significant changes
including greater ease of use, more flexible
system administration and accommodation
of multiple types of IT environments.
OnBase 10.0 also extends its case management capabilities with new products,
including intelligent automated indexing,
business process and notation modeler, site
provisioning for SharePoint, comprehensive
full-text search with Autonomy IDOL integration and integration for Microsoft Outlook 2010, Hyland adds.
This release, combined with core ECM
functions, such as document imaging, and
elements of business process management,
collaboration and records management,
creates an end-to-end document management and process management suite, Hyland says.
supports the latest in Web technology,
such as social medial, co-browsing, chat,
call center integration and advanced Web
analytics, to offer an improved quote-to-
issue process and conversion ratios for
new business, says SeaPass. Other fea-
tures include:
• an expanded set of pre-configured
specialty lines products (D&O, E&O, crime,
EPLI and MPL) to complement the full suite
of pre-configured insurance products previ-
ously provided
• a full complement of connectors for
third party services such as territory, address
validation, ChoicePoint, ISO, MSB and oth-
ers
• support for most agency management
systems with the addition of a PDF reader
and unique virtual print driver on top of the
existing ACORD XML and AL3 support
• first notice of loss
• expanded ACORD Forms support
• call center software and CRM integra-
tion
• lead generation and integration with
Google Analytics, including features to sup-
port search engine optimization
• SaaS delivered option along with exist-
ing onsite and hosted/ASP models
• support for mobile devices, including
Blackberry, iPhone, iPad and Android
Exposure was designed to leverage AIR’s in-
dustry exposure database and advanced
catastrophe models to provide two scores
essential to understanding and improving
the quality of data used for catastrophe risk
assessment.
COMMERCIAL CHALLENGES
Agents also can use the download platform for business development. “The
SEAPASS LAuNCHES
INSuRANCE PORtAL 3.0
SeaPass Solutions Inc., a New York-based
independent provider of Web-based insurance distribution solutions, released Insurance Portal 3.0. The 3.0 version already is
being used in a production environment by
three SeaPass clients, with a fourth on track
to go live in January, says SeaPass.
Insurance Portal 3.0 is described as
portal software that enables advanced
collaboration between agents, carriers
and consumers. It can be quickly deployed using pre-configured product
templates and through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) option; and can leverage a
carrier’s investment in an existing core
systems infrastructure to present a modern, rich and integrated experience to the
distribution channel. The solution also
AIR wORLdwIdE RELEASES
uPdAtEd tRuExPOSuRE
dAtA SOLutIONS
AIR Worldwide, Boston, has added data-quality scoring capabilities to TruExposure, a
comprehensive suite of solutions to help
property insurers and reinsurers validate,
benchmark and improve exposure data
used for catastrophe analyses. TruExposure
data-quality scores not only quantify the
potential impact of missing primary risk
characteristics on catastrophe loss estimates, they indicate where data improvements will have the greatest benefit, AIR
says.
fIRStBESt uNvEILS fuLL
fRONt OffICE SuItE
FirstBest Systems Inc., a Bedford, Mass.-based provider of insurance software solutions, launched the FirstBest Front Office
Suite. The suite was designed to unite
agents and underwriters in a collaborative
underwriting process that helps them rapidly quote and close business, while enabling
carriers and their distribution channels to
increase efficiencies, grow their books of
business and cast wider nets to bring in new
business.
FirstBest says the applications enable
carriers to increase efficiency; become the
“carrier of choice” with true ease of doing
business; lower loss ratios with greater underwriting discipline; and scale the business
with greater agility. The modular applications of the Front Office Suite were created
to work together seamlessly, enabling rapid
deployment in different configurations.
FirstBest says the Suite includes three
collaborative underwriting applications,
FirstBest Underwriting Management System (UMS), FirstBest Agent and FirstBest
AppReader, and is available immediately.
