Todd Haney
Product Manager
EDS SOLCORP

Todd, great to have you here with us. What have been some stumbling blocks for insurers?

Access to real-time customer data for customer-services purposes. In order to provide efficient, effective, and scalable customer service automation, access to data must be provided to all potential service channels. Insurers also need to optimize data exchange in the distribution channels to facilitate end-to-end bi-directional connectivity. Multiple back-office systems that are often redundant and fragmented act as an impediment to facilitating connectivity and therefore communication between the distribution channels and manufacturers. The result is a supply chain where communication isn’t always reciprocal or robust.

Key steps for 2007?

A key step is to focus on the provision of technology and solutions that will provide the same data quickly to all the customer-service modes. Being proactive and getting the data to the recipient before they ask for it would represent a dramatic improvement in customer-service levels. Integration of the life insurance supply chain would reduce costs while improving customer service. Technology is evolving to the point where the patchwork can be transformed into a cohesive network providing real-time connectivity between any or all disparate points of the distribution channel.

Define for us a good data integration strategy.

A good data integration strategy has each transaction and event or data being routed to all registered and approved recipients. This requires that the data integration strategy be looked at on an enterprise level. The use of standards, although not the cure-all, will greatly assist in reducing costs and speeding up the implementation of a comprehensive strategy. For a truly scalable environment all distributors should be provided data through industry exchanges. The most effective distributors will be the ones who have timely and accurate access to customer data and events.

Innovative straight-through processing?

Innovative straight-through processing is about more than the standard high-volume transactions. It is about providing the distributor the ability to leverage the first point of contact with the customer on a customer-service event. Straight-through processing will enable a connected supply chain and facilitate a degree of collaboration between distributor and manufacturer that will allow both to benefit from increased growth and reduction in cost.

Chris Smith
Vice President, Research & Development
Whitehill Technologies, Inc.

Welcome, Chris. Last year’s challenges?

Externally, compliance continues to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks for insurers. It is still a huge challenge to keep pace with changing state regulations and to track filings with all the various Departments of Insurance. Internally, carriers still stumble when it comes to coordinating across roles, departments, and functions within the organization. This slows down attempts to develop new products that respond to customer demands, and that in turn has a negative impact on a carrier’s competitive position. A lack of enabling technology contributes to both these challenges.

Key steps for 2007?

Insurers must never forget that they are in the business of customer service. Insurance interactions are still document intensive, so carriers should implement solutions to consolidate data from existing systems and render it into customer-friendly presentation formats – online PDFs, for example. Insurers should focus on developing an end-to-end document and compliance automation strategy. This would cover document creation, document management, workflow, and compliance. This kind of a strategy will dramatically accelerate speed-to-market, letting insurers respond to consumer demands more quickly than their competitors.

What does a good data integration strategy look like?

Data integration that crosses functional boundaries and silos will have the greatest business impact. Making data accessible to groups working collaboratively on product development helps insurers accelerate speed-to-market. Process visibility and easy access to comprehensive, up-to-date information streamlines new business handling. Most importantly, a good data integration strategy encompasses unstructured, as well as structured, data.

Innovative straight-through processing?

Innovative straight-through processing needs to provide pragmatic flexibility, letting customers and producers connect with insurers using the tools and formats they prefer. The use of standards like ACORD XML is highly useful in this respect, but insurers still need agile ways of transforming XML messages to work with the multitude of existing new business, policy admin and CRM systems in their IT portfolio.