AIG specialty auto's "specialty connection": New business application and billing process center

Rough Notes, Apr 1997 by Jean H Melvin

Leading insurers are always on the lookout for smarter ways of doing business, and we at AIG Specialty Auto are no exception. Faster, more efficient and accurate methods of transacting business translates into a healthier bottom line for both us and our independent agency partners.

That's why we are excited about our new system called Specialty Connection. This program lets agents upload new business applications to us electronically, a process we are currently beta testing in Texas.

We have plans to add additional services to this system. One such benefit we will be providing to select producers over the next 90-120 days is our Billing Process Center. This breakthrough innovation is being developed today in conjunction with AT&T Insurance Solutions. Accessing BPC is designed to be both easy and quick. It will enable an agent to review a client's payment history, confirm the current status as well as allow the agent to post a payment to a customer's account. This simple process will enable agents to better serve their customers with on-line real time infor

AIG Specialty Auto selected AT&T Insurance Solutions because of their insurance industry knowledge, significant resources and in-depth expertise. AT&T currently provides the communications component on other AIG ventures and is excited about teaming up with Specialty Auto to make the transacting of insurance easier for our agents and policyholders.

AIG Specialty Auto has enjoyed an exceptional growth in recent years and we continue to move forward in the industry by providing our agents and their clients with the latest in communication technology. We pride ourselves on our willingness to seek new opportunities and embrace innovation-a strategy that has been a major factor in our success and one we expect will continue to serve us well into the future.

AIG is the leading U.S.-based international insurance organization and among the nation's largest underwriters of commercial and industrial coverage's. Its member companies write property, casualty, marine, life and financial services insurance in approximately 130 countries and jurisdictions, and are engaged in a range of financial services businesses. American International Group, Inc.'s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange as well as the stock exchanges in London, Paris, Switzerland and Tokyo.

TransFluent, an enhanced version of Paragon Interface's successful agency interface software program called AgencyLink, is a translation powerhouse. Released in January, it is designed to provide a single solution for all of an insurer's data translation needs-not just agency interface. Like AgencyLink, it provides data reformatting in a real-time or batch mode on a wide range of computer systems, including personal computers, mid-range computers and mainframes. And because it is designed in a modular fashion, TransFluent can easily accommodate object technology. But first a little history.

Before my partners, David Harbin and Paul Pamplin, and I started Paragon Interface several years ago, we spent six months talking to the presidents and chief information officers of major insurance companies about the problems they face. A common theme emerged: communicating information to and from the carriers' legacy systems was a major challenge.

Dinosaurs from an earlier era, these massive systems are unable to respond to today's demand for quick and easy access to information from a variety of computer platforms. Agents were beginning to demand download to reduce their workload and companies wanted upload to cut their internal costs. But their computer systems could not talk to each other.

As veteran developers of software and services for the insurance industry, we set out to design a data translation tool that would facilitate electronic data interchange, giving both parties what they wanted. Drawing on the experience of our senior management team-especially Paul Pamplin's 15 years of experience with upload and download-we produced AgencyLink, an agency interface product marketed to carriers and managing general agents. AgencyLink is also installed on the AT&T Insurance Solutions network to facilitate company download. We have worked with AT&T's talented staff to create a mutually beneficial relationship. Having our reformatter in their network means that carriers using the AT&T network have no need for a staff of reformatting experts.

With TransFluent and AgencyLink, data translation has never been easier or faster. Because our products are Windows M-based with a graphical user interface, they are highly intuitive. Complex mapping rules are presented visually, and data translations can be defined with minimal effort. With input and output fields displayed side by side on the same screen, translation is often as simple as drawing a line from a data element definition in one system to the desired data element definition in the other. Just point, click, drag and drop. And a built-in Rex compiler can write a statement to take care of any change that cannot be handled that way. There's no programming involved and nothing has to be hard coded, which can be a very time-consuming process. An added bonus: changes-in ACORD standards or data files-can be handled in minutes rather than hours or days.