"Just do it"

Rough Notes, Oct 1999 by Doucette, Nancy

Content for insurance professionals

Insurance Research Center for focused search on any data on insurance

Discussion groups

Insurance events, including online registration information

News watch, offering links to industry trade publications

Industry associations, providing links to the association Web sites

Career opportunities-carriers and agencies are being encouraged to post their available positions on this page. Delphi also has made arrangements to have links to a number of recruiting companies' Web sites.

Content for consumers

FAQ

Ask an expert

Insurance Yellow Pages, a custom search engine for risks outside the scope of coverages handled on ebix.mall

Insurance glossary, "Insurance Words and Their Meanings" published by The Rough Notes Company

Consumer Access, basic information on a variety of insurance topics provided by The Rough Notes Company

Map and directions, supplied by Map(Quest

S&P carrier rating, Agents and consumers can learn about carriers' financial stability from Standard & Poor's. Companies will be defined in "consumer-friendly" terms instead of A and A .

For any portal to be effective, Raina suggests it must be dedicated exclusively to a vertical market. What's more, it must offer content, commerce, customization and community. Customization and community are related, he notes; and in the case of ebix, there is my.ebix which can be customized by the individual user to supply specific stock quotes, news and weather.

The features and functions available through the ebix.com portal aren't too sophisticated for the "average" agent, according to Raina. "Agents have to get an MVR from somewhere . . . why not ebix? Agents can get it all in one place. This (ebix) actually simplifies things for agents-they don't have to go to a number of sites.

"The insurance industry is one of the largest contributors to the U.S. economy with an approximate size of more than $1.5 trillion," Raina notes. "Technology has already streamlined and simplified business processes in finance and banking. Yet, the insurance industry has not kept pace with these other industries in terms of the role of technology in streamlining operations. The insurance industry is arguably the last of the major business cornerstones to harness the power of the Internet."

Raina concludes: "The success of this project won't be measured by revenue numbers. Success will be measured in terms of the industry taking a step forward toward the Internet. The industry hasn't been quick to adopt the Internet. This is the first time an organization has tried to take the industry forward toward the Internet in a major manner. Others have done it in pieces and small steps. We're trying to take one big step forward for the industry as a whole."

For more information ...

Delphi Information Systems

Atlanta, Georgia

Web site: www.ebix.com

Phone: (770) 392-0221