Systems scene

Insurance Brokers' Monthly and Insurance Adviser, Apr 2002 by Wheeler, Richard

Continued Development of InsurE-com Acturis dealing with "Superbrokers" Fortis determined on Household EDI New System targets Scheme Business Smoothing the Move over to Oasys

It's been a "world tour" of five destinations for the latest Systems Scene - OK, Birmingham was the furthest - with another trip to InsurE-com at Brighton being the latest. "Another" trip, yes, to keep up with the very rapid developments at InsurE-com, now relocated in its permanent Brighton premises. Garish pink coloured removal boxes were still neatly stacked up for collection as I was given a full run down of the computing power, telecoms facilities and security measures which underpin the internet-based quotes system for to brokers. 1,700 brokers are registered, with about half of these said to be "playing around" with the free InsurEcom back office system, and 100 using the system live, at the end of March count. 521 people attended the 10 radshows held so far. So there's been some interest.

Norwich Union is about to join RSA, Zurich and some other leading insurers very soon, making it about 10 insurers live with motor products, which will obviously give a big boost to those brokers wanting a full open market panel.

InsurE-com continues to forge partnerships with a number of organisations. This includes an agreement with US-based Applied Systems to distribute and support The Agency Manager system in the UK. The Agency Manager system is presently used by some 140 commercial intermediaries, and the new deal effectively extends distribution of the system in the UK, with CSC no longer having exclusive rights to sales and support. For Agency Manager brokers this means they can link their system with InsurE-com quotes instead of relying on the existing CSC Quotel link. For InsurE-com this extends their options for commercial lines brokers and is further evidence that InsurE-com means business in the insurance market, if anyone is in doubt.

February saw me calling in on Acturis, which announced itself to the world this time last year, and is now about to pilot its new system with one of the four "superbrokers" closely involved with the new set up. The regional heavyweights are Bland Bankart (the first to pilot), Smart & Cook, The Beckett Group and Layton Blackham: the system is predominantly about changing the landscape of processing commercial lines.

With funding by South African Old Mutual/Nedcor, London-based Acturis is anchored around ex-McKinsey men David McDonald and Theo Duchen, who almost shy away from the sort of publicity hype favoured by some of its competitors. But this didn't stop a meeting with yours truly, courtesy of Simon Ronaldson, ex-CGU Insurance, who is now in charge of sales activities.

Despite the relatively low profile, Acturis has carried out demonstrations with 50 brokers in response to enquiries and in order to create a general awareness of the system, which should be available to other commercially-focused brokers as the year progresses. It is aiming its system at what it calls the commercial survivors - those brokers that are prepared to change the woefully inefficient processes that still dominate commercial insurance, including a claimed 46% error rate in commercial documentation - nearly two-thirds of this down to re-keying of information in the commercial chain.

Costs are too high. Productivity has to double. Things are changing, and mindsets have to change as well, the mantra goes. Bigger regional players are being targeted, but size isn't eveything, and smaller commercial concerns will be accommodated - if they are willing to embrace change to become more efficient.

By commercial, Acturis is talking about the complete spectrum from the small package type of risk right up to the larger risks - although the initial focus is on the small to medium end. This is not just the 500 shop and contractor type of stuff, but anything up to 10,000 premium and beyond, typically 80% of a commercial broker's book, where the greatest inefficiencies lie.

Acturis is working closely with half a dozen or so insurers to develop new ways to process the business, recognising that copying the way personal lines is carried out just doesn't work - witness the perceived flop of desktop comparative quote systems for shops and offices.

And the technology; well, everything you would expect for front and back office, and all on an "ASP" basis, including structured commercial regimes with exception handling, product building for bespoke schemes and personal lines Polaris quotes for connected business.

What marks out Acturis from some of the other newcomers is the pedigree of its partners, the methodologies brought to bear by its global background, the "industrial strength" of the applications it uses, and the strong focus on an implementation culture. The training, in particular, strikes as being a league above others, involving a concoction of "champions" at the broker, and a CDROM learning environment involving testing and scoring of individuals. There's no sitting at the back and getting away with it!