Blog

Insurance carrier Portal strategy does not equal Portal tactics

David Gallagher — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:59:00 GMT

For insurance carriers portals used to mean agent portals. And, for many insurers that meant a tactical, single purpose solution to facilitate online quoting.

But as Deb Smallwood of Strategy Meets Action explained in her recent webinar, Leveraging Portal Power, (Click here to view the archived version) portals have changed, and a strategy on how to use the components from your existing portal, and/or how to incorporate underwriter portals, consumer portals, and other third party access points such as social media is required.

Such a strategy is necessary to ensure front, middle and back-office systems are integrated, and changes in one are promoted to the others. It is also necessary to ensure your portal is scalable, repeatable and adheres to standards.

Ultimately insurance carriers want a well architected solution so that the needs of independent agents, policy holders, prospective customers and underwriters are met.

According to the CTO at iter8, anyone can build a portal UI – but the devil is in the creation of an integrated data model, rules engine, integration layers, and configurable solution. And for this to occur, insurance carriers need a well defined portal strategy. Such a strategy must focus on IT architecture, and build a strong foundation. It also must consider the future. So while integrated to an agency management system for upload may be straightforward, what will happen for the next agency management system? And for the facebook uploads? And the iPad calls for inspection reports? And the requests from the agent online portal, as they also interact with policy holders?

Iter8 has thought through these issues, and is developing solutions for the future.

If you would like to hear more just let me know – I will set up a one-on-one with our CTO, who can bring a depth of knowledge gaining for years of insurance expertise.

Leveraging Portal Power: The latest webinar sponsored by iter8

David Gallagher — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:58:00 GMT

iter8 is sponsoring a webinar on February 9^th at 2:00pm entitled “Leveraging Portal Power ...to deliver growth and profitability”.

Deb Smallwood, founder of Strategy Meets Action, an insurance industry leading consulting firm, will be presenting along with Glen Piller, President and CEO of iter8.

The webinar will focus on how agent portals and consumer portals need to change and evolve in order to meet the needs of independent agents and policy holders. For many insurers portals were put in place to address a short term need. For example to generate straight through processing, or to facilitate inquiry functions.

However, now and in the future, portals will evolve to act as centralized landing hubs for multiple transactions and provide the insurance carrier face for multiple third-parties. The use of standardized components to integrate with consumers, policy holders, independent or captive agents generates internal efficiencies and improvements to customer care levels. The days of one-to-one usage are disappearing, and this webinar will explore how newer modern portals can handle multiple transactions, extensive collaboration, and provide an overall integrated approach to the insurance carriers’ external actions.

Insurance clients want to access an insurance carrier on their terms, on their time, using hardware that they choose, where they like – not limited by bricks and mortar, defined hours, and other restrictions.

To attend the webinar, and hear from these industry experts use the attached registration link.

Six essentials for pain-free statistical reporting

David Gallagher — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:02:00 GMT

iter8, a market leader in statistical and bureau reporting has identified 6 essential factors to solve P&C reporting needs. Based upon extensive experience in this area our internal regul8 experts have identified 6 essentials that will help carriers in their planning efforts. Read them, and use them to help in your next compliance reporting upgrade.

These six essentials can help all P&C insurance carriers faced with providing frequent, accurate, timely bureau or regulatory reporting. They can help you make the right choice in third-party solutions, or help your internal experts in their planning and strategy formation.

Click here to view the six essentials.

The costs of inattention to your statistical reporting needs can be high. For example high penalty fees, high internal costs for rework, and high costs for system changes are just a few of the costs.

So, read the six essentials, and contact us if you need more assistance.

Wawanesa Insurance saves money, improves quality and saves time

David Gallagher — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:09:00 GMT

A Case Study: Wawanesa Insurance saves money, improves quality, saves time --- what's not to like!

iter8 has just published a case study that examined the impact of new statistical reporting processes, and software (supplied by you-know-who). The project saved money, improved data quality, streamlined the filing processes, improved timeliness and decreased the overall costs of ownership as system maintenance is handled by iter8. If only every project could have such clearly defined benefits.

Read the case study, and see what was done and why.

The project was also implemented successfully. The project management at Wawanesa was excellent, as was the quality of their technical and business teams.

Were there lessons to help your company?

I think so. Read the details, and see how Wawanesa identified priorities and then worked to ensure they were resolved. From problem identification, to proof of concept, to a phased project with achievable, well-defined milestones Wawanesa ensured the project delivered on-time, and on budget.

Ps – we identified 6 essentials for pain-free statistical reporting I will be able to share them with you next month.

5 key factors for a successful data migration project

David Gallagher — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:29:00 GMT

The data experts at iter8 were talking about how and why data migration and system transformation projects can run into troubles.

They mentioned to me that there are several key actions that are needed to guide such projects, and following these rules greatly improves a projects chance of success. I took these rules, and summarized their feedback into “5” key actions (I would have preferred 8, but what can you do) and asked them to give me more details on each point, and explain why they were important, and the impact they could have on insurance company success.

This is what they produced. 5 key factors for successful systems integration projects.

Follow them, and a project will succeed. They are not in any order, just five common sense steps that when practiced give IT planners a good chance at success. And, they are proven in real-world examples. iter8 has many successful projects ranging from Policy Administration System data migrations to the creation of data warehouses, to the successfully integration of multiple data sources.

Here are the five factors:

1) Choose a third-party solution provider to assist in providing tools, systems, expertise, experience, and an independent outside perspective

2) Select a partner that understands insurance

3) Select a solution in which the results can be reconciled

4) Apply technology that is built for complex data transformation

5) Choose a technology approach that is modern, innovative, yet proven.

Click here to read the full explanation, and details on each point.

Straightforward, logical, common sense. Yet putting them in practice separates the experts from the wannabes.

iter8 can help you execute.

Contact us to learn more. The five steps do not include a “trial” or a proof of concept, but we’d be happy to go down this path. Just another way to ensure risk is reduced, and success is achieved.

Complex Data Migration project is a BIG success

David Gallagher — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:53:00 GMT

After La Capitale Financial Group acquired York Fire and Casualty Insurance they required a consolidated Policy Administration System to create a common system of record with common data storage. York sought a strong claims control system, and quality data to enable actuarial pricing enhancements.

To do this, and meet their stated objectives, they turned to iter8 to partner with them on a complex data migration project in which disparate systems were integrated, and ongoing translation was required to continually integrate web services with the new Policy Administration System.

A case study has just been published that reviews what was needed, what was done, and why it was done.

The complexity was high – the Policy Administration System was “under construction” as the project was underway; 10 years of history, over 2 million transactions were to be migrated; differing data semantics existed between systems (image based and delta based)

The stakes were high – billions in assets and premiums were involved, 48-hour cut-over was mandatory, multiple data sources were involved, and support of the legacy system was poor as it remained with the previous York parent company

The results were tremendous – accuracy was 100% (with only insignificant differences); a translator was built such that the award winning York portal and independent broker and agent interface was untouched, and agents were unaware of the migration to a new system; the single data base led to enhanced pricing, data security improvements, and a common system of record

To get more details, read the case study. Learn how a large, complex data migration can work, using declarative techniques that scale beyond those of more straight-forward ETL tools.

An iter8 Case Study

Small Mutual Insurers Technology Challenges

David Gallagher — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:17:00 GMT

Trillium Mutual Insurance Company is the third largest farm mutual insurance company in the Province of Ontario. They are a leader in the property and farm property categories. Their products are innovative, competitive, priced right, and service levels are high.

All good, except with one big challenge -- how to keep up with the technology offered by larger carriers.

Trillium wrestled with this problem, and used tactics to help them stay competitive:

i) They partnered with another insurer to implement a new system jointly. In this way they could draw upon the business knowledge and expertise of another insurer and save some of the system implementation costs by sharing the costs.

ii) They implemented solutions in stages, such that their business and IT staff could continue with their “day jobs”, and still work with a vendor to implement new solutions.

iii) They used third party vendors to partner with. This meant they did not have to build solutions in-house, and equally importantly they found vendors they could build longer term relations with, that could understand their business, and work with Trillium to understand and solve problems.

iter8 was one of the “partners” chosen to work with Trillium. It has been one of the most positive relations we have built. A good partner, strategic thinkers, and a mutually beneficial relationship have led to success.

Smaller carriers need to work harder to succeed, and Trillium has mastered the formula.

Build versus Buy: What are carriers planning for their portals?

David Gallagher — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:03:00 GMT

Agent portals, and consumer self serve portals are one of the last areas in which some carriers believe an in-house build can meet their needs, instead of a third-party vended solution. As a vendor of portal solutions, data migration and agency connectivity solutions, iter8 wondered how many carriers felt this way. So we asked them.

The results were mixed. Most carriers felt vended solutions were superior, as the expertise provided by vendors in system design, implementation and requirements formulation was superior to in-house solutions.

However, vended solutions were viewed as more expensive.

Perhaps even more importantly, in-house solutions allow carriers to attract and retain good IT staff. If everything is outsourced and the in-house role of IT is focussed on maintenance then good people do not wish to stay.

See the summary chart, and some specifics on the build versus buy question.

What are carriers doing about Consumer self-serve portals?

David Gallagher — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:45:00 GMT

Carriers working with independent agents are faced with a challenge - How can they meet their policy holder needs for self-service, without alienating their independent agents?

Several options exist, (1) Develop self-serve web applications policy holders can directly access via carrier web pages; (2) Develop self-serve web applications policy holders can directly access via agent web pages; (3) Do nothing.

As iter8 is a provider of agent facing and consumer facing web applications who can address solution #1 or solution #2, we wanted to find out what carriers were planning. So we asked them. We retained the leading P&C analysts in the country, and asked them to undertake research with carriers and see what they were planning.

Over half (53%) indicated that they would be interested in purchasing a solution soon, or in the future, while only 34% had no interest. The balance had developed an in-house solution already, or was planning one. Results and interest varied by lines of business, and competitive threats, as did the strategies they were following.

We prepared a summary chart. Click here to review it.

Do agent needs integrate with carrier portal plans?

David Gallagher — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:29:00 GMT

In the third part of a series of blogs that discuss what problems and solutions P&C Insurance carriers are planning in order to upgrade their portals, strengthen market share and profitably grow their business, we turn to the views of the agent.

iter8 completed an extensive study in 2010 to speak directly with independent agents and brokers, and ask them their thoughts in a variety of areas, which included the following specific question – “ From the following list, select those functions you want but which are not provided by the carriers you most frequently represent”

It was followed by a ranking of these functions, with the top 8 functions ranked by importance.

The combination of the two measures produced some valuable insights. For example in the area of endorsements, the total number of “functions you want” was not high (103 in total, versus the top item listed with 173 occurrences). However, when weighted by importance, endorsements rose to be the top requirement, based upon the “importance mean”, while the total item in overall mentions did not even qualify in the importance mean.

Thus, while agents indicated the functions they wanted in the first chart, it only became meaningful when they indicated the priority of the wants and needs.

Click here to view the chart summarizing these results.

This can then be compared with the initiatives underway with Present carriers (see May 10^th blog), and top problems identified by carriers (see May 3^rd blog)

The plot thickens.

Are they aligned?

Are carriers investing in the “right” areas?

Are carriers making headway in meeting agent needs?

The short answer is – “somewhat”. The number and complexity of many of the problems can be overwhelming. (except for carriers that work with iter8, and let our insurance experts help prioritize, and share these research studies in their entirety). Agent needs vary by geography, by lines of business, and by other demographic variables, there is no magic bullet. There is no single solution. Therefore carriers need to identify several technology solutions, develop a timetable to implement in stages, and work with agents to let them know what is coming, by when, and how it will be rolled out.

#1 Portal Upgrade Planned by P&C Carriers

David Gallagher — Wed, 11 May 2011 13:07:00 GMT

To continue the reporting of facts, figures and details from our recent carrier research efforts (in which we interviewed a cross-section of P&C Insurance carriers) the research consultants asked P&C carriers what was the top new initiative they were planning to upgrade their portals.

The top answer can be summarized as - Address online quote and new business for commercial lines. This is different for BOP and small packages, versus larger packages and monoline products.

For BOP and smaller packages, portal enhancements focussed on investments to provide Automation and Upload from Agency Management Systems.

For mid-market and larger commercial lines the focus is on collaboration and policy holder/consumer access.

For smaller commercial markets, efforts are underway to improve straight-through-processing, through automation and integration. Services offered in personal lines need to be extended to commercial lines, and carriers are planning the efforts necessary to make this happen.

In the larger segment, efforts are underway or planned to improve real-time collaboration between carriers, agents and policy holders. As business in these areas is less structured and packaged, emphasis shifts to ensuring each participant can participate in creating a unique offering.

The challenge is that costs can be high, and resource requirements steep. However, these items are in carrier plans right now, and soon will be regarded as “table stakes” for many carriers to remain in the game.

To view a pdf summary of this portion of the research study, click here.

The top 4 problems P&C carriers face upgrading their agent portals

David Gallagher — Tue, 03 May 2011 18:59:00 GMT

A leading Insurance Consulting firm in the US has just completed a major study on behalf of iter8, whereby they interview a cross section of P&C carriers.

From the study, the top 4 problems faced by carriers in meeting their independent agent needs were identified (I wanted the top 8, but 4 clearly summarizes the issues).

Here is the top 4 list.

#4 Technology issues require too much time and/or distract attention and resources from higher priority tasks.

Carriers recognize that keeping technology fresh is a tremendous challenge, and that agent and consumer portals add new systems, and technology that is already complex for many carriers.

#3 Agent adoption of automated processes

The pace of change is fast, and agents are often slow to adopt new technologies introduced by carriers. The reasons are many, and carriers are looking to new technology and portal upgrades to improve agent adoption rates. The best technology in the world is of no value if it does not get used.

#2 Keeping up with the pace of change and delivering quickly

Getting functionality to independent agents and brokers is a major problem. IT projects require planning and research, but change is happening so quickly that carriers cannot keep up.

#1 Meeting agent’s expectations

Large direct writers keep raising the bar on automation and online functionality driving innovation. Keeping up is more and more difficult, especially for smaller carriers

View the pdf summary Top Business Problems.

Coming Next week: The Top initiative carriers are working on to address these problems.

10 years of P&C Insurance Solutions

David Gallagher — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:01:00 GMT

iter8 celebrated its tenth anniversary with a party last week, that coincided with the Insurance Technology Conference.

Customers, channel partners, and show registrants joined iter8 in the celebrations.

The party was a big success. It could have been the “iter8 martinis”, or the tables of food, but most said it was the good spirits in the room. Many of iter8’s best customers were in attendance, and the conversation turned to some of the topics covered at the conference.

Of prime importance were improvements to broker, agent and consumer portals. Most carriers have on-line interaction with their customers and their independent distributors, but it is also a fact that most of these carriers recognize that more is needed. More lines available; better connectivity to agents agent or broker management systems; broader geographic coverage; and the ability to deal with specific distributor complaints, such as fewer keystrokes, single sign-on – were all raised.

iter8 is developing a series of articles, case studies, research studies and presentation topics to examine this topic, under the broad heading of “Upgrading your Portal”.

What does this mean, how can vendors and carriers work together to address this issue, and what are winning carriers doing.

All will be examined in the coming months. iter8 has invested heavily to examine what carriers and agents need to effectively compete and grow, and ultimately service their customer needs.

iter8 has grown successfully in the past ten years, and through the upgrade your portal effort plans to be available for the next ten years working with carriers to improve their overall distributor relationship.

A 10th anniversary sculpture was front and center.

iter8 President, Glen Piller, christened the drink luge, trying the first iter8 martini of the night

Customers, prospects & partners enjoyed themselves, with Dave Patrick, V.P. Business Development listening closely

Optimum General Inc. adds Connected Agent Portal to 2011 schedule

David Gallagher — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:44:00 GMT

iter8 has been working with Optimum General Inc. (Optimum) on their exciting new connected portal for several months, completing the first Phase of the work in 2010.

In January of this year they committed to build the next phase – working with iter8.

The picture attached includes (left to right), Mr. Martin Carrier, President and Chief Operating Officer of Optimum, Mr. Glen Piller, President and CEO of iter8 and Mr. Paul Tremblay, Senior Vice President, Finance and Actuarial Services of Optimum, as they finalized and signed the terms and conditions contract at the Optimum offices.

Optimum has a large team of in-house IT experts. As a result iter8 will play a slightly different role in the implementation, scheduled to occur throughout the year. iter8 will be less involved in ‘doing’, and more involved in transferring knowledge to the Optimum team in how to implement and support the iter8 portal and connectivity products collabor8 and communic8, such that they can extend the rich functionality of the iter8 technology throughout the Optimum family.

This project kicks off in a matter of days, and everyone is excited about starting a project designed to be perhaps the most integrated, connected portal iter8 has worked on. Optimum General will enable their independent brokers to access the portal in a variety of manners, while the business logic of the portal will connect to third party reports and data sources.

iter8 products - a year of "firsts"

David Gallagher — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:50:00 GMT

The calendar year 2010 is now behind us, and iter8, with a fiscal year that ends January 31^st, is in “year-end” wrap up. When looking back at the past year, a first for iter8 occurred – Customers went live with each of iter8’s four core products.

The iter8 core products are:

collabor8 – the agent portal

communic8 – agent connectivity & third party reporting connectivity

regul8 – statistical reporting

transl8 – data migration

In 2010 each product went live with a customer, or with several customers.

collabor8, the agent and broker portal is in many ways the centerpiece of iter8’s products, and this was confirmed in 2010 as several customers took their portals live. Providence Mutual was of particular importance as they developed a functionally rich portal across several states, with multiple product lines, and connected to their independent agents using communic8 and (I need to stop and take a breath) accessed and integrated third party reports including claims history and conviction databases, property value estimating, credit services and geo-coding distance to coast information and (another breath needed) third party raters

communic8, which is often used with collabor8, went live with several customers, including a stand-alone application with Optimum General Insurance. Optimum used communic8 to access and integrate third party reports in 2010 and will be implementing collabor8 in 2011.

regul8, the regulatory statistical reporting solution also had several go-lives’ in 2010, including a go-live with Aviva Insurance, to address their Risk Sharing Pool needs for the Quebec market. regul8 does not have the glamour of other iter8 products, but is a star when it comes to ROI, with a track record of saving carriers significant costs, and improving accuracy in meeting their reporting needs

transl8 is the iter8 data migration solution, that is an unsung hero in the portfolio. La Capitale used transl8 in 2010 for the complete transfer of underwriting data from one Policy Administration System to another including all in-term data and 10+ years of historical data, for multiple lines of business.

As iter8 grows, and the numerous new customers that selected to work with iter8 in 2010 move towards their go-live dates, this might be a “first” that is often repeated. But for iter8, who is celebrating 10^th anniversary results, this represents an important milestone, whereby the implementation teams at iter8 successfully managed multiple go-lives with multiple distinct products.

The little company that grew

David Gallagher — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:20:00 GMT

Christmas will soon be upon us, and then New Years, and everyone is busy gearing up for the celebrations.

But iter8 has one more thing to celebrate this year – the company is celebrating its ten-year anniversary.

As software companies go, iter8 has had a “smooth” ten years. No boom and bust, no getting in over our heads, no lawsuits (thank goodness), just year over year growth and the good fortune to work with fantastic customers

iter8’s customers have been the reason for iter8 reaching the point it has after 10 years. They have benefited from iter8 technology, and been tolerant of iter8 growing pains. They have maintained strong relations with iter8, and rewarded us with new work on a frequent basis. They have helped the company forge strong products in agency portals, agency connectivity, data migration and statistical reporting.

We put a summary together called the little company that grew that provides a brief overview of 10 years of history (as brief as you can be in summarizing 10 years), including most of the customer relationships along the way.

In ten years iter8 has grown to a market leadership position in Canada. iter8 has recruited insurance experts and technology experts, and that combination of knowledge and expertise has led to a position of trust with many in the insurance sector. We understand insurance carriers, and what is necessary to interact with independent agents and brokers.

The company is also expanding into new markets. This includes geographically like the US market, where iter8 is now growing and gaining the same reputation for quality and knowledge, and also with new products and services.

iter8 has maintained P&C insurance know-how. But the technology iter8 utilizes to interface and migrate data has led the company into efforts in the utility sector and with other financial services companies. In the future this will grow, as will P&C insurance customers and relationships

Happy Holiday’s everyone, and keep telling us what is needed for success in the next 10 (or 20) years!

iter8 adds two ACORD Certified Experts to the team

David Gallagher — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:33:00 GMT

iter8 has added two new ACORD Certified Experts (ACE) to the Professional Services Group.

They are not new employees, they represent two long-time experts who enrolled in the ACE Program, completed all the requirements, and not just passed, but excelled in their final exams.

The ACORD Certified Expert (ACE) program is a designation showing a proven background and knowledge in Standards implementation proficiency. To earn the ACE designation, one must pass exams demonstrating knowledge of ACORD’s history and standards development process, an understanding of the insurance industry and Property & Casualty specific standards implementation expertise including both ACORD XML and AL3.

Carol King, Product Manager and Steve Gugler, Manager Support Services are the two iter8 graduates, who wrote the exams at the ACORD Implementation forum.

Working with our customers that follow ACORD Standards, who look to iter8 to guide their technology efforts, it is important that our implementation team include ACORD Certified Experts.

Contact us to learn what this can mean for your implementation, and your ongoing efforts to work with iter8. Learn more about the ACE Program.

Carol King (above) and Steve Gugler (below) are newest iter8 ACE Certified experts

Details on the program are highlighted below:

An ACE certification requires you to take and pass three exams:

ACORD Information

The first exam focuses on ACORD’s history, standards development process, operating procedures, maintenance request process, and related topics.

Industry Knowledge

An understanding and knowledge base of the insurance industry is essential for proper standards implementation.

Standards Knowledge

The third component is domain-specific standards knowledge from one, or more, of ACORD’s Standards domains (Life, Annuity & Health; Property & Casualty/Surety; Reinsurance & Large Commercial).

iter8 participates in Healthy Minds Canada Silver Dinner 2010

David Gallagher — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:20:00 GMT

A team from iter8 recently attended the “Silver Dinner”, in support of Health Minds Canada. Healthy Minds Canada is a national charitable organization that has recently been established to join together the good works of the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation (CPRF) and Mental Health Partnerships of Canada (MHPC).

Iter8 is proud to contribute to such a worthwhile organization whose mission is to support research on mental health and mental illness and find better treatments and services for the 1 in 5 Canadians affected by mental illness each year.

Ten iter8 staffers attended. Wine, a nice dinner and a serious message aimed at removing the stigma associated with mental health in North America were topped off with a silent auction in which iter8’s finest contributed further.

Healthy Minds Canada has a 30-year history of funding mental health and addiction research, and offers an expanded research mandate that includes brain injury, mental health promotion, prevention of mental illness and an emphasis on the recovery model; a new field of study that focuses on improving service systems and supports.

Janice Durocher, Project Manager and Dave Hayward, Senior Developer enjoyed the charity dinner.

John Turner, Vice President of R&D and Glen Piller, President and CEO discuss the evening events -- or maybe trends in Agency Connectivity??

iter8 planning for 2011

David Gallagher — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:13:00 GMT

The 2011 planning cycle, in which we develop and refine our business and technology strategies for the coming year, is now upon us.

As a software vendor we need to finalize our Product Roadmap for 2011, (what is happening with the iter8 product suite in terms of enhancements, upgrades and changes), finalize our Marketing and Sales plans, (who is the best fit for our products and services), review our Customer Service plans (How we want our customers to be treated and supported) and review Professional Services needs.

This year we kicked off the planning cycle with a companywide meeting, held at one of Toronto’s numerous hotels just a couple of weeks ago. One of the tasks was to review 2010 activity, and when it was presented to everyone I realized what a busy year it has been.

iter8 has successfully developed a U.S. based “ACORD in a box” product that we can offer to new customers as a core launchpad to accelerate their interoperability. Incorporating and adhering to ACORD Standards, with pre-built integration templates, yet fully customizable, it overcomes a major hurdle in the development of a cost-effective, integratable product for smaller and mid-sized carriers. In 2010 we’ve also added several more new customers to the iter8 client roster that now tops more than 20 carriers, ranging from the largest insurers in North America, to smaller regional insurers. In each case iter8 products addressed a specific need with our customers, and played a key role in achieving their corporate objectives.

It was also clear that all the good strategies in the world were not as important as the talented staff sitting in the room. As a result, celebrations and recognition of their stellar efforts took up much of the event. Awards were handed out, and employees were recognized for their dedication and the value they brought to both iter8 and to our customers.

Our planning cycle for 2011 involves our customers, industry experts and iter8 experts. We’ll be reaching out to many of the folks on this list. You can certainly help our efforts and I invite you to contact us, as every little bit counts

Technology elements of the IBAO Annual Meeting

David Gallagher — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:30:00 GMT

The Independent Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) held their annual meeting in late October. A wide cross section of P&C insurance carriers and the independent brokers that make up their distribution partners were in attendance.

The discussions pertaining to technology focused on technologies to facilitate independent broker and carrier interactions. Agreement that investment and effort is required was universal, but “where” to invest, and “what” to invest in were not as clear.

In an article in the recent issue of Canadian Underwriter Magazine, Glen Piller, President and CEO of iter8 tackles this issue. The article entitled “Welcome to a World of Portals” follows two themes. The first theme is that innovative carriers are investing in modern, connected portals that are more user-friendly, complete and connected to agency management systems than ever before. This talks about “what” is needed to better position carriers and independent agents and brokers to compete with direct writers.

The second theme is that working together to deliver technology solutions that matches or exceeds direct writers is essential, and both parties need to invest not just money but also time and effort to ensure technologies meet the needs of current policy holders and those of future insurance customers. One side dictating what is to be done does not work; just consider the flaws in first generation portals.

Kevin McNeil the President of Gore Mutual Insurance echoed this second theme during remarks he made during his participation in the CEO panel, one of the key presentation topics from the IBAO Conference. To paraphrase Mr. McNeil in his concluding comments, his message was that more and more insurance customers, particularly younger customers, were expecting to view information online, and conduct business online through their computers and mobile devices. He challenged brokers and carriers to jointly address this changing market, and not to focus on the nuts and bolts of today’s distribution model, but rather to develop technologies to facilitate such action and be ready to respond to a changing market.

iter8, a technology leader in providing broker and carrier integration, is one company that must rise to the challenge to help meet this goal.

Social Media: Risks are interconnected

David Gallagher — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:45:00 GMT

I just attended a seminar entitled, “Social Media: Risks are interconnected”, hosted by Canadian Insurance, Top Broker Magazine and sponsored by Chubb Insurance. The topic was extremely well received, with everyone in the audience of approximately 70 P&C carriers extremely attentive. The seminar differed from many other talks I have recently attended in that it focused on social media (that part was not different!), and the legal and insurance implications of blogging, tweeting, forwarding, linking etc. (that was different).

The main message was to make sure your social media initiatives manage risk, and avoid legal problems for it is all too easy to run afoul of not only the laws of the land where you are based, but the lands of multiple countries, as the cyber world spreads across the globe. Problems with defamation were examined, as were issues with personal privacy and data protection, company strategies to deal with these problems and overall media liability issues (as well as the issue on how such issues can be insured).

I know my emphasis is to “get our message out there”, and this gave me pause to think about the issues surrounding this strategy. Challenges involve the immediacy of social media. For example, forwarding someone or a group with a link, or promoting a blog (“check this out”), or requesting readers to “add a comment” can all be treated as if you or your company makes these claims and statements. If troubles ensue, claiming you “did not know” is not a defense.

This has always been the case, but with social media the scope has expanded exponentially, and the ability of a company to monitor what is happening is more and more difficult. As a result, planning a remediation and reaction strategy is critical.

It got me thinking, and hopefully this blog will get you thinking too. And because of this subject this blog has no links and no comments!

Trade Show Season for P&C Insurance is very Busy

David Gallagher — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:30:00 GMT

Often our blogs have a seasonal feel, and while many would say the “fall season” or “autumn” is upon us, at iter8 we say “trade show” season has arrived. September and October are the peak months for several important trade shows and conferences.

iter8 is exhibiting at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) Annual Convention this week, with over 1,600 attendees from over 300 companies. This comes on the heels of TENCon, the Applied Systems Client Network User Conference, held last week in Chicago.

NAMIC has a special place for iter8 because many of our customers are mutual insurance companies, and iter8 just seems to “fit” with the culture of many small and mid-sized mutual insurers. Mutual insurers work extensively with independent agents, and as it is a goal of iter8 to develop technology that enables independent agents and carriers to collaborate (using our product collabor8 - funny how that name evolved), we are able to help mutual insurers compete with direct writers.

The IASA (Insurance Accounting and Systems Association) Fall Planning meeting starts this Friday, with iter8 staff participating in the area of speaker planning and exhibit planning, followed by the Insurance Networking News Women in Insurance Leadership Forum. At the Women in Insurance Leadership Forum the CEO, Sandy Parrillo, of Providence Mutual, a customer of iter8, is receiving a leadership award, and iter8 is pleased to participate in the sessions.

PCI (Property and Casualty Insurers Association) is holding the Insurance Technology Seminar to kick off October, and iter8 will be present. Senior technology staff attends the conference from carriers across North America and so does iter8 to learn and add to the discussions.

This is soon followed by the CAMIC Annual Meeting, which we and Canadian Mutual Insurers both attend. Before you can blink, the IBAO (Insurance Brokers of Ontario) Annual Convention is scheduled in which carriers and independent agents and brokers exchange ideas on how to improve collaboration (there is that word again), and improve overall effectiveness.

But wait I’m not done, because if you slip into November, ACORD is holding The Implementation Forum at the start of November, and you guessed it – iter8 is participating in this key standards setting forum. The conference is important for all carriers, agents and technology providers as much of the topic focuses on standards to ensure smooth collaboration, and robustness in connectivity and portals.

Trade Show season keeps us hoping. But it also provides us with input on what issues are important in the market, what “pain” carriers and agents are feeling, and the types of solutions desired. As critical providers of agent portals and connectivity, as well as data transformation services iter8 plays a key role is helping design solutions for the P&C industry.

As you can see “trade show season” is busy. But, it is also valuable. The goals and objectives of these meetings vary, but overall they are designed to improve operating effectives of the thousands of insurance carriers, independent agents and brokers.

Direct to consumer "pseudo" agent portals

David Gallagher — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:06:00 GMT

Earlier this week we had a meeting with a firm that analyses the P&C Insurance market and we discussed the trend (there was some discussion as to the timing of this trend) for Property and Casualty carriers that use an independent broker network to also consider a direct-to-consumer channel to counter the rise of the direct writers such as Progressive and Geiko (to name just a couple.)

These carriers face a big dilemma. A direct to consumer portal, and supporting customer service staff will cannibalize their independent agent channel, and the ill will such an effort would generate may force agents to move business to other carriers, and ultimately severely cripple the carrier and the agent.

They face the challenge – If faced by such threats, how do we behave more like direct carriers in reaching out to customers without alienating independent agents?

Several paths can be taken. One extreme is to move full speed ahead, regardless of the consequences, and develop direct-to-consumer capabilities on line or through call centers. For a carrier that feels its independent agent channel is not performing, or for one with a huge threat from other direct writers this may be the path to choose. The other extreme is to do nothing, maintain the status quo, shut your eyes, and hope the threat does not get worse. This may involve carriers in smaller geographic centers, or with niche products that feel competition will not affect them as directly.

At present I suspect few would choose either of these routes. Instead most will be looking at two tactics.

1) Reinforce their agent integration to create an environment in which their independent agent channel has similar technology tools to the direct writers, and can deal with increased competition, and changing consumer preferences for self-serve, and internet portal use.

2) Develop a direct to consumer portal/call center that meets direct to consumer needs, but is also tied to agents, so that agents continue to maintain customer relationships. For those acting in this manner that use a portal, the direct to consumer capabilities can generate quotes or submissions but involve agents through lead-forwarding or the use of a branded agent web site. In the latter case the consumer uses a portal developed by the carrier, but branded as an agent site. Consumers can access direct services/inquiries, while dealing with a “real-live, local representative”, and benefit from using carrier technology, interacting with local agents.

iter8 can meet either of these scenarios, as iter8 portal and connectivity products were designed to help carriers interact with independent agents, but have been designed so that the interface layer and user interface are so flexible that a direct-to-consumer portals can be created.

So, for iter8, we are “ok” with this trend. But are independent agents? Are carriers who have built up skills to deal directly with agents able to switch gears, and deal with such formidable competitors as Progressive and Geiko? Can both groups handle such change? Do carriers have a sense of urgency to act, or is it “sometime in the future”?

In the “commoditized” product lines such as personal lines auto, this trend is much stronger, and faster than with commercial lines, particularly larger commercial lines, and all carriers that operate in this space should consider the answers, and develop strategies before they are forced too.

And last, I ask why agents and carriers are not openly working on answers, instead of focusing on disagreements, and why are they looking at the trees, not the forest.

regul8 solves insurance carrier challenges

David Gallagher — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:56:00 GMT

Our blogs often focus on agent portals as this is an area where iter8 leads the market. However, we also offer a product, regul8, that is a leader in regulatory statistical reporting.

In fact, regul8 was the first product offered by iter8, to carriers seeking to improve the quality of their data in regulatory submissions. In the case of Aviva, one of iter8’s first clients, they were faced with penalty charges for incomplete or inaccurate data, which resulted from the amalgamation of several Policy Administration Systems.

iter8, experts in P&C insurance, data management, and system integration was a natural fit to offer a product to help address this problem, and offer the Professional Services necessary to operationalize the solution. In fact we did such a good job the company went on to deliver several more services for Aviva including agent upload and download services.

Well the wheel turns again as iter8 is enhancing the regul8 offering, to now include additional filing requirements for Aviva.

iter8 has begun another project with Aviva to help them with Risk Sharing Pool filings for the Province of Quebec. In the software business it is so important to treat clients well (like it isn’t everywhere else!) because the partnerships that form often lead to additional demands.

We are so pleased to work with Aviva, and I’m sure they are pleased to use regul8 to handle regulatory statistical reporting.

regul8 was recently updated to include the IBC changes related to the Ontario Auto Reform Legislation. regul8 continues to change and evolve for the better, as it is use at numerous carriers, each facing unique requirements.

Briefly, regul8 is a collection of regulatory software components that run on standard industry middleware. It automates the submissions process for regulatory statistical reporting for single and multiple lines of insurance delivering accurate, on-time data, while simplifying and streamlining a carrier’s submissions cycle.

regul8 gives insurers complete control over the reporting process while improving data quality (reducing first-time submission errors and deficiency fees) and sharply reducing maintenance costs (providing a user-configurable submissions process when regulatory reporting requirements change).

transl8 gives everyone at iter8 a happy summer message

David Gallagher — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:49:00 GMT

July 26^th, and the heat of summer is truly upon us. While it’s hard to get excited about anything but oceans, lakes and beaches, at iter8 we have a few “go-lives” that have us excited, and we have stories to share.

Last year, around this time we started efforts to convert the information from the York Fire and Casualty Policy Administration System Policy (IIS), into the Policy Administration System (OPUS) of their new parent company, La Capitalé Insurance. Close to twelve months later, 2 million transactions, and 10 years of underwriting history, covering all underwriting transactions (New Business, Policy Change, Renewal, Cancellation data and transaction combinations) were successfully migrated. The iter8 Professional Services team used transl8, the iter8 data migration product. The use of transl8 combined with the experienced team from iter8 greatly improved risk management, enhanced measurement and audit tracking, and ensured deadlines would be met.

Cut-over day was July 4^th, and the data transfer went exactly as planned, and expectations were met or exceeded. The York Fire and Casualty system was operational, ready to go when everyone came into work to start the next week.

Contact us for details, as the iter8 combination of Professional Services and transl8, iter8’s data translation product, proved they could meet and exceed expectations on a large, data intensive, long-term project.

iter8 also recently completed a series of auto reform upgrades with current clients. Services within the umbrella of support often go “unnoticed” for software vendors, because high quality is what the customer expects. It’s hard to get excited when the lights go on every morning, or the car starts when you turn it on. But, when the rules change in the insurance marketplace, and our customers agent and broker portals need to be upgraded, iter8 services and performance are as reliable as turning the lights on in the morning. Our customers are confident that iter8 will “get it right”, and make the necessary changes to ensure new regulations and new requirements are met. In this case we did get it right, and made operating changes to each and every customer affected by regulatory change.