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From Resource, August 2006
Copyright by LOMA
Systems
Forum Exhibitors: Solutions for Success
Some exhibitors took the opportunity
provided by the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum to unveil new products,
introduce partnerships, or make announcements. Here are some of those
announcements, along with highlights of the many products demonstrated.
Finding the systems tools and partners to make business vision a reality is not
always an easy proposition. It takes dialogue, understanding, and partnership.
Even more, it takes looking at many different companies and solutions to make
sure you have the best possible fit for your organization.
At the
2006 ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum in
Las Vegas
,
NV
, attendees had the advantage of talking to exhibitors at over 190 booths in the
Forum Exhibit Hall. They were able to see live product demonstrations and
network with exhibitors and other attendees to develop relationships and look
for partnership opportunities. These professionals left the Forum with a better
comprehension of the products and partners that are available to help them meet
their needs in the current climate of uncertainty—understanding which ones
might have solutions that would help ensure future safety and success.
Some
exhibitors took the opportunity provided by the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems
Forum to unveil new products, introduce partnerships, or make announcements.
Here are some of those announcements, along with highlights of the many products
demonstrated.
EDS SOLCORP Releases
RADIENCE: Consolidation v2
EDS SOLCORP,
Toronto
,
ON
,
Canada
, announced the release of RADIENCE:
Consolidation v2, an advanced, customer-centric business processing platform
that allows insurers the ability to effectively manage customer information
residing within multiple administration systems, through a common user
interface.
Built
on the RADIENCE platform, this release of RADIENCE: Consolidation introduces
numerous functional and technical enhancements designed to make the solution
more powerful and easier than ever to use.
“RADIENCE: Consolidation
delivers a powerful set of tools and features to enable insurers to have a
unified view of customer information stored in multiple systems and
locations,” said Michael Mansfield, leader of EDS SOLCORP. “Now
organizations can effectively manage the myriad of back-office administration
systems while maintaining their focus on customer service and retention.”
In
addition to multi-currency and multi-language support, RADIENCE: Consolidation
v2 features an improved user interface, integration with EDS SOLCORP’s
PathFinder business process management tool, and new adapters for increased
compatibility with legacy “green-screen” systems. Additional features
include:
New
Business Application and Status Notification: Completed New Business
Applications can be received electronically from external sources, routed,
mapped to back-end systems and then confirmed to original sender.
Auditing
and Transaction Traceability: Financial and non-financial transactions can be
fully tracked and stored including transaction logs and customer inquiries. This
functionality also enables auditing of ACORD TxLife transactions.
Application
Portability: Portable to multiple IBM WebSphere J2EE environments
Fund
Switch Transactions: Requests can be initiated as a web-service outside the
back-office system, lending added convenience to customer self-service
environments.
RADIENCE:
Consolidation provides scalable, consistent, customer-centric processing,
integrating and consolidating customer data, enterprise applications and
business processes across disparate administration systems and enabling insurers
to evolve to newer back-office systems at a measured pace and with minimal
business operations interruption.
EDS
SOLCORP also announced the launch of RADIENCE: Administration, a new
multi-product architecture and platform built from the ground up to address the
policy administration needs of life insurance and annuity providers.
RADIENCE:
Administration supports a unified product framework that eliminates traditional
product silos, enabling users to easily combine features from life, annuity,
health and disability lines into a single policy.
“The industry has been
calling for a new breed of policy administration systems that are truly agile
and flexible enough to support the rapid product innovation required to be
competitive,” said Michael Mansfield, leader of EDS SOLCORP. “With our 25
year track record of delivering innovative solutions to the life and annuity
industry, we knew we were in the best position to help our customers make the
technological leap forward.”
An “end-to-end” enterprise
life insurance operations platform, RADIENCE: Administration makes it possible
for insurers to:
Build
one policy that seamlessly supports features from any line of business;
Deliver
accumulation and payout features in a single contract;
Deliver
flexible “Straight Through Processing”;
Use
model-based configuration functionality instead of coding for rapid new
functionality deployment.
EDS SOLCORP also announced the
release of RADIENCE: Retirement, the latest in a line of tailored modules built
on the RADIENCE: Administration platform. The new offering extends the
capabilities of the base solution to help organizations meet their retirement
savings and income policy administration needs.
RADIENCE:
Retirement is designed to support a variety of accumulation and payout products
including:
Fixed
Interest Accumulation Annuities: single and multiple funded contracts with
portfolio, guaranteed or annual interest lock-in type interest options, fund
sweeps across investment vehicles
Equity Index Annuities:
multiple index choices, participation rates and caps
Variable Accumulation
Annuities: unlimited sub-accounts (including ability to co-mingle all account
types within a contract, Living Benefits (GMIB, GMAB & GMWB)
Fixed
Interest and Variable Immediate Annuities: premium/deposit sourcing, emergency
withdrawals, commuted values, sub-account reallocation, multiple interest rates
and a variety of payment option schemes
RADIENCE
is a new multi-product architecture and platform built from the ground up to
address the policy administration needs of life insurance and annuity providers.
The solutions supports a unified product framework that eliminates traditional
product silos, enabling users to easily combine features from life, annuity,
health and disability lines into a single policy.
For
more information, visit the EDS SOLCORP Web site at www.solcorp.com.
AdminServer Launches Virtual
Back Office Suite
AdminServer, Inc.,
Chester
,
PA
, announced the introduction and immediate availability of their Virtual Back
Office (VBO), a suite of unique solution components linked by a centralized and
common rules engine. Whether a complement to an insurer’s existing AdminServer
Policy Administration System or a means to integrate their existing legacy
environment, VBO provides for a streamlined back office operation and legacy
transformation.
The
VBO suite components available through AdminServer are:
AdminServer
Policy Administration System—full policy administration for life, annuities,
reinsurance and health
UVServer—unit
value management and fund accounting
IllustrationServer—point
of sale illustrations
NewBusinessServer—new
business and underwriting
CommissionServer—license
and appointment and commissions
With
all AdminServer solutions built on an open SOA-based architecture, these
AdminServer solution components are easily integrated with AdminServer’s
Policy Administration System. For those insurers with non-AdminServer solutions,
VBO can be utilized through an integration hub, establishing communication
standards for all affected applications; thereby eliminating the constraints of
the traditional back office mix of disparate and siloed systems.
Benefits
of implementing VBO include:
Promotes
insurer market growth through faster product development and deployment
Improves
operational efficiencies with all components utilizing a centralized rules
engine
Reduces
costs through the consolidation of multiple back office systems
Jim
Rourke, AdminServer’s CMO, commented, “As a vendor to the insurance
industry, our job is to observe, analyze and respond to the needs of our clients
and the marketplace; spanning the insurance operation from sales and
distribution, organizational, product and the underlying infrastructure of the
operation. For too long the industry has struggled with taking band-aid
approaches to their legacy back office environments with varying degrees of
success and failure. VBO will have a dramatic effect on how insurers develop and
distribute products and administer their business.”
For
more information, call 610-619-3100, e-mail info@adminserver.com, or visit the
AdminServer Web site at www.AdminServer.com.
More Than 75 Million Life
Insurance and Annuity Policies Now Administered on CSC Software
Computer Sciences Corporation,
El Segundo
,
CA
, announced that its policy administration systems now support 75 million life
insurance and annuity policies in
North America
. CSC reached this milestone with Sammons Financial Group’s recent conversion
of an acquired block of policies onto CSC’s CyberLife software.
Using CSC’s conversion
process, Sammons Financial Group is consolidating its policy data files onto one
platform to simplify its information technology (IT) systems and lower software
maintenance costs. The CSC process includes automated software tools for mapping
data onto the target system and balancing it for verification. These also help
insurers complete their consolidation projects on time and within budget.
“A
key strategy for us is to grow revenues and market share both organically and
through acquisition,” said Gary Gaspar, Sammons Financial Group’s senior
vice president and chief information officer. “CyberLife’s scalability and
overall functionality make it the best policy administration system to support
our growth. To help speed our recent conversion, we utilized the tools and
expertise of CSC’s conversion team.”
With
the dramatic increase of mergers and acquisitions in the insurance industry
during the past five years, many insurers now have policies residing on multiple
systems with little or no integration. Converting all policies to one software
platform improves data accuracy and processing efficiency and reduces IT costs.
In the past three years, CSC has supported the consolidation of more than eight
million life and annuity policies onto its policy administration systems.
Currently,
40 of the leading 50
U.S.
life and annuity carriers use CSC’s CyberLife or VANTAGE-ONE policy
administration software. The systems support a broad spectrum of life insurance
and annuity products, both traditional and non-traditional. CSC’s software
also offers the scalability required for high volumes associated with platform
consolidations.
“CSC’s
clients use CyberLife and VANTAGE-ONE more and more frequently as their
consolidation platforms of choice thanks to the systems’ ability to handle
huge numbers of policies and the broad product support the company offers,”
said Chad Hersh, senior analyst with Celent, a global financial services IT
research and consulting firm.
“Sammons
Financial Group and other leading insurers have recognized CSC’s ability to
improve efficiency and reduce costs,” said Michael W. Risley, president of the
Life and Annuity Division of CSC’s Financial Services Group. “With our
robust products and extensive conversion expertise, CSC delivers the results our
clients need.”
Since
2000, CSC has completed more than 50 major life industry conversions in the
Americas
. CSC’s conversion specialists draw on the company’s technology centers
around the world, including
India
and
South Africa
. CSC’s world sourcing services include a wide array of technical capabilities
and the delivery of onshore, offshore and near-shore resources.
For
more information, visit the CSC Web site at www.csc.com.
McCamish Systems Releases
New Version of PMACS
McCamish Systems,
Atlanta
,
GA
, has released its Web-based, J2EE compliant version of the Producer Management
and Compensation System (PMACS®) into production. PMACS® is a single solution
to manage producers in multiple relationships with separate contracts, complex
compensation structures and processing rules. PMACS provides a holistic
view of each producer across distribution channels, product lines and
compensation structures. The system re-engineering leverages the depth and power
of the original application while offering ease of access and adoptability.
For
more information, visit the McCamish Systems Web site at www.mccamish.com.
eLynx to Provide eBusiness
Services for Insurance Industry Solutions
eLynx Ltd.,
Cincinnati
,
OH
, an innovator of e-services that transform costly paper-intensive business
processes into secure electronic operations, announced that the company will
offer its suite of e-services to the insurance market. Designed to the specific
needs of Property & Casualty, Life & Health, Reinsurance and other
insurance divisions, the services reduce cycle times while promoting improved
workflow, compliance and quality assurance.
The
decision to move into the insurance industry was based on eLynx’s success in
the financial services market, where eLynx works with 14 of the top 20 lenders.
eLynx has found that automating workflow drives greater efficiency and
accountability around recurring document-centric business processes, while
increasing productivity and decreasing cost. eLynx has found ways to quickly
achieve the most critical integration with customers existing business systems.
This simple integration enables insurers to automate policy processing,
including management of transaction documents, and review, approve and delivery
of correspondence and policies electronically. By streamlining workflow,
insurers can focus on underwriting and business development
not on paper management and compliance.
“We
have digitized paper-driven customer-centric business processes for many of the
leading lenders and implemented solutions, such as e-signatures and e-delivery,
which saved institutions millions by reducing cycle times as much as 50
percent,” attested Robert Nilsson, vice president of business development for
eLynx. “eLynx has delivered these customers results through in-depth
understanding of the entire document life cycle and has come to realize that
this expertise transfers to the insurance industry.”
To
guarantee security, eLynx undergoes a quarterly, third party SAS70, Level II
audit/certification procedure that assures compliance and documentation of key
processes. eLynx services significantly reduce risks because transaction
documents are securely encrypted and archived, and only authorized personnel
have access.
Noting
the particular importance of security and privacy under GLB privacy
requirements, Nilsson said, “Our experience with the nation’s top financial
institutions has resulted in us successfully addressing the challenges of
regulatory compliance. Electronic document delivery not only minimizes
production time and expense, it includes built-in quality controls that promote
compliance.”
Nilsson
added that in 2005 alone eLynx processed more than 25 million secure
transactions, delivering hundreds of millions in cost savings for financial
institutions. “Our proven track record with financial leaders can now be
applied to the benefit of the insurance industry,” stated Nilsson,
“Insurance companies stand to see monumental gains from eLynx solutions and we
are extremely excited to be a driver of those achievements.”
For
more information visit the eLynx Web site at www.elynx.com.
RGA Technology Partners,
Inc.® Launches AURA® Underwriting Services
RGA Technology Partners, Inc.,
(RTP) announced the launch of AURA Underwriting Services, a Tele-underwriting
unit. AURA Underwriting Services uses highly-regarded RGA rules sets and AURA
technology to improve the insurance application process. Two AURA call centers
are now up and running, located in
St. Louis
,
Missouri
and
Sydney
,
Australia
. Another call center is forthcoming in
Toronto
,
Ontario
.
Insurers will use AURA Underwriting
Services to manage their insurance application workflow and improve the
application process. Instead of using the valuable time of planners and
underwriters on every application, AURA Underwriting Services uses professional
Tele-interviewers to gather front-line data and enter it into the AURA system.
The AURA system then prompts the interviewer with relevant questions and
reflexive questions, orders appropriate requirements, and automates underwriting
decisions. AURA Underwriting Services also gathers Management Information data
that an organization can use to refine its processes and improve itself over
time.
For
more information visit the RGA Technology Partners Web site at www.rgatp.com.
Perot Systems Showcases
Solutions
Perot Systems showcased its
solutions at the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum. Perot Systems is a trusted
adviser and provider of business processes, consulting, applications and
infrastructure solutions that help insurance companies control costs, streamline
operations and accelerate growth. Through the expertise of its highly skilled
associates, the company delivers industry-specific counsel and solutions that
help companies accelerate product implementations, improve new business cycle
times, reduce administration costs and improve producer loyalty.
For
more information, visit the Perot Systems Corporation Web site at
www.perotsystems.com.
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