Buying a software product from a vendor doesn't necessarily makea partnership between the two firms, but Allianz Life of NorthAmerica felt it needed more than a software solution when it wentshopping for a new illustration system. Hooking up with CossDevelopment provided that extra relationship that has made the dealwork for both sides.

The need to replace the company's old DOS illustration systemwith a Windows package was “a simple business decision,” accordingto Ron Berger, chief financial officer for Allianz Marketing, oneof the seven business groups that make up Allianz.

The DOS system was easy to use, according to Berger, but Allianzwanted something that would be even easier for its 117,000independent agents in North America. Allianz believes in fieldtraining, but Berger said, “We teach our agents about our products,we don't want to have to teach them how to run an illustrationsystem.”

Berger said Allianz identified outside firms that might providewhat it needed, and looked at several options. “One of the firstthings we asked ourselves is whether we could understand theirdemos,” he said. “If we couldn't understand them, they wererejected.”

With an independent agent force, many Allianz agents werefamiliar with different illustration products, so the company askedthem for suggestions. “When we asked our agents, they almostinvariably mentioned Coss,” he said. Allianz wanted someone who haddone this type of thing before and Coss already had 80 insuranceclients.

After getting the selection process down to three vendors,Berger said there were some specific aspects of the system thatneeded to be studied. “We looked at how to load the software,” hesaid. “We wanted something that was easy to use. We also didn'twant something that takes up a lot of space on the hard drive.”

Keeping a happy agent force was important. “We look at howagents run their business,” Berger said. “We want to take some ofthe cost out of their operation whenever we can.”

Berger said that the IRIS system from Coss was “prettyefficient. It worked well with Windows.” Coss was invited to theAllianz office and the companies discussed a long-term partnership.“We wanted a good cultural fit,” Berger said. “Do they get it froma business perspective?”

The Allianz team traveled to Milwaukee to watch Coss build thesystem. “We weren't interviewing a developer,” Berger said. “Wewanted a partner. Our product is unique in the market place and wewanted that built into the calculation engine.”

Being able to discuss technology and insurance made for a goodpartnership. “They had people who understood actuaries,” Bergersaid. “The communication was quite clear.”

Allianz didn't want anything off the shelf. “Our products arelike no other, so we needed to do a lot of customization withCoss,” he said. “There were some bumps in the road, but we were alladult about it and worked through the problems. We had to customizeeverything. We didn't take one thing that was standard.”

It took between five and six months to develop the firstillustration tools, but both sides learned the ropes-now newproduct illustrations can be completed in six weeks.

The best measure of the product's success comes from the users.Berger said that the first thing Allianz heard back from its agentswas, “You're finally on Windows.”

Because most agents were already familiar with Windows, trainingwas minimal. “Under one percent of our agents had problems on thefirst distribution,” Berger said. “Mostly that came from trying toinstall the software on older PCs.”

The relationship between Allianz and Coss is solid. “I think thereal tribute to a good relationship is the ability to solveproblems,” he said. “Coss has a partnership conference each yearand they look for honest feedback. They get it and they also giveit back to us.” The two are working together on an Internetapplication now that will probably be ready soon, according toBerger.

“The program has worked well so far,” Berger said. “That's whathappens when both sides are vigilant. It does feel like they arepart of us.”

The Company: Allianz Life of North America
Premium income: $1.8 billion
www.allianzlife.com

The Product: IRIS from Coss Development
www.cossdev.com