New Insurance Tech Products Play Nice With ACORDStandards

Orlando

The 2002 ACORD Technology Conference featured a myriad of newtechnology announcements and product introductions, many involvingACORDs XML and other standards.

Among the technology news items at the conference:

Applied Systems Inc. of University Park, Ill., an agencymanagement systems vendor, announced that more than 6,000 of itsagency customers are fully enabled for ACORD XML communication viaintegration with IVANS “Transformation Station–a real-time dataexchange that manages communication between agencies andcarriers.

This represents “more than 80,000 agency workstations,” saidDoug Johnston, executive vice president of Applied, who noted thatthree out of four Applied agencies are now ready.

“This is a wakeup call for carriers,” he continued.“Eighty-thousand agency workstations communicating with ACORD XMLrepresent a lot of streamlined new and renewal policy processing,as well as a significant amount of customer service inquiries.”

The Hartford also announced during the conference that it hasagreed to use “Transformation Station” to help “manage real-timeprocessing, mailbox processing and transaction translations amongtrading partners using ACORD standards.”

FireStar Software Inc., based in Acton, Mass., which marketswhat it says is the first out-of-the-box data service layer used tointegrate new applications into enterprise computing environments,announced a “go-to-market” agreement with Microsoft, headquarteredin Redmond, Wash.

According to FireStar, the agreement is intended to assistenterprise developers in implementing applications that supportACORD standards and IBMs “Insurance Application Architecture.”

Under the agreement, FireStar and Microsoft will participate injoint marketing and sales activities “targeting insurance companiesfaced with issues of rapidly developing applications compliant withindustry standards,” the company said.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Software AG Inc., the Reston, Va.-based subsidiary of SoftwareAG, a large European software provider, announced “SAGe Insurance,”an XML-based application.

Combined with the companys “EntireX XML Mediator,” the softwareenables users to “create, transform and sequence ACORD XMLdocuments in a real-world dynamic environment,” the companysaid.

“This solution will significantly reduce the time and expenseinvolved in implementing ACORD XML, and, more importantly, reducethe time and expense in maintaining ACORD XML interfaces between aninsurance company and the multiplicity of institutions, brokers,agents and corporate customers with which it must exchangedocuments,” according to John Stone, financial services practicedirector for Software AG.

Fipsco of Des Plaines, Ill., a unit of Fiserv Inc. and adeveloper of life insurance marketing software, announced its “LifePortraits 2000″ straight-through processing solution using XML andXMLife standards.

According to Fipsco, the system will share data between needsanalysis, policy illustrations, applications, underwriting andadministration modules. “It significantly streamlines the processof issuing policies,” the company said.

The product “will transform how field producers and home officesinteract and operate every day,” said Dennis Pfiffner, vicepresident of sales for Fipsco.

The software will “improve the new-business process byeliminating manual processing errors, improving efficiency,increasing speed of policy issue, reducing costs and providingbetter overall customer service,” he added.

Fipscos software includes a business-rule-driven applicationwith electronic signatures and interaction with home officeadministration systems, the company said.

The industrys “first complete native Windows commercial packagepolicy processing solution” was introduced by INSTEC in Naperville,Ill.

The “QuickSolver Commercial Package Policy” software is anationwide rating and policy issuance product that supportscommercial property, general liability, inland marine and crimelines of business.

Pat Walsh, vice president of INSTEC, said the product “enablesour clients to leverage all the benefits of current technologiesand the Internet while offering the flexibility to easily integrateto other software components.” He described the system as beingbuilt on “native Windows with open standards such as COM andXML.”

Another program based on ACORD standards, “Axcess forInsurance,” was announced by Pittsburgh-based SEEC Inc. This is aWeb-based, self-service system for insurance companies and theiragents, brokers and policyholders, the company said.

According to SEEC, the system provides “out-of-the-boxself-service capabilities that can be deployed in months byintegrating with existing back endsPolicyholders get better, fasterservice, and agents can quote and close business entirely via theWeb, improving their competitiveness and increasing theirproductivity.”

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property &Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, June 3, 2002.Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.