Most major insurers have already taken tentative steps in usingWeb services to deliver business functionality via the Internet.However, the benefits from these early implementations pale incomparison to the true potential of Web services when they are usedin combination to deliver complete business processes.

Web services can best be described as small pieces of reusableand easily called business functionality which are exposed to usersinternally or through the Internet. When these Web servicescomponents are used as building blocks, arranged in variousconfigurations, they have the potential to deliver on the long-heldgoal of using technology to flexibly mirror complete businessprocesses.

The method of tying Web services together and defining the rulesof the business process is commonly referred to as "orchestration,"which represents the next step in the maturing process and broaderuse of Web services.

Just as a lone musician produces a pleasant melody, a single Webservice delivers some small piece of business functionality andvalue. However, when a single musician is joined by complementaryartists, with well-tuned instruments, and coordinated through anoverarching score, the resulting orchestra can produce a beautifulsymphony. Similarly, a group of discrete Web services, when wellorchestrated, can deliver a business process symphony.

As more and more business functionality is being made availablethrough Web services, the need for orchestration tools andtechniques is becoming more obvious to insurers. A good place tobegin to understand the concept of orchestrating Web services iswith an overview of some emerging orchestration technologies:

o Web services--the musicians and instruments.

o Enterprise Service Bus--the concert hall that houses the Webservices and the supporting infrastructure, while also providing acommon set of ground rules for interaction.

o Business Process Execution Language--the conductor and sheetmusic that manage the arrangement and collaboration of the Webservices to deliver the complete business process (thesymphony).

Whether insurers are implementing Web services by wrapping andexposing the functionality of a legacy system or developing newfunctionality with modern-day development languages, Web serviceshave a common facade that provides a standard method ofinteraction.

This standardization allows a business function to be offered upas a Web service that is reusable and callable by any program thatrequires the functionality provided by the service. These Webservices can then be combined to create increasingly more complexservices until they mimic a complete business process.

For example, a carrier's request to obtain a CLUE report for aninsurance applicant can be implemented as a Web service to becalled and executed as needed. The Web service behaves as if itwere a support representative from the CLUE reporting company whois always sitting by the phone waiting for the next call requestinga report.

Not only is the Web service always available, it can be easilyscaled to represent not just one, but 100 or even thousands ofrepresentatives patiently sitting by the phone ready to pull up thenext CLUE report as soon as the phone rings.

When these powerful Web services are made available and combinedwith a series of similarly discrete services--such as driver andvehicle data collection services, a credit report service, and apremium rating service--the process quickly evolves into a morecomplex quote generation business process.

The other beauty of Web services is that they can be reused andincorporated into other business processes as required.

The greatest potential for Web services is found in assemblingthe "instruments" and "musicians" to form a complete businessprocess (the symphony). To provide for this bigger picture, theconcept of an Enterprise Service Bus has been adopted.

Just as all musicians in an orchestra have a commonunderstanding of a conductor's gestures, all Web services have anagreed-upon set of rules that dictate how they will interact todeliver the business process.

The ESB can be thought of as the concert hall that houses allthe Web-based tools and services, while also defining the order ofservices and enforcement of the rules under which Web servicesinteract.

In the Web services orchestra, the task of arranging anddirecting services is accomplished via a syntax under the ESBumbrella called Business Process Execution Language, a scriptinglanguage that serves to connect Web services and define thebusiness process road map. Essentially, BPEL provides the musicalscore for the Web services orchestra.

To illustrate the concept of a series of orchestrated Webservices, in an auto insurance new business process, each of thesefunctions may be delivered via a reusable, easily-callable Webservice.

o The prospect completes an online application and submits it tothe carrier.

o The carrier receives the application, reviews the informationand issues additional Web service requests--to the submitter formissing information, to the credit agency for a CLUE report, and tothe rating engine to calculate/return a premium.

o Once complete information is gathered, the system mightautomatically issue an approval or denial of the coverage withappropriate notification to the applicant.

o With the coverage approved, a logical series of stepsconcludes the process by binding and issuing the policy, billingthe policyholder, and accepting premium payment, etc.

BPEL not only arranges and connects all the various processcomponents (the Web services) into a composite process, but it alsoprovides the appropriate exception rules to the workflow.

For example, if a required piece of information is notavailable, business rules--stored as BPEL statements--will dictatewhat action should be taken to remedy the situation. This may eveninclude forwarding the request for manual intervention andintegrating the business worker into the process as needed.

Although it has taken some time, orchestration technologies suchas Web Services, ESB and BPEL are now readily available to provideall the supporting pieces to allow technology to deliver on thegoal of emulating complete business processes with software. Ascomplete and complex services become easier to construct withorchestration technologies, the ability to align informationtechnology with the company's business goals also becomes much moreeasily attainable.

With these enabling technologies, everyone in the insurerorganization is now able to focus on defining and implementingbusiness processes as they should be rather than being limited bytechnology.

Rapid response, reusability and flexibility are the underlyingrationalizations for migrating to Web services. As insurerexpertise with these technologies continues to increase and asstandards pioneers and integration vendors mature their offerings,Web services orchestration will soon become commonplace in theindustry.

The broader use of Web services for complete business processesis a major paradigm shift in the way software is designed anddeveloped--but in this case, it is a long awaited and welcomeshift.