NU Online News Service, July 29, 12:38 p.m.EDT

Technology vendor offerings for the policy administration sectorthat were limited in 2007 have become commonplace today, accordingto a consulting firm report.

The study by New York-based Celent, "Trends and Predictions forP&C Policy Administration Systems 2009," identified five trendsin the policy administration space.

Celent cited the emergence of underwriting and service desktops;improved "new business automation" capability; convergence ofultra-configurable and domain content rich systems; increased focuson usability and screen design; and a rise in European partnercertification programs.

To help underwriters and service staff with their keymetrics--including decision quality for underwriters andpolicyholder/producer satisfaction--vendors have developedenvironments called desktops, generally consisting of "acomprehensive set of screens, designed in a uniform andinterrelated way to facilitate the work of an underwriter orservice staff," Celent said.

The firm found that "as insurers become more sophisticated intheir assessment of how well their policy administration system issupporting their underwriters and service staff, vendors arecreating environments crafted to enable those users to work fasterand smarter. These environments are underwriter and service staffdesktops."

Among other functions, according to Celent, these desktops oftenhave navigation tools and methods allowing a user to switch easilybetween screens/tabs/tasks, as well as the ability to drill down todetails while retaining place in an existing task.

The second trend, "new business automation," is a cross-systemprocess that assists in the goal of integrating systems, ratherthan having siloed services, Celent said.

Technology advances have allowed vendors to increase support fornew business automation, the Celent report stated. "With manyvendor systems and insurer infrastructures embracing aservice-oriented architecture," according to the report, "it'seasier to orchestrate a true functional flow across multiple areasof the business."

Celent defines the third trend, "ultra-configurable system," asa system where "an insurer can deploy their custom implementationwith little to no code."

The report noted, "Ultra-configurable, meta-data driven, rules-and tools-based policy administration systems (PAS) are now so keyto the modern PAS marketplace that it is more a reality of thespace than a trend."

Continuing to develop the look, feel and usability of interfacesis also a key trend, Celent said. "Focusing on the look and feelmay seem trivial, given the complexity of business logic behind thescenes. But to ignore the user interface is a mistake, in Celent'sopinion, and vendors still manage to differentiate their productsby keen attention to usability."

Delivery approaches for policy administration systems in Europediffer from North America, Celent said, and vendors have adapted byestablishing partner networks with specialist knowledge in targetnational insurance markets.

"Partner programs have been in place for many years, but thecurrent trend is to formalize these relationships throughcertification programs. This is similar to what has been in placeat Microsoft, where solution providers are graded according totheir skills and offerings as certified partners of Microsoft," thereport said.

These certification programs benefit vendors because they createa "transparent and fair process that assists customers in makingthe decision for an appropriate partner," according to the Celentanalysis.