Oracle announced the availability of OracleInsurance Insbridge Rating and Underwriting 4.1, an adaptiveenterprise solution for rating and underwriting rulesmanagement.

The latest release includes new features that support greater flexibility, adaptability and productivity forinsurers, agents, and underwriters, including the ability toconduct mobile rating.

Oracle Insurance Insbridge Rating and Underwriting 4.1 enablesusers to conduct rating and quoting in an offline environment. Thismeans agents and underwriters can now load the latest OracleInsurance Insbridge rating content to their laptop or mobile deviceand provide more rapid and responsive service to customers in thefield.

“[The new version] extends Oracle’s commitment to buildingadaptive insurance solutions that enable flexible, end-to-endbusiness processes,” says Srini Venkatasantham, vice president,product strategy for Oracle Insurance. “With this release, wedeliver the power of mobile rating, which enables agents,underwriters, and, ultimately, insurers, to work more efficientlyand deliver more flexible and responsive service to potential andexisting customers.”

This new functionality addresses the customer service needs ofhigh-touch lines of business, such as healthcare insurance, wherepolicies are more often sold by agents meeting face-to-face withclients in their homes.

Additionally, the product includes new Web 2.0 features thatextend user communication and collaboration by allowing users toprovide input on system functionality to Oracle developers andshare ideas on new ways to use Oracle Insurance Insbridge.

“Much of the value of modern rating engines is the fact thatthey provide a user-friendly means to create, test and manage thepricing rules. This empowers the business analyst, product managerand actuary to focus on improving pricing through rulemanipulation, insight into the impact of rule changes, andvalidating prices against existing policies,” said KimberlyHarris-Ferrante, vice president and distinguished analyst atGartner. “Due to the nature of how rating engines sit withinthe core systems landscape, interoperability and ease ofintegration are critical.”