Tech Products Unveiled At IASA

By Ara C.Trembly

NU Online News Service, June 5, 11:07 a.m. EST, San Francisco?Several new computer systems designed to boost productivity and trim the bottom line for insurance and financial services firms were among the highlights of announcements made here this week during the IASA 2002 Educational Conference and Business Show.

Insurance Data Processing, Inc. of Wyncote, Pa. rolled out its "S.U.R.E." (System Underwriting Rules Enforcer) property-casualty underwriting system during the show. The company described the product as an intelligent underwriting system that offers production efficiencies, advanced rules enforcement, systems control, and graphic reporting capabilities.

According to Mike Tapper, vice president of sales and marketing for IDP, the system is designed for underwriting process managers, allowing them to enter, edit and implement underwriting rules and guidelines. The rules can be multi-transaction-based and custom-configured for multiple lines of business in multiple states involving multiple companies, said IDP.

Mr. Tapper noted the system also allows users to add notes to their underwriting rules and offers "simple integration with agency management systems." The system is Windows-based.

IDP said that "S.U.R.E." enforces rules stored in its database against incoming application data, automatically deciding which rules and guidelines should be reinforced. The system then presents the results to the user.

The system reduces a company's operating costs by automating underwriting policy and renewal processes, according to Mr. Tapper. It also offers improved compliance with underwriting guidelines, improved loss ratios, and better management risk selection, he added.

IDP said the system's reporting function monitors, analyzes and measures activity figures, allowing management to evaluate the robustness of their underwriting results.

The system presents results in up to 30 available graph and chart types, including 3D, or in a table format that can be exported to other formats. Ultimately, insurers will benefit by having "a cleaner book of business that's accurately priced," Mr. Tapper said.

In other product news at IASA:

? Hyland Software, Inc., the developer of "OnBase" document management software, announced a partnership with Denver-based Open Scan Technologies, Inc., an exception mail processing solution provider, to create an insurance industry product for processing new business and ongoing commercial premium payments.

According to Cleveland-based Hyland, "OnBase" products provide imaging, workflow and document management, while Open Scan's "Mail Scan" and "Open Key" offer automated capture, routing, recognition and exception handling. This allows for automated import of all captured images and index values.

Using the combined technologies, users can scan premium payment checks and new business applications with automated sorting and workflow processing of the scanned images at the point of entry, which minimizes costs associated with paper handling, claimed Hyland.

Brian Schlegel, Hyland's insurance industry manager, said the combined products allow reductions in or elimination of manual mail processing, as well as "dramatically" reduced data entry. "Users of the technology will realize a quick return on investment due to dramatically reduced operations costs," he said.

? "InsureWorx," a component library designed for mid-size to large commercial lines and group insurance carriers, was introduced by WorldGroup Consulting, based in San Francisco. Claim components are now available, with underwriting and billing planned for future releases, the company said.

A Java-based system, "InsureWorx" offers "a fully integrated, Web-based environment to provide easy access and straight-through processing for true anywhere, anytime computing," said WorldGroup. The product's component approach lets WorldGroup's clients replace legacy system areas as needed, "offering a manageable, piece-by-piece approach to legacy replacement," the company noted.

? Meanwhile, there was hardware news in the introduction of two multifunctional products by Lexmark International, Inc., based in Lexington, Ky. The "X620e" and the "X750e" consolidate printing, copying, faxing and scanning capabilities into a single unit.

According to Lexmark, the products also boost productivity via document-routing capabilities, such as scanning a document directly to e-mail. The units also include a touch screen interface "that is so intuitive, virtually anyone can walk up to it and access [the] features with no training."

The "X620e" carries a list price of $6,999, while the "X750e" adds color output functionality and has a list price of $9,499, said a Lexmark representative.

? In the life insurance area, Sherwood International of Armonk, N.Y., introduced "Amarta LIFE Fast-Start," a new-business processing product based on the company's "Amarta" business process product.

Aimed at insurers who want to "modernize and streamline their new business operations," "Fast-Start" combines administrative functions with "robust" Web-portal technology, said Sherwood, which described the product as an out-of-the-box application that can integrate with a company's core systems to create a new business environment.

According to Sherwood, "Fast-Start" enables insurers to launch new products and channel relationships quickly, and to process business more effectively. The company said the product would deliver better time to market for such products while lowering costs and increasing control in the insurer's back office.

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Tech Products Unveiled At IASA

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