Like many insurance carriers, SECURA Insurance found itself dealing with the integration headaches of multiple policy administration systems. Putting a single system in place may reflect a growing trend among insurers of various stripes, but selecting that single solution can be a difficult process. The search for a new commercial lines policy administration system was driven by the business side of SECURA, as it looked for a way to streamline the underwriting processes and turn around new business and renewals more quickly. When SECURA began investigating solution providers, though, it came across 22 vendors claiming to have a solution that would fit the Wisconsin-based commercial lines carrier.

Almost immediately, one company stood out among the crowd, according to Ernie Pearson, director of systems development at SECURA. Although the carrier sought additional information from seven policy administration vendors after the initial request, Pearson says SECURA's selection team was almost unanimous in its belief it had found the right solution.

Nearly eight months later, though, that view changed dramatically. "We sent a request for information asking [the vendors] to rank their capabilities, and then we used their responses to drill down to a short list," explains Pearson. "We brought each of those seven in for a demo and for an introduction to their company, and we also asked them to respond to a more comprehensive request for proposal. We used that to whittle down to one company. We had a unanimous decision that we thought was the way to go until our proof of concept subsequently proved that not to be the case."