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

Web services can best be described as small pieces of reusable and easily called business functionality which are exposed to users internally or through the Internet. When these Web services components are used as building blocks, arranged in various configurations, they have the potential to deliver on the long-held goal of using technology to flexibly mirror complete business processes.

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

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