FirstBest Systems announces the release of the FirstBest FrontOffice Suite 5.0 for insurance. The new Suite integrates with morethan 50 data sources and analytics from Verisk Insurance Solutionsand includes enhanced features for multi-line underwriting andskills-based routing, and configuration for business users.

The collaborative underwriting suite allows carriers to use riskand third-party data and analytics to make the best decision in theleast amount of time, provide best-in-class service, and increaseunderwriting profitability.

“The market is telling us that data, multi-line underwriting,and collaboration capabilities are critical to driving anenterprise underwriting strategy. With the release of FirstBestFront Office Suite 5.0, we're delivering on each of these needs,”says John Belizaire, co-founder and CEO of FirstBest Systems. “Theintersection of people and data within the underwriting process isthe next major innovation in underwriting automation and we aim tobe at the forefront of that trend with Front Office Suite 5.0 andfuture offerings.”

Front Office Suite 5.0 delivers increased efficiency withskills-based routing and business analyst studio tools that enablemanagers and business users to speed setup, configuration, and theentire underwriting process. The FirstBest Front Office Suite 5.0includes the following modular applications:

• FirstBest UMS underwriting workstation
• FirstBest Connector for Verisk provides accessto more than 50 Verisk property and automobile data sources andanalytics
• FirstBest Business Analyst Studio enables thecarrier's business users to rapidly configure the FirstBest FrontOffice Suite
• FirstBest Agent agent portal
• FirstBest AppReader upload for carriers,agents and brokers
• FirstBest Mobile mobile underwritingapplication for iPad users

“The massive proliferation of data, combined with the increasedpower of modern analytical tools, has the potential to transformthe insurance industry dramatically during the next decade,” saysMatthew Josefowicz, managing director, Novarica. “Today's challengefor carriers is not a lack of data but rather the ability toconsume that vast amount of data within the underwriting process inorder to make the best decisions.”

In addition to supporting straight-throughprocessing, the FirstBest Front Office Suite 5.0 provides more than50 Verisk data sources and analytics for a complete view of therisk. The Suite also delivers multi-line underwriting foraccount-based underwriting across the entire enterprise, the newFirstBest BA Studio, which puts rich configuration tools in thehands of the carrier's business users, skills-based routing tospeed the underwriting process, and the FirstBest UMS Mobile appfor Apple iPad with an enhanced user experience for underwriting onthe go. Notable innovations and enhancements in version 5.0include:

• FirstBest Connector for Verisk provides a more completepicture of the risk –The packaged FirstBest Connectordelivers integration to Verisk for electronic delivery of more than50 commercial and personal property and auto data and analytics,including A-PLUS property and auto loss history reports, CoverageVerifier, LOCATION reports, catastrophe reports, motor vehiclereports and more from Verisk. FirstBest UMS can retrieve andincorporate Verisk data in the underwriting process, providing theunderwriter with the most complete picture of the risk, andenabling consistent, quality underwriting decisions from within theunderwriting workstation.
• Enhanced multi-line underwriting capabilitiescoordinate the decision process for complex risks across theaccount and enterprise – FirstBest UMSenables carriers to implement competitive, account-based pricingstrategies, deliver multi-product quotes, and provide multi-option,multi-policy proposals. It supports multi-line/multi-productaccount-based upload, clearance, submission, risk evaluation,rating, pricing, quoting, proposal generation, and binding,connected seamlessly to multiple policy admin systems. The FrontOffice Suite supports workers comp, general liability, commercialauto, property, umbrella, and more.
• New FirstBest Business Analyst Studio enables thecarrier's business analysts to configure the suite, lowering TCOand speeding time to market – Provided with the FrontOffice Suite, FirstBest BA Studio's graphical user interfaceenables the carrier's users to change key elements of a FrontOffice Suite deployment including fields, values, questions,screens, supplemental questions, risk selection, rules,assignments, and even straight-through processing, withoutcomplicated programming.
• Skills-based routing and enterprise task managementkeep the underwriting process moving – These newcapabilities provide the ability to assign tasks individually or inbulk, to both groups and individuals, using availability andskills-based routing. Workgroups can be configured so that newlyassigned tasks are “pushed” to users within the group or so thatusers can “pull” the next task from the queue when ready. Bothusers and managers can monitor work queues, open tasks, and viewsubmission updates.

• FirstBest UMS Mobile delivers enhanced user experiencefor Apple iOS devices – A user interface enablesunderwriters to move seamlessly between FirstBest mobile anddesktop applications. Delivered on the Apple iPad, the mobile appempowers rapid decision making from anywhere, at any time, withreal-time secure data access and transactions. With version 5.0,underwriters can rapidly review, approve/decline and comment onapplications that have been referred to them and close businesswhenever they're away from their desks.

“At Verisk, our goal is to help companies transform theircompetitiveness through the most extensive collection of risk dataand analytics,” says Neil Spector, president, Verisk InsuranceSolutions – Underwriting. “By delivering the wide variety of Veriskdata and analytics directly to the point of decision on theunderwriter's desktop, FirstBest and Verisk are enablingunderwriters to make the most accurate pricing decisions, increasecompetitive advantage, and build a better book of business. We willcontinue to work together to deliver future innovations in the P/Cunderwriting industry.”

Robin Arendt, XL Group's Chief Information Officer, comments,“With the FirstBest Front Office Suite, our underwriting andservicing teams can collaborate seamlessly across the enterpriseand are able to focus on the analysis of the risk instead oftime-consuming data collection. The suite's intuitive account viewprovides us with the ability to analyze the entire risk, not justpieces of it. With version 5.0, we now have the ability to createcomplex and complete proposals more quickly and with the touch of abutton, in order to provide professional proposals in lesstime.”