There are a lot of Florida property and casualty insurers looking to diversify their book of business by exploring markets in less volatile arenas. But if youre from Puerto Rico, the island commonwealth under the customs jurisdiction of the United States, Florida might seem like a pretty good place to begin a move into the U.S. market.
Cooperativa de Seguros Mltiples de Puerto Rico is the second-largest, island-based P&C insurer in Puerto Rico. It is a non-profit organization owned by 200 other cooperatives (such as credit unions) on the island. Jos Burgos, vice president of information systems and CIO, said the company has been studying its move to Florida for the last five years. We do a lot of business in Puerto Rico, but it is a windstorm area and we are also in an earthquake zone, he said. We were looking to other places to diversify. Florida, with its huge Latin population, was a natural. We understand the market there, he said.
Seguros Mltiples developed its own, in-house policy system for its Puerto Rican business, but it was written in Spanish, it did not have a Florida rating program, and the company felt it was too limited for the new market. We felt we needed new software for the States, Burgos said. We were starting with a small operation in Florida and we wanted something that would grow with us. We werent looking for an expensive system. There is a lot of software in the United States and with the equipment involved you have to make a large investment.
The company formed a planning committee that included top executives and members of the IT staff. Burgos and his IT staff then hit the road, attending conventions and trade shows. It was at the IASA show in San Antonio last June that the Seguros Mltiples staff received a demonstration of Insurance Data Processings Vision 21 policy administration system.
We came back with a recommendation for the planning committee, Burgos said. We looked at two or three companies, but we decided to go with IDP. Theyve been in the industry, they know P&C, and they can give us a small, but complete, system. We evaluated other products, but some of them didnt have the Florida ratings programs, others were too expensive, or required large, expensive, and complicated computer systems.
Among the features that Seguros Mltiples liked were the GUI interface, the Windows NT environment, and the ability to integrate with other Microsoft programs. We understand that this software can grow along with us in this new branch office, Burgos said.
One of the advantages of the IDP solution is its simplicity. If you understand the P&C insurance process, the system is very intuitive, logical, and all the alternatives are shown on the screen, Burgos said. Installation was also simple, but a little rushed since getting final rating approval from the Florida insurance commissioner took longer than Seguros Mltiples expected. We had to rush the final changes to the Vision 21 rating module and reduced testing time in order to meet the new office opening date, he said.
He said they were expecting many corrections would be necessary, but they have been minimal so far. Users are always a little bit afraid when they have a new system, Burgos said. They spend a lot of time making comparisons with the one we have in Puerto Rico, but as soon as they discover how easy and friendly Vision 21 is, they will accept it and feel more comfortable with it.
Entering the U.S. market will also be a learning experience for Seguros Mltiples. They are only discussing some coverages in Puerto Rico that are available in the U.S., Burgos said. We hope to learn other aspects of the business that may come to Puerto Rico in the next three to five years. ROBERT REGIS HYLE
THE PROBLEM: ENTERING A NEW MARKET ON THE U.S. MAINLAND FROM THE ISLAND OF PUERTO RICO.
THE COMPANY: COOPERATIVA DE SEGUROS
MULTIPLES DE PUERTO RICO
LINES: PERSONAL, COMMERCIAL AND BOP
NET WRITTEN PREMIUM: $137 MILLION
WEB SITE: www.segurosmultiples.com
THE SOFTWARE: VISION 21 FROM IDP
WEB SITE: www.idpnet.com
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