CSIO to Hand Internet Portal Project Over

At the recent AGM of the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO), attendees were told that the industry association is looking at different options for the development of future phases of its broker-insurer portal project.

With the first phase of the portal about to move from testing into launch, the CSIO has hired Deloitte & Touche to work with brokers, companies and vendors who have shown and interest in partnering on subsequent phases of the project – to advise on where to go after Phase-I.

CSIO chairman Howard Moran says, “There is general recognition that the inherent structure and the level of expertise within CSIO inhibits the ability of the organization to proceed with portal development beyond the introduction of the first phase of the project.” In its first phase, the portal offers only some services, such as quoting for specific lines of business, namely personal lines. Subsequent phases would add the ability to bind policies online for various lines of business.

There are about half-a-dozen interested vendors who could be chosen to carry on the project, confirms Danny Craig, a broker representative on the CSIO board. But, in the worst case, feedback from Deloitte & Touche’s industry consultations could indicate that future development does not make business sense, he adds.

Representing brokers in the consultation process, Craig will propose allowing non-CSIO member insurers to participate, subject to some sort of fee, so that every company is available through the portal.

Questions about the portal’s future grew to a fever pitch after news that president and CEO Klaas Westera had departed the CSIO in early April. He was replaced in the interim by director of portal operations Marshall Lee, now “general manager”. Craig credits Westera with being “the visionary who got the portal off the ground”, but he says, “now we need the business case to take it forward and that takes real business expertise”. When asked, Westera said he was unable to comment at this time about his departure.

Last year, the portal project costs grew to more than $3.3 million, taken from the “portal project fund” established earlier. Then, as now, CSIO insists funding is available to see the portal’s first phase launched and subsidized until it becomes profitable.

Despite delays in launching the portal, Craig remains confident the project is viable and represents the best chance the industry has to achieve single-entry multi-company interface (SEMCI). “This thing is going in the right direction. No one’s going to let this thing die.” n

10www.canadianunderwriter.ca CANADIAN UNDERWRITER / MAY 2003