Road Map to Web Services

When facing any business challenge there is both a methodology and an art involved. Creating web services for your internal clients, external clients or supply chain partners requires a disciplined approach – a methodology – in the same way other infrastructure development projects do. The art comes into play when we recognize we are working with business infrastructure and systems already in place. We must make the most of our investment in the existing infrastructure yet still become modern.

Different road maps are needed to achieve effective web service depending on the current state of your information technology and telecommunications systems. However all road maps should take a look at four main components: service model, information sources, technology infrastructure, and supporting services and applications.

SERVICE MODEL

Before you hire your first developer or start meeting with vendors, you need to decide what your service model is from an operational/organizational standpoint, as well as the point of view of the customer. All of your technology design and acquisition must be grounded in this context to succeed.

From an operational angle, it is critical to measure service utilization, service quality and operational performance to ensure that new information systems are appropriate to your current or desired model. Organizationally you need to consider responsibility for the new services, how the role(s) will integrate into the organization, and what effects this may have on employees, partners, suppliers and other stakeholders.

From a customer view, many of the questions you need to consider are not about technology but rather branding, service expectations and market segments. Even though these are “non-technical” subject areas, the answers will drive all of your technology development. Incorporating the customer view into your technology plan also aligns management, technology providers, operations support and marketing groups.

INFORMATION SOURCES

Your information source – whether it is a database, a legacy host system, or a third-party provider – must be carefully considered. Accurate and accessible information is key to an effective web service. Without it, the best technology system in the world is of little use to your customers.

The insurance industry faces some unique information challenges. Insurance suppliers, like most established financial services organizations, have systems in place that did not anticipate the arrival of individual client access. Many organizations have cumbersome legacy systems storing information by policy, not by customer. However, when individuals access web services they need to be presented with their entire portfolio. Indeed, a portfolio perspective is the most powerful view. If your data source is not already organized into customer information files (CIFs), you will need to find a way to create them as a precondition to developing your web service solution.

This, however, does not necessarily mean starting over from scratch. A customized application can be built relatively easily to inquire against your current files and produce a view that represents the customer perspective. Incidentally, requiring customers to know or enter their account number in order to log-in to your web service is a huge usability stumbling block. Using CIFs, your web system can instead ask customers for their name or other piece of easily remembered personal information.

ITECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE

Your information source – whether it is a database, a legacy host system, or a third-party provider – must be carefully considered. Accurate and accessible information is key to an effective web service. Without it, the best technology system in the world is of little use to your customers.When we look at the technical “nuts and bolts” behind design and development, it is necessary to consider information processing and hosting. A web system has three components:

The user interface, the part that people see and use, presented through web browsers;

Middleware, which takes information that the user enters and does something with it. Middleware handles calculations and exceptions, knows where to get information that is needed and where to save information that is entered; and

The information source, which may be a database, legacy host system, or third-party provider.

All three components must interact in real-time. Information should be stored and updated as soon as it is entered – if information access is not real-time, it will limit what customers/partners can do with your web services and thereby affect confidence in your solution. For example, some banks take one or two days to process an automated or on-line bill payment. Understandably, most clients do not want their money in limbo for two days and would prefer an immediate response.

If some aspects of your information systems environment are not real-time, and you are not prepared to replace the host system, then you must put some creative thought into a workaround solution. As for hosting, you should consider your options at least nine months before you need the facilities as lead times are long and the planning complex.

Even though you may already have a robust information technology facility, you should be aware that web services present additional operational challenges. In the shorter term, while you develop inhouse expertise, you may find that outsourcing is both appropriate and attractive.

SUPPORT APPLICATIONS

When providing a web system that will be used by your clients you also need to provide assistance. Typically this means a call center. You must anticipate providing help over the telephone or by e-mail on the actual use of the web application. You must also be prepared to answer questions based on the information presented by the web service.

Perhaps you already provide assistance and information through a central service unit. The impact of web services on your existing facility may be an increase in call types and processes. You can certainly expect an increase in overall call volumes, and that these requests will come in at different times of the day than your usual inquiries.

Such issues speak to business and technology planning. Carefully examine your call center telephony and computer technologies and consider how they will integrate into your web service. And, if you have a “customer relationship management (CRM) system, you will need to ensure that web services share customer information with the other service channels in your organization and vice versa.

Although the insurance industry has traditionally been a slow mover in the web technology arena, the market is now changing quickly. Web services are becoming an integral part of every carrier, agent or broker business model. Building an effective web service can seem like a complicated and onerous task, but by following a four-part methodology and using creative strategies you can help your company move toward the leading edge – and stay there.