Commercial Data Exchange

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” –  Thomas Edison

Electronic data exchange has become a reality for commercial brokers in Canada. As insurance company offerings proliferate, it is now up to brokers to keep pace and offer clients the best in choice, service and speed.

Grand pronouncements of ideal technological solutions are fine. But figuring out the details related to commercial data exchange is far more important. This goes well beyond technology: it means addressing how people work, how they communicate with others and where they will derive the greatest efficiencies.

Yes, there are glitches, unexpected wrinkles and delays in this process. However, the end goal of single-entry, straight-through processing of small and mid-sized commercial business from broker to insurance company (and back) is well worth it. Many solutions for real-time transactions are ready and waiting for brokers willing to roll up their sleeves and get started.

Keep in mind there is no one “silver bullet” solution for every broker. This is a competitive industry with diverse insurance companies of different sizes and risk appetites. There are few black-and-white technology answers.

Some insurers with online portals are adopting bridging solutions to streamline workflows to brokers’ Commercial Management Systems (CMS). Others are choosing to integrate CMS directly to their back-end underwriting systems. In the future, more insurers will be moving to this model of no-touch, straight-through processing.

Whatever the individual solution today, insurers and brokers realize there are some crucial ground rules for data exchange. First, more insurers are agreeing to use the CSIO (Centre for Study of Insurance Operations) commercial lines XML standards. This is the industry standard for the collection and transfer of commercial data. Second, insurers are using secure Web services to exchange commercial data with brokers and CMS. There is plenty of room for individual insurer solutions, but there has to be a common framework for data exchange.

Insurance companies participating in the Policy Works Certified Data Exchange Partner program all strongly concur with these principles. These insurers include Intact Insurance, Gore Mutual Insurance Company, Aviva Canada, RSA Canada, The Economical Insurance Group, The Missisquoi Insurance Company, L’Unique, SGI Canada, Coachman, The Insurance Company of Prince Edward Island, AXA, and L’Union Canadienne.

Single Sign-on

So, what is the current state of affairs in commercial lines data exchange? The companies noted above are laying the groundwork and offering value to brokers on a wide platform of functions. For example, the brokers’ Number 1 complaint about insurer portals is dealing with multiple user names and passwords. Policy Works has a single sign-on capability for participating Certified Data Exchange Partners’ insurer portals. When Policy Works users click the “portal” button on the main toolbar, a drop-down menu appears with the data exchange partners. One click on a partner brings the user directly into the insurer’s portal landing page, bypassing the log-in prompt by securely signing in the user.

“For us, it is all about a single point of entry,” says Chad Hudson, vice president with Access Insurance Solutions in Alberta. “If we can use our CMS to access multiple company portals, it makes our job that much easier.”

Single sign-on opens brokers up to a world of electronic opportunity in commercial lines. Electronic upload of business insurance submissions – whether to a portal or through insurer Web services – reduces data entry for brokers and gives them the option of a real-time quote. In the world of electronic marketing, it becomes that much easier to submit business to multiple carriers.

e-Marketing

“I think e-Marketing really helps producers who need to get quotes back on tight deadlines,” says Donna McNeill, business insurance broker for Cooke Insurance in PEI. “The speed of the process will be improved greatly because all of the information is there in our electronic submission. Then we can turn it around extremely quickly for the client. It will take several steps out of the commercial marketing process.”

“In terms of e-Marketing, I don’t have to go into the various portals and make individual submissions,” adds Kira Gretchev, commercial account manager for Sound Insurance Services in Ontario. “I can enter the information into my CMS and submit everything online. It is much simpler and easier to make submissions to multiple carriers.”

On the carrier side, insurance companies are providing the ability to download quotations right to the broker CMS electronically. This helps brokers bind more policies by eliminating data entry for proposals. “The exciting part for us now is that when we receive the quote back from the insurance company, it is all in a standard electronic format as well, along with all related policy information,” notes McNeill. “We don’t have to re-input any data. Everything is there and can be opened right up in the CMS. That will cut down on the amount of time our producers and CSRs need to process a quote.”

Policy-related Inquiries

In commercial lines, the industry is also seeing a greater emphasis on servicing of in-force customers. This means electronic inquiry functions that give brokers instant access to policy, billing and claims information. In today’s online world, customers increasingly expect immediate answers to their policy-related questions.

“For existing clients, we want to have that data stored in our CMS, but also easily accessible through the insurance company,” says Hudson. “It makes it much easier for us to do policy changes, endorsements or updates.”

Insurance companies are also developing in-force download, whether through batch or in real time. If a broker can do a portfolio transfer of existing clients to the CMS via the carrier, it will eliminate start-up data entry and forge stronger relationships with companies. If insurers can synchronize in-force transactions between their systems and broker systems, data entry will be reduced or eliminated for standard customer service transactions.

“Once everything is entered into the CMS, the process from submission to quoting to binding to renewals or endorsements can go much more quickly – especially if it is synchronized on the company side,” notes Gretchev. “Putting a few more minutes in at the front end can save me a lot of time at the back end. I am all in favour of that.”

The Future

Looking to the future, insurers and brokers will increasingly have the ability to exchange data as partners freely and securely. We think portals will likely recede into the background, as carrier investments in Web services give brokers low- or no-touch submission upload and real-time download. This is what straight-through processing is all about. And this is directly in alignment with the principles of data exchange enunciated by broker groups such as ORBiT and IBAC.

That future is likely to happen fast. To keep up, brokers will need to educate themselves about the existing opportunities to improve efficiencies, trim expenses and heighten the customer experience.  Commercial data exchange will continue to evolve rapidly as long as insurance companies make the right investments in open formats and brokers avail themselves of carrier solutions and make the electronic leap.

After all, who’s afraid of a little work?