Commercial data standards get green light

Commercial insurance brokers are a step closer to having standards for policy inquiries on certain auto and general liability coverage.

The Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) said its Innovation and Emerging Technology (INNOTECH) API working groups have published Application Programming Interface (API) standards using Java Script Object Notation (JSON) for individually-rated commercial automobile (IRCA) and commercial general liability (CGL) policy inquiries.

It’s the first publication of an industry API standard in JSON (the preferred API digital standard format ) for commercial lines.

The changes will facilitate information exchanges between brokers’ and insurers’ systems related to IRCA and CGL policies, with an eye toward saving both parties time and effort. CSIO said the real-time, inter-system data exchange will benefit brokers, insurers and customers.

“A key advantage of JSON API standards is the ease at which they are able to integrate with insurance systems compared to other API standard formats,” said Kathryn Curran, vice president of personal insurance platforms at Economical Insurance, and INNOTECH advisory committee member.

When a partnered vendor and insurer place JSON API standards in their systems, brokers will no longer have to use an insurer’s portal to access client policy information. They also won’t have to call the insurer directly.

Publishing this latest set of policy inquiry standards means the INNOTECH API working groups have “established the foundational use case for commercial lines in JSON format for API,” CSIO said in a press release.

The new standards can be found on CSIO’s website.

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