Insurance companies use process improvement, technology, and data solutions to effectively operate and create competitive advantages

1. Hurdles to Your Success
Insurance companies use process
improvement, technology, and data
solutions to effectively operate and create
competitive advantages
PCI 2009 Information Technology Conference
Tucson, AZ
October 4-7, 2009 © Blue Slate Solutions 2009

2. About Blue Slate Solutions
• We i
W improve operations: optimize processes,
ti ti i
connect disparate systems, introduce relevant
Technology
technologies, manage data
• Clients include leading Insurance companies
and b k
d brokers who seek t i
h k to increase efficiencies,
ffi i i Solutions
simplify systems, lower cost, improve service
and retain customers Data
Process
• Experience across the full spectrum of
Insurance industry f
I i d t functions and departments –
ti dd t t
Project and Change
front and back office Management
Shawn Firehock Mike Farley Rick Barnett
• Managing Director • Consultant • Founder and CEO
• Led Insurance practice • 12 years of underwriting, • 20 years general
for major software brokerage and agency management and business
g
company experience leadership
• Leads Client Delivery • Former agency owner • Operational Finance leader
team • Certified Public Accountant
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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3. Disruption and challenges facing the industry
• Political – New political environment, regulatory requirements
• Economic – Beyond the obvious financial crisis, the insurance
y ,
market is increasingly competitive, with significant pressures from
a soft market, fraud, catastrophes, shareholder expectations,
lower returns on investment income, and high operational and
transactional costs
• Social – Workforce challenges, shifts in consumer behavior and
attitudes that effect buying and servicing
• Technological – Introducing new systems into an aging
infrastructure to meet above challenges, new demands for data
from reinsurers
Blue Slate helps clients address these issues starting from where are you are today
toward demonstrable ROI
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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4. Some Hurdles We Encounter
1. New Channels for Growth
2. Competitive Environment
3. Data Management
4. Aging Applications
g g pp
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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5. Hurdle 1: New Channels for Growth
At A Glance
Our Client
Global commercial
insurer wanted to open
Challenges an online channel in the
• Lower cost competitors beginning to capture brokers Worker’s Comp Market
and customers
• Administrative costs on the rise
• “Legacy” policy issuance system did not have a web
channel to meet market opportunity
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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6. Hurdle 1: New Channels for Growth
At A Glance
Our Client
Global commercial
insurer wanted to open
an online channel in the
Worker’s Comp Market
Approach
• Integration with existing p
g g policy administration
y
application to extend control for the business unit
and get closer to their external agents
• Streamlined business rules for use in new process
• Replicated rating engine within workflow
• Created rule maintenance layer for business users
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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7. Hurdle 1: New Channels for Growth
At A Glance
Our Client
Global commercial
insurer wanted to open
a breakthrough online
channel in the Worker’s
Comp Market
Solutions
Success!
• Created platform to
• In production within 100 days capture new business
• Reduced broker policy issuance process from days potential
to minutes • Leverage Legacy
Investments and Best
• Gave business users the ability to change rules in
Practices
real-time
• Business Rule
• Catalyst that fueled revenue growth by over 300% Management and
g
Maintenance
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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8. Some Hurdles We Encounter
1. New Channels for Growth
2. Competitive Environment
3. Data Management
4. Aging Applications
g g pp
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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9. Hurdle 2: Competitive Environment
At A Glance
Our Client
A BI Top 100 broker, needs
to eliminate manual data
Challenges entry to grow and
t t d
• Iterative manual data entry is expensive and an profitably serve its clients
E&O exposure
• Legacy data migration risks with new technology
g y g gy
acquisition
• Managing cost while supporting growth challenges
competitive advantage
• Clients were demanding paperless processing and
web based connectivity to drive back office
efficiency while adding value add services
• Unsure of available solutions in the market
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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10. Hurdle 2: Competitive Environment
At A Glance
Our Client
A BI Top 100 broker, needs
to eliminate manual data
Approach
A h entry to grow and
t t d
profitably serve its clients
• Mapped and optimized processes to prepare for
technology selection
• Facilitated
F ilit t d vendor t l selection process b
d tool l ti based on
d
client’s requirements, priorities and budget
• Established technology road map to achieve
envisioned state
• Selected technologies to support business process
and that produced the best value (ROI)
Next steps…
• Implementation of selected solution to automate
processes and consolidate data
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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11. Hurdle 2: Competitive Environment
At A Glance
Our Client
A BI Top 100 broker, needs
to eliminate manual data
entry to grow and
t t d
profitably serve its clients
Solutions
• Detailed understanding g
Success! of client environment and
unique challenges
• Line of business will be able to grow without adding • Provided unbiased third
p
personnel party assessment with
• Employees will be able to spend more time on the client success forefront
high value task of serving customers instead of • Technology Selection
performing clerical work Aligned with Business
Process Vision Business
Vision,
• Accuracy will be improved – E&O exposure reduced
Rules and Budget
• Customers will be more tightly coupled with the
client
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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12. Some Hurdles We Encounter
1. New Channels for Growth
2. Competitive Environment
3. Data Management
4. Aging Applications
g g pp
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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13. Hurdle 3: Data Management
At A Glance
Our Client
A Top 3 Global financial
services conglomerate
Challenges had an 8 terabyte
• Legacy platform (20+ years) inhibiting progress legacy data “blob”
– Proprietary data format where information was
not visible or actionable
• Capacity to report to regulators and markets was
p y p g
impaired
• Growth was constrained -- stability and agility were
not reliable
• Perform migration to new platform with no impact on
users
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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14. Hurdle 3: Data Management
At A Glance
Our Client
A Top 3 Global financial
services conglomerate
had an 8 terabyte
Approach legacy data “blob”
where information was
• In performing as-is system analysis, re-engineered not visible or actionable
specifications for new platform
– Determine portability, obsolescence and usability of
components
• Provide access to the data using Web Services
– Maintain logic while allowing accessibility to new
application
• Performance tuning
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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15. Hurdle 3: Data Management
At A Glance
Our Client,
A Top 3 Global financial
services conglomerate
had an 8 terabyte
y
Success! legacy data “blob”
where information was
• Decoupled data from system for maximum usage
not visible or actionable
• Data was converted into information available to all Solutions
systems and for standard analytics and reporting
• In depth understanding
– 8 Terabytes of transaction data serving 3500 users of existing platform to
worldwide and support 1600 concurrent users strategize migration
• Over $4 million of annual VAX maintenance costs • L Leveraged cutting edge
d tti d
were eliminated webservices technology
• Increased stability, speed and efficiency in a to maintain business
logic while evolving
scalable manner
functionality
f ti lit
• Provided framework for growth – easy to add other • Provided stable and
business units scalable framework with
increased capability
• Data management
expertise
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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16. Some Hurdles We Encounter
1. New Channels for Growth
2. Competitive Environment
3. Data Management
4. Aging Applications
g g pp
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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17. Hurdle 4: Aging systems
At A Glance
Our Client
Premier Regional insurer
needed to integrate its
Challenge broker centric web
• Legacy investments were made in “silos” portal to the rest of its
systems utilizing
• The systems can’t share intelligence existing resources that
• Each function wants to control their own system
system, weren t
weren’t designed to
and can’t step away from the day to day activities accept it
to think about longer term solutions
• Opportunity to expand business limited by system
inflexibility
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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18. Hurdle 4: Aging systems
At A Glance
Our Client
Premier Regional insurer
needed to integrate its
broker
b k centric web
ti b
portal to the rest of its
Approach systems utilizing
• Mapped appropriate ACORD data schema to meet existing resources that
client’s needs weren’t d i
’t designed t
d to
accept it
• Leveraged a component architecture to leverage
existing investments and create best in class
solutions
• Built solution in a manner that would allow the
business team to manage the rules
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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19. Hurdle 4: Aging systems
At A Glance
Our Client
Premier Regional insurer
needed to integrate its
broker centric web
portal to the rest of its
Success! systems utilizing
existing resources that
• Client established market leading web based agent weren’t designed to
services accept it
• Client established infrastructure and workflows to Solutions
integrate existing systems while preparing for their • RRepresentation of
t ti f
eventual upgrade business, technical and
• Business team can change the rules parameters broker needs
with less IT involvement, reducing costs, • Business Intelligence
increasing business ownership of their systems, and Rules leveraged in
architecture with
and improving market responsiveness existing systems
• Agent perception of web capabilities moved from • Data Conversion and
“worst” to “one of the best” Aggregation
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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20. Winning strategies to transform challenges to opportunities
• Identify and prioritize opportunities, formalize and
execute as projects
• Include business and technical leaders for solution
implementation
• Cross-functional teams will succeed with strong g
governance models
• Evaluate current state and map to desired state
• Leveraging existing technology
• Optimize processes, use business rules, and
standardize data to drive efficiency and agility
• Ensure any software or hardware introductions are
relevant and appropriate for maximum impact
pp p p
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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21. Talk to us about the challenges you face….
Erica Coletti Chris Garber
• erica.coletti@blueslate.net
@ • chris.garber@blueslate.net
g @
• 518.929.1293 • 518.369.4892
Mike Farley
• michael.farley@blueslate.net
• 802.379.1456
Rick Barnett Shawn Firehock
• rick.barnett@blueslate.net • shawn.firehock@blueslate.net
• 518.339.4073 • 518.573.6410
© Blue Slate Solutions 2009
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