I have been following the broker technology debate with growing interest over the past couple of weeks.
Particularly interesting is Elliot Lane's opinion (16 January, Insurance Times) that all brokers want ". . . in a software system are a quote engine which accesses all the insurer's policies and quotes; a system that is Windows compatible; and lastly has EDI processing".
Although Mr Lane went on to mention a number of providers, he did not mention insurE-com. I must emphasise that insurE-com is already providing the industry with a solution that does all of the above. In fact, we have developed a portal that provides everyone in the insurance industry with a method of communicating and operating at minimum cost and greater efficiency.
In just three years insurE-com has introduced modern Windows business solutions for insurers and brokers that really do save them time and money.
Moreover, the business model adopted by insurE-com is also winning growing support from both ends of the insurance supply chain with all the UK's leading insurers supplying products and (currently) 472 intermediaries using its back office solutions - insur-E.tam and insur-E.office. Our insur-E.tam solution now has over 1,700 users across the UK. This growth is set to continue.
Each business solution provides customer administration, policy processing, point-of-sale documentation, and extensive reporting and accounts functionality.
The anonymous letter (30 January, Insurance Times) was also interesting. It stated that "most brokers struggle to earn a living and don't have spare cash to update their systems".
One reason why brokers don't update their systems is due, in part, to the high costs charged by the traditional software providers combined with the poor levels of service that they have suffered over many years.
Ian Carter
Group communications manager
InsurE-com
