Hiscox develops extranet for customers

Hiscox brokers and personal customers will be able to fill out proposal forms and request quotes online from the end of next year.

The insurance company is developing an extranet to improve communication channels and re-engineer its business process.

Private client division head Guy Knight said the insurer was currently conducting trials and hoped to have all business on the extranet by the end of next year. "Extranet technology is far more efficient and immediate," he said. "We rolled out the operation to intermediaries this year and this parallels what we will be doing in the future."

A Hiscox spokeswoman said extranet technology was key in setting up closed systems and opening up access. "Process costs decrease and it speeds up efficiency and cuts out double-keying," she said.

Hiscox currently has a high value household policy and solicitors' professional indemnity on the extranet.

The move echoes that of composite insurers including Norwich Union, Royal&SunAlliance and Zurich who have developed web-enabled systems that allow customers direct access to policies.

The systems will come into widespread use when Polaris completes the development of its Emarket portal next year. This will be a gateway for brokers to access insurers' web propositions without having to log in many times over.