In their own words

Brokersoft
1. How many versions of your product do you support and how many customers are live on each version?
Brokersoft only supplies one version of its product, a complete 32 bit Windows product, Total Solutions 2000. Total Solutions is a very powerful and versatile broker tool. The single product is suitable, therefore, for intermediaries ranging from single user sites to large call centres. There are currently in excess of 150 sites with this system. This number is increasing steadily each month.

2. How often do you update and upgrade?
Brokersoft's clients receive regular monthly updates to their software via CD-Rom. These updates, which are available by the first of the month prior to the new rates becoming effective, also contain system upgrades to ensure that every user has access to the latest version of the product at all times. In this way, any suggestions, special requests or system enhancements can be distributed to all users ensuring that their systems are consistently at the leading edge of this rapidly changing market.

3. What help facilities are available on-screen and by telephone?
Help is available at all stages of the quote and administration system, either through intuitive scripts and tip tools or through a full Windows context-sensitive online help manual. This help manual can also be accessed directly in full through the help menu system.

Furthermore, a full training system is incorporated. This feature permits new members of staff to practice with the system, allowing them to use all the facilities of Total Solutions 2000 without any risk of corrupting the important data of the business.

Full telephone customer support facilities are available by ringing the direct line to the service desk. The trained operators here - yes, it is a human who answers the phone - are able to offer immediate advice on how to perform the many functions of the system, or to provide technical advice in case of any difficulties. All the above are included free of charge.

4. On what basis can users set commission levels?
For every individual scheme quoted on the system, the system administrator can assign the level of commission that they themselves receive for this scheme from the insurer, whether this be percentage, flat or net-rated. The commission is automatically posted at this rate when an individual case is stored. However, the operator can amend each case at the time of posting allowing the figures to match the requirements of the business.

If an operator has stored an incorrect commission, then, subject to password authority and certain other requirements, the commission can also be amended in the accounts stage. These facilities are available to all products on the system.

5. On what operating systems do your current products operate?
Total Solutions operates in any 32 bit Windows environment from Windows 95B, 98, NT, ME and Windows 2000, subject to the minimum memory specification of the operating system.

6. What can you do if a client has special schemes or software requirements?
Brokersoft has an excellent reputation for skill and value in bespoke programming, whether this is for scheme requirements or operational requirements. Any changes that would benefit the system as a whole are included free of charge and made available to all users. For other work, subject to a suitable specification from the client, bespoke work would be quoted for on an individual basis and then carried out correctly and on time.

7. What rating engines are included (i.e. private car, household, motorcycle, commercial vehicle, packaged/small commercial) and what proportion of the broker schemes available in the market do you have as quotable products within each engine?
Brokersoft's current modules include private car (with rates for public and private hire and short-term policies), commercial vehicle, motorcycle, classic car, kit cars, classic bike, household (combined, buildings and/or contents). Each of these modules are fully integrated into the administration system and allow for multiple variations of cover and excess to be quoted at the same time.

8. What proportion of your schemes are full-cycle EDI?
All schemes quoted on the Brokersoft system, where the insurer has EDI facilities, are EDI capable, subject to insurer permission for inclusion.

9. What security features are built into the system? Can a member of a broker's staff move to another broker and still access the data of the previous broker?
Wide-ranging security profiles can be established within the software to allow or restrict certain activities for individual members of staff. Access to certain client accounts can even be restricted to certain members of staff. This is complimentary to the restrictions that system administrators can place on the system using Windows security techniques.

10. What is the commercial proposition to the broker - what do they pay and what do they get for their money? What are the optional extras and what's the charge (licence fee)?
The broker pays a one-off contract fee that entitles them to an open-ended contract for the use of the system on an agreed number of Windows machines. Currently this is as little as £1,250.

A nominal installation charge is made for a Brokersoft specialist technician to install the software on the appropriate machines. This can usually be achieved in as little as two hours. The broker will then be shown how to set up the various options in the system. The balance of the technician's time will be spent on assisting the staff to become familiar with their new tool.

Additional training either at Brokersoft's Milton Keynes office or on the client's site is available at extra charge if required.

11. What ongoing charges are payable?
The only ongoing fees are the update/upgrade fees for the system, currently £ 195 + VAT per month for a single user system.

12. Who owns the customer data? Who owns the customer data at the point the broker wants to switch suppliers?
Customer data always belongs to the customer subject to any copyright material owned by Brokersoft.

13. What service level guarantees do you provide for maintaining and operating the system on behalf of the broker?
All difficulties, including rare system errors, experienced by the broker are treated seriously. After carefully listening to the broker's comments and analysing any problem, Brokersoft will then take the action appropriate to the individual circumstances.

14. What is the lead-time between the insurer setting the quotation and it arriving at a broker's desk? What are the implications of this?
Brokersoft has a two-week lead time, subject to arriving from the insurer before the specified cut-off dates, for rates to be processed, checked and verified before being dispatched to the client on the updates. This allows both the insurer and the broker a more competitive edge. The insurer can make changes to its rates allowing for what is happening in the marketplace, and not what may be happening in a month's time. Brokers can canvas for renewals sufficiently early to secure the business before their client has approached other sources.

Brokersure.co.uk

1. How many versions of your product do you support and how many customers are live on each version?
Two versions of Brokersure.co.uk are available; both offer the broker the same system functionality. The full Brokersure.co.uk package is available free of charge to brokers who meet the qualifying criteria, including a minimum volume level requirement. Additionally, a new package has been developed specifically to meet the needs of smaller personal lines brokers and also commercial lines brokers who transact a small amount of personal lines business. This will be launching shortly.

2. How often do you update and upgrade?
As the system is internet-based, updates and upgrades can be carried out and uploaded to the server without any disruption to clients. All updates and upgrades are immediate and free to all users of Brokersure.co.uk

Rates can also be rapidly adjusted to ensure a competitive edge - our panel of leading insurers have the opportunity to update rates within 48 hours.

3. What help facilities are available on-screen and by telephone?
Initial training is available on a face-to-face basis and users are also provided with a training manual. On-screen help consists of user prompt messaging - this will shortly be complimented by a comprehensive help text index. User-definable context-sensitive scripting also enables the broker to alter sales prompts and add sales messages.

A user helpline is available during office hours to aid with any technical queries or problems. Additional help with placing non-standard risks is accessible via a telephone-based team.

4. On what basis can users set commission levels?
The commission calculator tool is an integral part of the package. Brokers are provided with net motor rates and set their own default commission rate, yet are also empowered to set their gross rate on a case-by-case basis. This can be set on a percentage commission, pounds sterling commission or target premium basis.

5. On what operating systems do your current products operate?
The system will operate on a broker's PC and connects to the Brokersure.co.uk application through an internet link. The full Brokersure.co.uk package provides brokers with the free use of PCs and printers if their current hardware is not capable of supporting the system. As a result, there are no minimum operating system requirements.

Cox's core systems are maintained on Sun Microsystems hardware and utilise Oracle database technology, ensuring a secure and dependable service is provided.

6. What can you do if a client has special schemes or software requirements?
A key benefit provided by Brokersure.co.uk is the standard policy wording that has been negotiated with panel insurers. This reduces the number of schemes and products a broker needs to be familiar with in order to meet General Insurance Standards Council (GISC) requirements.

While Brokersure.co.uk provides the standard product and panel as part of the package, we can make provisions for adding bespoke elements to a client's system on a discretionary basis. This may include new product development for individual brokers or providing additional software packages.

7. What rating engines are included (i.e. private car, household, motorcycle, commercial vehicle, packaged/small commercial) and what proportion of the broker schemes available in the market do you have as quotable products within each engine?
Brokersure.co.uk has developed a single common policy wording with full co-operation from the panel of insurers. Current online products include private car and home insurance, short trip and annual multi-trip travel policies as well as standard and premier vehicle rescue products.

Further products functionality is currently under development. In the meantime, commercial vehicle insurance, fleet, motorcycle and taxi insurance cover are available via a telephone-based team.

8. What proportion of your schemes are full-cycle EDI?
Brokersure.co.uk is specifically designed for all motor and home products to perform as full-cycle EDI. However, where insurers are unable to accept this facility, Brokersure.co.uk is working with them to provide data in more traditional formats.

9. What security features are built into the system? Can a member of a broker's staff move to another broker and still access the data of the previous broker?
Each member of a broker's staff has a unique identifier and password that is logged against every transaction that they undertake. Should a member of staff leave their employment, the manager simply advises the Brokersure.co.uk helpline and the relevant password is immediately disabled. Regular audits of password use are also carried out.

10. What is the commercial proposition to the broker - what do they pay and what do they get for their money? What are the optional extras and what's the charge (licence fee)?

11. What ongoing charges are payable?
In response to both questions: the full Brokersure.co.uk system offers free standard operating software, standard products, software maintenance, updates, staff training and PC's and printers (where required). The only cost the broker incurs is for ISDN connection. Brokersure.co.uk recommends a fixed price unmetered access package, available for £75.99 per month plus VAT for up to five users.

The low user package will be available for a small initial charge and a minimal monthly subscription fee. This package offers free standard operating software, standard products, software maintenance and updates.

12. Who owns the customer data? Who owns the customer data at the point the broker wants to switch suppliers?
The broker owns the customer data, including at the point the broker wants to switch suppliers.

13. What service level guarantees do you provide for maintaining and operating the system on behalf of the broker?
Brokersure.co.uk uses the same technology that powers Cox's existing sites. These include a number of prominent household names, with which Cox has partnerships, along with insure.co.uk, Cox's own insurance website.

All Brokersure.co.uk users will receive the same high levels of service, with the system consistently operating 100% of the time during office hours. Minimal system downtime, to allow for backing up and updates, is planned to occur outside of office hours.

In addition, brokers who are provided with free hardware to use will also enjoy a free basic maintenance package on this hardware.

14. What is the lead time between the insurer setting the quotation and it arriving at a broker's desk? What are the implications of this?
The insurer's products are held on Brokersure.co.uk's own databases, so the broker is able to get instantaneous quotes for all Brokersure.co.uk's online products. To speed up the process further, documentation is printed out at the point of sale.

CDL

1. How many versions of your product do you support and how many customers are live on each version?
CDL currently offers one standard product. We aim to have all of our clients on the same version of software, which is updated twice a year as part of the standard support within the CDL package. CDL plans to launch the next generation of its software in the near future.

2. How often do you update and upgrade?
We upgrade the CDL system at least once a year, usually summer, and a supplementary release is distributed in the autumn.

3. What help facilities are available on-screen and by telephone?
CDL's current system offers full online help, and we have a team of support analysts who are available for telephone support during office hours. All help calls are logged via CDL's Callmaster system, which will become interactive via the CDL extranet early next year.

4. On what basis can users set commission levels?
Our clients have complete control over their commission levels, including net ratings, and loadings and discounts.

5. On what operating systems do your current products operate?
CDL's current system operates on Open VMS. The next generation of software will operate on a multi-tier enterprise platform, which offers improved flexibility.

6. What can you do if a client has special schemes or software requirements?
CDL has a dedicated team for schemes development. CDL also operates an enhancement request committee, which is a major application project group whereby brokers and insurers can influence the development of CDL's software for their own, and quite often the whole CDL community's, benefit.

7. What rating engines are included (i.e. private car, household, motorcycle, commercial vehicle, packaged/small commercial) and what proportion of the broker schemes available in the market do you have as quotable products within each engine?

Private car, household, motorcycle, goods vehicle and travel are all available as standard. However, CDL's software allows us to construct bespoke quote engines for all varieties of small to medium commercial insurance, including pet insurance, weddings and tradesman's' liability.

8. What proportion of your schemes are full-cycle EDI?
All of our schemes are available full-cycle EDI.

9. What security features are built into the system? Can a member of a broker's staff move to another broker and still access the data of the previous broker?
CDL operates high-level security standards, which govern internal and external access to the brokers' system.

10. What is the commercial proposition to the broker - what do they pay and what do they get for their money? What are the optional extras and what's the charge (licence fee)?
For larger brokers (that operate more than 20 screens), we are able to offer a flexible start-up package depending on their requirements. Our charges are dependent on the number of seats and requirements from the system, available on application.

Optional extras include internet development, CDL's management information system, CDL's imaging and scanning module, Dscan, as well as various training programmes and consulting services. Prices are available on application.

11. What ongoing charges are payable?
A customer services charge is payable on an annual basis, which covers full broker support and the system updates.

12. Who owns the customer data? Who owns the customer data at the point the broker wants to switch suppliers?
All of the customer data is held by the broker. It is their data, which they can transfer to whichever software supplier they choose.

13. What service level guarantees do you provide for maintaining and operating the system on behalf of the broker?
A standard service level agreement is available to all clients. Details on application.

14. What is the lead time between the insurer setting the quotation and it arriving at a broker's desk? What are the implications of this?
CDL is still the only software house that updates its quote systems and POS documentation sets on a nightly basis. This direct link to the brokers' back-office means that any product received by an insurer is downloaded to the broker within days. Hence, CDL can get insurer products to the market faster than any other software house.

CSC
1. How many versions of your product do you support and how many customers are live on each version?
We typically aim to support only one version of each of the solutions that we supply, version upgrades normally being included within the utilisation and support fee that customers pay. We currently support a number of package products, aimed at various sectors of the market-place, together with various bespoke solutions created for individual customers.

In total, we supply systems and services to more than 2,500 intermediary outlets ranging from small operations to substantial call centres.

2. How often do you update and upgrade?
Rating and insurance product updates are issued monthly. Applications for software version upgrades are issued throughout the year as and when enhancements are released.

3. What help facilities are available on-screen and by telephone?
On-screen help text is provided field by field. We have a client services department which provides telephone support for our package products Monday to Friday and Saturday morning. Dedicated and exclusive support facilities can be included as part of bespoke system contracts.

4. On what basis can users set commission levels?
Scheme by scheme.

5. On what operating systems do your current products operate?
UNIX, Novell, Windows 9*, Windows NT.

6. What can you do if a client has special schemes or software requirements?
We can and frequently do work with individual clients to either tailor/adapt existing applications to meet their requirements, or build new functionality - much will depend upon the nature of the request and the budget available for the work. If the client's applications software requirements can be re-employed and re-sold elsewhere, and the client is happy for them to be, we are also happy to consider a co-funded development programme.

As far as special schemes/products are concerned, clients have the option of either supplying these to us in a format which we can employ within our systems, or contracting us to carry out the necessary work. We have extensive experience of creating schemes for clients, using a variety of methodologies and delivery mechanisms. We have significant in-house expertise in both hand crafting schemes, and in the use of the Polaris Productwriter toolset (we have Polaris-compliant POS modules for both personal and commercial lines).

7. What rating engines are included (i.e. private car, household, motorcycle, commercial vehicle, packaged/small commercial) and what proportion of the broker schemes available in the market do you have as quotable products within each engine?

For personal lines, we have rating engines for private motor car (Polaris compliant), household, motorcycle, annual travel, individual personal accident and sickness.

For commercial lines, we have rating engines for commercial vehicles, small commercial packages (shops, offices, restaurants etc), homeworkers, legal expenses, business travel, small commercial combined and professional indemnity.

It is difficult to give an exact figure for the proportion of broker schemes available, as this is variable from line of business to line of business and from month to month. For some lines of business insurers do not distribute their products electronically. We believe we make the vast majority of standard/open market personal lines schemes available to our users (over 430), and a significant number of commercial lines schemes (over 65) .

8. What proportion of your schemes are full-cycle EDI?
Approximately 75% of private motor schemes.

9. What security features are built into the system? Can a member of a broker's staff move to another broker and still access the data of the previous broker?
Our systems are rigorously protected by passwords and permissions set by a "super-user". Staff who have moved companies can not access their previous company's data.

10. What is the commercial proposition to the broker - what do they pay and what do they get for their money? What are the optional extras and what's the charge (licence fee)?
The commercial terms can vary substantially depending upon the nature of the system supplied, the broker's size and their requirements. Costs can range from a few hundred to many thousands of pounds. A typical small or medium-sized broker will purchase a package consisting of software licences, hardware, installation, implementation and training. The contract period will depend upon the nature of the purchase and whether financing arrangements are involved.

11. What ongoing charges are payable?
The broker pays a monthly utilisation, support and maintenance fee which includes rate/product updates as applicable to their system.

12. Who owns the customer data? Who owns the customer data at the point the broker wants to switch suppliers?
The end user owns their own customer data at all stages.

13. What service level guarantees do you provide for maintaining and operating the system on behalf of the broker?
Our service desks prioritise and categorise software support calls according to their severity and deal with them on a "best endeavours" basis. Where hardware has been supplied by us, faults are dealt with under service levels defined within our terms and conditions. Defined service level agreements for applications support are available at extra cost, but are normally only taken up by larger clients.

14. What is the lead time between the insurer setting the quotation and it arriving at a broker's desk? What are the implications of this?
We supply insurers with a cut-off date by which they have to send in their rate changes. This differs, depending on whether the insurer is a Polaris insurer. Rates changes are issued as an update, which is sent out monthly.

Insure-com
1. How many versions of your product do you support and how many customers are live on each version?
Insur-e.connect 100 sites live, Insur-e.office 40 in Beta testing.

2. How often do you update and upgrade?
The portal is updated monthly. Due to real time technology, updates are seamless to the end user.

3. What help facilities are available on-screen and by telephone?
User documentation and training manuals for all product ranges are included on the InsurE-com website at insur-e.net and are available for download, free of charge.

Users of Insur-e.office have access to on-screen help and the user guide is included on the software CD. InsurE-com's customer service centre provides support by phone, email, fax and website. Training seminars are available on request.

4. On what basis can users set commission levels?
Insurers set commission levels within their Polaris product. These are seamlessly passed to the accounting functions within the Insur-e.office application. A facility allows this to be maintained and overridden by the intermediary where agreement with insurer allows.

Insurers can also set different commission levels with different intermediaries.

5. On what operating systems do your current products operate?
All InsurE-com products run on a standard Windows PC with the minimum specification of: