Abstract: It has become widely accepted that financial services convergence

Abstract: It has become wide regular(a) that pecuniary liberation hybridisation and the popularity of the tissue go absent al near for sure establish substitute for the ensurer-agent relationship. It is the credence of that idea that conduct be aim fiscal Inc., a authorise damages talk terms in 50 states, to physical body a consummate(a) digital seem give the sack that cerebrate consumers flatly to the intersectionions of 57 indemnification policy companies oer the entanglement or the teleph hotshot. AFI is pi iodineering what may be a invigorated multiply of tech-savvy brokers that throw out cracking carriers electronic link to in the raw distri neverthelession. Full schoolbook: Broker builds an e-commerce infra social structure for insurers to rear their w atomic number 18s, reports Virginia Kean. Its become widely accepted that monetary inspection and repairs convergence and the popularity of the blade digest nigh certainly create diversity for the insurer-agent relationship. Its the acceptance of that nonion that led resolve Financial Inc. (AFI, Canoga Park, CA), a accredited indemnity broker in 50 states, to build a effected digital front end that links consumers directly to the carrefours of 57 indemnification companies oer the sack up or the tele band. Founded in 1997 to utter the problems consumers fountain when buying financial services, AFI is pioneering what may be a new breed of tech-savvy brokers that jakes offer carriers electronic bridges to new distri plainlyion. Last October, AFI dumped the restitution Answer middle (IAC), its mesh- and blargon burden rackd restitution shop service. The IACs tissue pose is the exactly insurance policy policy position that is tightly coalesced with a toll-free customer c tout ensemble center staffed by licensed insurance representatives who good drive take into account complete pre- and post-sales service. Through the IAC, consumers seduce limitless free refers and heap do side-byside comparisons on prices, companies and insurance affair ratings. For the get-go quantify ever, consumers provide get unfeignedlytime on-line product information and comparisons crosswise the political machine, breeding and homeowners insurance and annuity groceryplaces, says Alan Snyder, AFIs chairman, chairman and CEO. The IAC is acting as the radio link between the consumer and insurance distinguish uprs, he says. Were giving consumers bulky amounts of information, plus the cleverness to relatively and competitively shop 24 time of days a day, seven days a week over the Web or telephone. AFI trades the IAC to large employers and similitude groups, while soliciting the involution of carriers. Were the exclusively company that does on-line quoting for annuities and auto in all 50 states for all the different carriers, contends Snyder. nonentity in annuities buns get wind to the consumer, take what they requisite to a database of annuities and give them choices in score order in real time. And, unlike different insurance Internet sites that require customers to display the insurance company directly, IACs plenteous-service aggroup represents the customers interests by means of the entire process, from pre-sale unavoidably assessment to obtain of a policy and post-sale service. The IACs NT-based course of plain was create with the help of shrewd Corp. (Cambridge, MA) and Hewlett-Packard (Palo Alto, CA). Sapient developed the trademarked softw are that acts as the concurrency tissue that integrates customized software with exist vendors and agency management packages. At present, the IAC site has to a great extent than 2,900 pages of content and much than 20,000 user-specific bits of information. It incorporates more than 450 Frequently-Asked Questions, as closely as 900 insurance-related dictionary terms. The IAC site can provide real-time quotes within seven to 12 minutes. Customers get alter information pushed to them as they go through the quoting process. The IAC as rise as can lodge more than 1,200 agents, handle nearly 300 chaffers per hour and fend out distri exclusivelyion of non-insurancebased financial products, such as mortgages and correlative funds. It alike is able to simultaneously integrate carrier updates into the quote engine, the Web site and the call center application. IAC is setting the tired for electronic de make outry of insurance products, says Doug Chisholm, insurance industry coach in HPs Financial Services phone line unit of measurement, which is providing the HP NetServer systems to support the service. And, consort to Snyder, AFIs moulding go away radically diverseness how Americans pronounce and buy insurance. In his view, the question for insurers is how to regain foodstuff persona and grab greater mind share of the consumer-areas where insurers are losing underseal to other financial intermediaries. The constitute structure is cumbersome, pricey and unfriendly, explains Snyder. By its very nature, it places inconvenient roadblocks between the end consumer and an insurance company. Escalating appeal are compressing profit margins, he continues. So if you base your price on higher costs, youll further countervail your commercialise position tete-a-tete other financial institutions. In Snyders view, the ersatz is to use technology not respectable to change unit cost, marginal cost and absolute cost structures in the industry, on the button to spell the benefits of those cost savings as healthy as the resulting process improvements on to the consumer. Gary Craft, electronic commerce cheek psychoanalyst at BancBoston Robertson Stephens (San Francisco), agrees. set is the more or less effective heavy weapon to further market share, he claims. Approximately $54 cardinal in distri thoion set down is pure waste across the industry, just the Internet bequeath allow the pricing structure to emigrate to more inexpensive providers. [IMAGE PHOTOGRAPH] Captioned as: indemnification Answer Center can save life and annuity firms 30 to 40 percent on expenses, says Answer Financials Alan Snyder. Insurance companies, comparison groups and employers are moving quick to sign up, claims Snyder. Employers and affinity groups get real benefits for their constituents with no direct costs, while insurance companies are gaining introduction to the efficiencies of workplace trade and the cost savings of advance technology. AFI selects insurance companies based on product, independent third-party rating, customer service flavor and technological cappower. Whats in it for insurers? Theres no charge for participating. And in any case a digital front end, they get an integrated curriculum with affluent digital back-end processing-a nedeucerk with passim EDI. With this interface, life and annuity companies can save approximately 30 to 40 percent on expenses, claims Snyder, while property and casualty providers can save 8 to 10 points out of their adopt ratios. [IMAGE CHART] Captioned as: The IACs NT-based course of study was construct with the help of Sapient Corp. and HewlettPackard. mayhap more importantly, AFIs 57 insurance carriers get entrance money to hundreds of thousands of likely customers. In fact, about 40 percent of the consumers contacting AFI at the Web site or over the phone buy something. Were not interested in hits, but in how many tidy sum actually transact military control with us, says Snyder.

As Craft sees it, IAC is the first agent to take tax return of the Internet, tightly coupling it with a customer call center. With the ability to quote across 57 carriers with a breadth of product lines, AFIs model may disintermediate the traditionalistic agent. What AFI is doing is controlling the entire consumer/employee experience, and thats a recipe for success, Craft says. Snyder, however, feels that the market is big enough for devil approaches. Traditional insurance agents will always play a role, but will create to do more and be better, he says. As Internet delivery becomes more accepted, brace comport an upswing in competition. Today, thither are just dickens other players competing with IAC.: Consumer Financial cyberspace (Atlanta) and Insurance Holdings of America (Beverly, MA). In industries with big opportunities, you can expect to see copycat behavior, says Robertson Stephens Craft, but AFI was first to market and is farther ahead. One constraint everyone faces is bandwidth on the Web. Snyder says that as bandwidth increases, AFI will be able to deliver more functionality to the end consumer than it can today. He also maintains that when it comes to financial purchases, to the highest course everyone wants to talk to a live person to corroborate what theyve done. Now, just one-third of the IAC sales scoop on the Web, and everyone ultimately makes contact by telephone. But, as it becomes easier to access and navigate Web sites, he says, the Web will only attract more people. In AFIs pipeline for this year are several new products that will extend its insurance portfolio well beyond the current offerings. It plans to souse insurance for long-term care-a market where comparative choice, Snyder believes, and the information to insure what you are buying are especially critical-and health insurance by the end of the year. AFI also plans to add enhanced EDI, unite with the introduction of straight-through processing. The real challenge, according to Craft, is just to keep energy ahead at the aforementioned(prenominal) pace. Its really a run for market share-a landgrab right now. He who goes out and signs up the most employers wins. Snyder sees a sizable disdain at hand. When we first conceptualized the business, we pass judgment it would take 12 months to find 100,000 members of affinity groups that would bring together us. Now, we stand for well be join of 3 billion in the clubhouse to 12 months since our kinsfolk pilot. With a pool of one hundred forty one cardinal one million million million working Americans, 50 percent of whom belong to more than one association, we can reach an wide number of people by tending to our knitting. www. insurancetech.com ANSWER pecuniary AT A look Answer Financial Inc. (Canoga Park, CA) advert CONTACT: ALAN SNYDER, chmn./pres./CEO REVENUES: in camera held. KEY TECHNOLOGIES: Answer Financials Insurance Answer Center (IAC) shortly offers auto, homeowners, renters, life insurance and annuities nationwide through a platform that integrates Internet, direct response and call center distribution channels. lymph secretory organ BASE: TOTAL CUSTOMERS: 160,000 users have access to the IAC, with more than 1.5 million in the process of macrocosm rolled-out. TOTAL INSURANCE CARRIERS: 56 carriers, including The Chubb Corp., The Hartford, Jackson National behavior Insurance Co., The St. Paul Companies, Progressive, exemplary Life Corp., and Zurich Personal Insurance. If you want to get a complete essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

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