News...
Step-by-step moves pay final dividends
Accepting that IT systems are not up to scratch and making the investment
is never easy, but Holman's has not looked back since enlisting the help of
Websure from Sheraton Systems
Three years ago, Lloyds broker Holman's was in a situation that will be familiar
to many brokers - its computer systems a ragbag of ageing and disparate software
packages based on 1980's technology. Everything worked but the company's business
practices had changed and the software had not kept pace. Individual departments
had devised their own solutions using Excel spreadsheets and Word templates
but there was very little integration. The same data was being re-entered
several times as a risk progressed form quotation to policy production. Change
was clearly needed.
The broker formed a software committee that spent several months looking at numerous insurance systems, but none seemed to meet all requirements. The problem was that Holman's business was primarily wholesale with the majority of it being written under binding authority. It therefore needed an underwriting system that allowed its own staff to design new schemes and modify rates without expensive reprogramming. Its broking departments, on the other hand, needed a broking system capable of dealing with the complexities of the London market where a single risk could involve several underwriters, introducers, intermediaries and service providers.
Sirius ended up as the front-runner but there were concerns as Holman's felt that Sirius's Product Builder was very much a programmer's tool. The software committee concluded that two systems might be required; one (possibly Sirius) for the broking departments and one for the underwriting departments.
Twelve months earlier Holman's had commissioned Sheraton Systems to produce an underwriting system for one of its subsidiaries. The system had been christened Websure and was successfully handling a number of retail travel products, sold via the internet and telesales teams. Sheraton had always had greater ambitions for the product however, as its managing director, Nick Beach explains: "We believed there was a gap in the market for an insurance administration system designed for companies marketing specialist insurance products under binding authority. After developing numerous bespoke insurance solutions over the years we had a pretty thorough understanding of the business and when Holman's commissioned us to develop its travel system, we made a decision to build a product that could go very much further than was initially required."
Net results
Having seen Websure successfully handling travel schemes, Holman's postponed
the decision on its broking system and commissioned Sheraton to implement
Websure in its marine and household underwriting departments.
Paul Newton, marine underwriter, Holman's says: "Yacht business is highly seasonal. Between September and February very little is written and then in the spring, all hell breaks loose. Sheraton was given the go-ahead in December 2001 with instructions that Websure must be live by 1 February, but two months proved an impossibly tight deadline and by the time we switched to Websure in March, the busy season had already started. The first couple of months were therefore rather stressful, but by the summer we had started to see benefits and since then, everything has run very smoothly."
The household department was next to go online. One of Holman's largest schemes is overseas holiday homes and this proved an interesting challenge for Sheraton. Holman's insisted that Websure must calculate all taxes automatically and overseas taxes, particularly those of France, can be complicated. Websure was however, able to cope and users can now process an overseas risk as easily as any other.
Holman's managing director Andrew Holman was particularly impressed with productivity in this department. "Only three staff are needed to handle Websure rather than the 13 who previously handled our household business and the quality of service we give to our clients has improved enormously".
Out of date
At this stage, Websure was one of several systems feeding debit note data
into Holman's IBA ledger program. This had been developed in the mid 1980s
and was long overdue for replacement. Fortunately for Holman's, another Lloyd's
broker, Carroll Insurance Group, had also ordered Websure on the understanding
that it would include an integrated accounting module and Sheraton was therefore
already working on it. This provided the broker with an accounting solution
that was comfortably within budget and its staff were able to influence the
specification.
Sheraton converted all accounting data from the broker's previous system to Websure and the accounts team benefited in several ways. Drill-down and enquiry facilities mean that queries can almost invariably be answered with a couple of mouse clicks rather than wading through piles of paper. Full integration with the policy system allows the accounts department to easily examine policy details and visa versa.
The first broking department to switch was motor fleet. Again, Sheraton managed to convert the data from the previous system and the department was able to switch overnight to Websure with only a few hours training.
Over the next two months, Websure was rolled out to the remaining departments. Its dual role as an underwriting system means that some aspects of the user interface are slightly unconventional. This caused occasional misunderstandings among new users but overall, Holman's staff are very positive about the change.
Smooth operator
Websure is now the sole system across the Holman group. It handles almost
a million policies spread across almost a hundred schemes. So the company's
aim of a fully paperless office is approaching reality. Virtually all documents
produced are stored within Websure's document management system and most incoming
letters, faxes and emails are scanned and stored against the appropriate account,
policy or claim. The paper files are still kept but rarely need to be referred
to.
Another useful feature is Websure's built-in disaster recovery system. Real-time replication is used to maintain identical copies of data, including scanned documents, in several locations. This means that Holman's could potentially carry on working from another office immediately, with no loss of data, in the event of a major fire or other disaster.
Websure has also made it easier for the broker to comply with Financial Services Authority regulations. For example, all changes made to any record are logged with the date, time and user name and a full version history is automatically kept for all documents.
Mr Holman says he has no regrets about being a guinea pig. He says: "Choosing
a relatively new system may have seemed risky but Sheraton Systems has produced
some excellent software for us over the years and we were always confident
that they could deliver. Websure has allowed us to expand quickly, develop
new insurance products and has more than paid for itself in efficiency savings
alone."
Insurance Age September 2004
