Today, IBM announced what it describes as an insurance industry first –an agreement with Canada Life for insurance software applications that will be delivered on demand, and paid for according to the volume of insurance policies processed.
IBM says Canada Life is the first insurance company to adopt such an agreement, which was devised by the Insurance Solutions Centre at IBM in conjunction with Genelco software.
“Unlike IT outsourcing initiatives that focus primarily on driving down costs, Canada Life is adopting a flexible approach that allows it to rapidly adapt to market conditions,” explains Doron Cohen, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Canada Life.
IBM’s new Insurance Solutions Centre aims to provide insurance companies with the specialised industry knowledge and technological expertise, to enable them to respond more rapidly to new business opportunities and competitive pressures. It specialises in the design, development and management of software applications for insurance providers.
IBM says the Centre can help insurers cut costs (by 15-30 per cent), improve customer service and enhance software application capabilities, more rapidly at lower cost. It can also help them consolidate group, life and health administrative services, underwriting, policy administration, claims adjudication, and customer relationship management.
“As the first insurance company to introduce and purchase applications based on business outcomes at IBM’s new services centre, Canada Life is redefining how life insurance and benefit plans are delivered,” adds Cohen. “Canada Life has enjoyed various working arrangements with IBM in the past. This agreement however, is different since it provides us with the opportunity to deliver faster, more efficient service to our clients, and an attractive ability to cost effectively integrate new blocks of business without any disruption in our customer service levels.”
“Our customers are demanding more specialised knowledge of their industry needs,” says Katie Bambrick, Vice President, Application Management Services, IBM Canada Ltd. “IBM is responding by investing in global industry centres that deliver applications on demand. IBM will use its insurance industry expertise to help Canada Life and other insurance companies around the world to drive costs down, push customer service levels up and accelerate business growth.”