e-Commerce
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Features:
Rising To The Challenge: How Insurance Can Meet The Web

eXoro: How Insurance
Meets The Web

Customer Profile:
Colorado Casualty

Selected Gartner Research
Online Insurance
Must Woo the West

Insurance Technology: Redefining Business Processes

Hot Insurance-Related Technologies for 2001

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eXoro Web Site

ClientSoft
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One Sentence Description:
The information age is changing the face of insurance. New forces threaten the way insurance is bought and sold. How can insurance companies rise to the challenge?

Like most industries, the Information Age is changing the face of insurance. No longer will brick-and-motor-only insurance companies "rule the roost"; instead, two forces are emerging in the industry that threaten the way insurance is bought or sold - the financial services industry and affinity organizations.

The financial services industry poses its threat through direct competition. With the passage of the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, traditional barriers that were keeping financial services companies out of the insurance business have collapsed.

To make the threat even more potent, many financial institutions boast years of loyalty from customers. This has empowered them to cross-sell insurance products to their existing customer-base without worrying about re-selling their institution. The customer is already sold on the trustworthiness of the company.

Adding fuel to the fire, if they are not already, many financial institutions will be selling insurance over the Web, thus forcing insurance companies to fight them on two grounds. And many insurance companies find the Internet ground a bit shaky. Currently, most are not using the Web to sell insurance. But consumers, on the other hand, are embracing the Internet as the place to get insurance. According to Gartner's DataQuest article EMIN-US-DP-0004, Online Insurance Must Woo the West, published July 2000, "More than 11 million consumers have used the Internet or online service in the last year to shop for auto, homeowners, life, medical or travel insurance".

But the Web has more pitfalls than the one coming from financial services - online communities being one. Online communities are in the business of providing value-added services to their membership, including insurance products. Because those communities have personal information about their membership base, including sex, age and buying habits, they can further target insurance products to meet their needs.

So, how can insurance companies rise to the challenge? One good way is by using a plug-in engine such as eXoro to build a Web presence.

eXoro is an end-to-end solution that creates a marketplace for Internet insurance distribution by electronically linking insurance carriers with multiple distribution channels. eXoro's real strength lies in its ability to empower its clients' and allow them to keep their branding.

Companies invest millions of dollars to build their name. Other Web-engines force the customers to leave the company's web site and visit another site under a different name. But that's not what eXoro does.

In addition, eXoro is designed for legacy systems, so companies with mainframes and AS/400s can now automate their processes and ready their systems for e-business quickly and cost-effectively.

For insurance companies to survive, they should be looking at all their options, including their e-business ones. eXoro is a good place for them to start.