Internet Week 28 June 1999

Legacy Hinders Insurers

RUPERT COLLINS-WHITE
Insurance firms have identified technological difficulties as the main reason they do not generally sell policies over the Web, according to a new report. The key concern is integration with legacy systems, while the importance of existing sales channels is another major factor. The report, Internet-based Insurance: Cutting Costs and Gaining Customers, was commissioned by enterprise application integration (EAI) firm Intelligent Environments: "Setting up a Web site to market products is easy, the difficult part is to make all the back-office systems work together," said Roger Willcocks, chief executive with Intelligent Environments. Willcocks also pointed to possible changes in the tracking of small claims when insurance accounts are kept up online. "Maybe companies might want to think about a threshold of payments with­ out even questioning what the customer has said," he suggested. He added that insur­ance companies would have to think carefully about where to draw the line. Insurance firms surveyed said the main reason for moving to the, Internet was to cut costs. But Richard Martin, head of con­sultancy Du Mar, said this was a mistake. "Companies are barking up the wrong tree if they're looking to the Net for cost savings," said Martin.  I am totally shocked that there is no word about revenue generation here - the basis of business is to get people to buy 'product and keep them buying product. The insurance companies' current approach is wrong," he said.

About Richard Martin: Richard Martin of Briquesetclics is a Certified Management Consultant and Accredited Internet Marketing Consultant of 20 years experience in IT. Briquesetclics offers exquisite eBusiness solutions, website design and Internet Marketing with English to French Translation to expat and French Comunities in Southwest France. He serves the Limousin, Poitou-Charentes and Aquitaine regions and the cities of Limoges, Poitiers, Bergerac, Perigueux, Angouleme, Cognac, Bordeaux, Niort.

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