“We aim for speed and accuracy, with no re-keying and applications are pre-populated at the touch of a button, providing advisers with real-time premium information. It automatically compares single benefit against multi-benefit products on a single screen, with the option to compare up to five protection benefits at the same time. The Exchange also integrates with many industry-leading CRMs via application programming interface (API).”
iPipeline
iPipeline’s SolutionBuilder automatically passes information (adviser CRM, client portal and third party) into extranets to pre-populate them and reduce underwriting. Once in an extranet, the company’s self-service end-to-end SSG Digital Platform enables providers to offer a range of processes: direct to consumer, buy now, fully underwritten, and even enables advisers to delegate completion of underwriting parts of the application to the customer.
Paul Yates, product strategy director at iPipeline, says: “With SolutionBuilder, we pass in ‘quote’ data which greatly reduces errors in the application / compliance process as the information is taken back into practice management systems and ensures suitability/demands and needs documents and compliance history aligns with the application.
The full process is reduced by 54 per cent as a result of the linked-up journey. Many of the newer application processes are fully signatureless, including trust forms.
“To help the adviser journey further, SolutionBuilder supports protection sourcing with additional features such as highlighting personalised risks of not being covered, cutting out the jargon and talking about the affordability of protection in real terms with our mortgage & protection risk report, as well as highlighting the quality of products with our product features report, taking into account the added-value benefits available to enrich client conversations. This enables advisers to source protection within one system, feeding the necessary data into extranets.”
LifeQuote
LifeQuote provides a protection portal and a full administration service for the adviser. It effectively acts as an administrator, processing cases from application to completion on behalf of the partner they are working for either through their own agencies with insurers or a cloned version of the partners.
It also powers a number of consumer “direct” quote and apply protection sites for advisers, and its parent company Direct Life powers the aggregator Confused.com.
Neil McCarthy, Chief Commercial Officer at Direct Life, says: “Around 90% of advisers choose the tele-underwriting approach, for the convenience of: scheduling the call with the customer; the fact that they don’t have to go through all the medical questions, which saves them time and avoids potential embarrassing questions; our experience in completing the calls accurately; the fact that calls are recorded; and the comfort that we are responsible for the disclosure risk.”
UnderwriteMe
The Protection Platform from UnderwriteMe provides one application form, which produces fully underwritten premiums from multiple insurers. It includes ‘buy now’ functionality and product comparisons on one system, allowing the client to potentially be on risk immediately.
