Case Study: Primary General Insurance

Primary General Insurance

An end-to-end solution for a dynamic ‘virtual insurer’

Background

Primary is dedicated to providing a quality alternative to the traditional
Composite markets. It supplies its commercial lines products through
Intermediaries and underwrites on behalf of Primary Insurance
Company Limited, AXA and NU – acting as a virtual insurer.
As an autonomous subsidiary of the global insurance distribution organisation, Primary Group, its strength lies in its fresh approach combined with the security of a worldwide group. Taking great pride in its entrepreneurial way of thinking and is superior service, Primary strives to provide a total solution to its selected broker partners.

Challenge

It was vital to Primary that its systems were the best available on the market. Primary successfully competes with larger ‘tier1’ insurers due to its defined ‘broker only’ distribution and its service-oriented culture. To realise its growth ambitions, it needed a flexible, configurable and functional insurance system.

Key Drivers

End-to-end solution

In its selection process, Primary was looking for a solution that would allow it to manage quotation activity right through to policy fulfilment, renewals and claims processing, as well as full accounting functionality.

Primary prides itself on the personal relationships it has with its exclusive panel of brokers and the direct access it gives them to underwriters and key staff.

Says Primary Chief executive: “It’s still very much a people business. We are using technology to facilitate the back-end processes which support our relationships. In some major composites, it can be argued that technology stands in the way of relationships. At Primary, technology is supporting relationship management.”

Robust, scalable and adapted growth

As a start-up business which has grown to circa 200 staff in less than five years and with huge ambition and expectations for the future, Primary needed a technology that was robust, scalable and adapted to growth. “SSP gave us the comfort that the product could continue to meet our needs as we grow.”

Evaluation

Primary looked in detail at five suppliers. Traditional insurer based solutions providers were either built using legacy technology which lacked flexibility or were a framework which required a great deal of bespoke development that came with a high cost of ownership attached.

Primary needed to cater for a substantial volume but other considerations were flexibility, scalability and cost of technology ownership. S4I was the natural choice.
“The fact that SSP gives us the ability to build our own products in-house within a turnkey solution, removing reliance on a software house, was an important decision factor.”

SSP is also able to work with Primary Group, to supply generic components that could be used across the organisation. Sister company, Rural Insurance Group, has since chosen to use S4I within its operation.

Management Control

“We always have a snapshot of our business performance. Management reporting against S4I data extraction of key performance indicators demonstrate that we are supporting our broker panel and insurer partners efficiently.”

The ability to integrate Microsoft tools with the SSP database was seen as another positive. Primary wants us to manage information processing and data mining using SSP’s “bIntelligent for Sirius” analytical reporting suite which allows management dashboards and user-defined KPI’s.

Managed Service

Whilst Primary wanted the flexibility and agility of an insurer solution that provided a high degree of configurability, they did not wish to be burdened with managing the hardware and software infrastructure. Primary elected to use SSP’s “Sirius 21” managed service which provided a robust hardware environment, delivered via the internet with off-site Disaster Recovery.

Solution

S4I provides a complete underwriting administration and accounting system including claims, document and image management and a web-enabled front-end, which enhances service to brokers. All staff within the Primary business have access to the system, from any of their eight locations or from home.

Process Automation

What Primary has achieved with S4I is the automated of all processes from logging received risk presentations and recording quotes, right through to instigating risk management surveys and putting clients on cover resulting in much quicker policy schedule production.

Benefits

When Primary went into live operation with the new system, its brokers noticed no interruption in policy processing and accounting. The transition to S4I was seamless.

Efficiencies

Primary calculates that without the support of SSP, it would need a 25% increase in staff within the technical administration team.

Improved data accuracy

Primary has achieved  improved  data accuracy by eliminating duplication and reducing errors and omissions. Less checking is now needed before document despatch, saving valuable staff time. The goal of seamless integration of policy processing with accounting functions has been accomplished.

“S4I allows us to better use our existing resources. It makes our staff more productive and also makes their jobs easier.”
Looking forward Primary is confident that S4I will help it to accomplish its acquisition plans. The current system is extendible to create a common operational and reporting platform across all acquired businesses, enabling them to be up and running quickly, with minimal business downtime.

Looking forward: “SSP has shown a clear desire to work with us as a growing business and to ensure that the product remains a technology leader.”

Fast Facts

Customer Profile

www.primarybrokerservices.co.uk

Young ‘virtual insurer’ Primary General Insurance came to market in 2002 with a new service-driven proposition. It supplies a range of commercial insurance products, with direct access to underwriters, to a hand picked panel of intermediaries.

Challenge

Primary needed to invest in technology that would both streamline its business processes and support its service-led culture. Starting with a clean sheet of paper, it had the opportunity to invest in leading edge technology. Its chosen system had to be flexible and adaptable to planned but unpredictable growth.

Solution

After an evaluation of underwriting packages available in the UK, S4I stood out as the system best suited to the Primary business model. It represented the best value for money combined with product flexibility. An end-t-end solution was installed, which has enabled Primary to manage all activity from quotations to policy fulfilment, renewals, claims processing, document and image management accounting and management reporting.

Benefits

• A single system to manage all elements of the Primary business
• Automation of processes without impacting the Primary people-led culture
• Policy production efficiencies reduce the need for additional staff
• Improved data accuracy by eliminating duplication and reducing errors
• Faster document despatch
• Control of product design and delivery
• Seamless integration of policy processing with accounting functions
• More productive staff
• Management information ensuring a constant snapshot of business performance
• A technology environment that can evolve to match the company’s significant growth
• Managed hosting service