PMI brokers want efficiency, accuracy and security, so where is market support for a single portal providing access to all insurers? Alistair Sclare investigates
Daft as it may sound, when we say ‘single portal’ we are not arguing that there should only be one version available. A broker should be able to obtain all the quotations he needs by putting his data into a single portal. There is no reason why more than one portal should not be available as with other classes of insurance: that is just competition. But each should achieve the same efficiency of data input.
Equally important is the question of data security. The days of being able to pass quotations between brokers and insurers via a normal message are numbered.
Think about the medical information that may be transferred, as well as the names, dates of birth and postcodes that are also commonly contained in quotation data.
In reality, if enough information is obtained to handle the quotation properly, there is a good chance that traditional email is not a suitable method of transmission.
Some brokers have already set up portals from which quotation requests have to be retrieved. Some insurers are doing exactly the opposite. So each organisation is investing time and money in the development of individual versions of something that everyone needs. Each is assuming that, for those with whom they trade, this will be a practical solution.
What this amounts to is an entirely unnecessary waste of huge chunks of time and money to develop systems that, given a choice, no one in their right minds would want.
As insurers, we should hold our hands up here. This is our fault and, if the boot was on the other foot. We would not stand for brokers doing the same thing.
If brokers presented us with a process that meant we had to key our quotations into several different portals to provide the same quote to a number of brokers, we would not just sit by and do nothing. So why are we trying to impose the same thing on our customers?
It must surely be clear to anyone that the obvious solution is ‘one solution’. If it is this obvious, why is it not happening?
Consequence of doing nothing
We can only guess at the reasons. At Groupama Healthcare, we are very keen for such a solution to be implemented and there are a number of other insurers that share this aim. Not surprisingly, many brokers would like such a solution too, but a section of the market appears to fear such a development – this section includes the biggest players. When looked at in simple terms, such a development would simply change the method through which quotations and quotation data pass between insurer and broker.
There is no need to do more than this. For those of us who are already providing very fast quotation turnaround, it might result in the chance for others to erode our advantage, but it cannot really work the other way round.
The premiums will be the same and, without significant further development, the process of taking new business on board would also remain the same. No advantage to be gained or lost here.
Perhaps those who just will not engage in these developments could articulate their objections and explain how the industry might overcome the inefficiencies we seem hell-bent on producing. At least then, if there are compromises to be made to achieve such an obvious step forward, they can be considered and we can all understand.
As is so often the case, it is worth comparing the private medical market with the commercial lines sector. Insurers and brokers providing commercial lines products have the benefit of Polaris, which develops business and technology standards that provide consistency and certainty across the market.
Within Polaris, they have access to imarket, an electronic trading platform that links intermediaries and insurers to enable them to trade more efficiently and cost-effectively in a secure online environment.
If it works in commercial lines, why can it not work in PMI? The short answer is that iT can and must work in PMI, otherwise we are either going to further develop our market to an astonishing level of inefficiency or find ourselves riding for a fall in terms of non-compliance with a critical area (data protection) of business regulation. Or, of course, both.
By continuing with the current situation we are creating problems, not solving them. This is why we cannot lay claim to being a successful competitive market. The potential is there, but we need to grasp it.
Alistair Sclare is healthcare director at Groupama Healthcare
