Bilo said AUL went looking for software providers, but found a limited number of systems available for their needs. “We looked at others, but there were not a lot of options out there,” he said. “Some were ruled out almost immediately because they couldn't scale up to our needs. There was not a lot of competition out there. Sungard was by far the most robust system, so it was either do it yourself or go with Sungard.”

After selecting OmniPlus, AUL had to decide what business requirements to add to the process. “We could see where there were gaps and there had to be some programming done,” said Bilo, who is also the project manager for the implementation of OmniPlus.

OmniPlus has multi-lingual and multi-currency capabilities, making it a good fit for both national and international companies. It offers comprehensive transaction processing, proprietary links for the execution of trades, deposit reconciliation, integrated imaging and workflow, commission calculations, annuity and installment payouts, comprehensive management reporting, and browser-based call center solutions.

The building process gave AUL an opportunity to look at some of its business practices to see how effective they were. “We looked at it both ways,” said Davis. “We could either change the way we do an aspect of our business, or have Sungard change the way the system operates.”

Bilo said one of these decisions came in the flow of money to AUL. In the past, the company held on to unallocated funds, but the OmniPlus system didn't work that way. “The system said if it couldn't allocate money it would return the money right away,” said Bilo. AUL opted to change its own business rules to keep the record-keeping cleaner.

Although AUL can't match dollar value with some of the larger insurers, it is consistently among the leaders in adding new plans. The large number of accounts has made the changeover tricky. AUL looked at what segments of the record-keeping could be done on OmniPlus and on its old system and rolled those out first. The first two segments were handling reserve funds and imaging workflow. So far, those have worked well on OmniPlus, so others are being added to help make the final rollout for new business seamless.

“The rollout has been extremely well run,” said Bilo. “Imaging and workflow don't always work as well as they have with this system. Everything has been on time and on budget and the users love it. Even the actuaries are tickled pink, which is rare.”

A training plan has been set up with representatives from AUL and Sungard. As the company slowly implements the OmniPlus system, Davis knows there is still a lot of work to be done. “There will be some medium and some major issues that will need to be addressed, but the bottom line is, so far so good.”

The Company: American United Life
Net income: $80.3 million
www.aul.com

The Product: OmniPlus from Sungard EBS
www.sungardebs.com