In 4000 BC (give or take a century), Egyptians created papyrus, providing them with something more convenient to write on than stone tablets. Papyrus evolved to paper, and over the next 6,000 years, humankind perfected the art of producing it to the point that it became no longer the rare substance reserved for religious tomes and timeless manuscripts but one of the most ubiquitous products in the world.

One piece of paper, however, can have only one usea bill, a page of an application, a sheet from a claim fileand it can be in only one place at a time. These limitations are why insurers have worked to achieve straight-through processing (STP) and to remove paper from the transaction wherever possible. STP, simply put, is capturing data electronically and using that data throughout the entire insurance transactionissuance, bill payment, claims, reinsurance ceding, and so on.

The tools exist to achieve STP: The Internet has become the means of connecting all the parties to the insurance transaction and exchanging data, XML has facilitated the process by helping eliminate the need to develop custom EDI connections between insurers and their business partners, and Web services are maturing as front-end technologies and effective integration mechanisms between disparate back-end systems. However, carriers have only begun to realize the benefits of STPs enter once, use many in their business processes.