At one point in time, multiple rating tools for multiple products might have been perfectly acceptable for a property/casualty insurer, but any carrier looking to maintain a strong market position has learned such a strategy doesnt create the level playing field most companies strive for. For the California State Automobile Association (CSAA), a level playing field meant a common rating tool for its automobile and homeowners customers and potential customers.

With the influx of insurers marketing over the Internet, Andrew Goldsmith, vice president IT business development for CSAA, says the carrier needed to position itself to compete for business. We have to provide rates on the Web, and they need to seamlessly reflect those [rates] that our agents are using, he says. CSAA is the largest provider of automobile coverage in northern California, and the company was feeling the pressure to maintain that position, according to Goldsmith.

CSAA had been down this road a couple of times, he says. Two earlier efforts failed but did not deter the company from its goal. One of the reasons for the earlier failures was CSAA could not reach a consensus among its internal staff on what needed to be included in the solution. It needed to be browser based, says Goldsmith, whose previous dealings with Steel Card while he was with another insurer led CSAA to open negotiations with Steel Card for its Apogee solution. We liked that it was browser based and also that it could handle multiple products and was flexible, he adds.