According to Honolulu-based DRC, with DM Assistant, property-casualty insurance companies can offer distribution channels "once and done" real-time service for quoting, underwriting rules and point-of-sale policy fulfillment.

"Unlike traditional environments where rule changes require time, programming and additional sales training, with DM Assistant business users are empowered to very quickly and easily promote new rules, forms and output throughout distribution channels," the company said.

DM Assistant automates the sales process, with any inadequate or conflicting information quickly identified, resulting in the notification to the point-of-sale to allow for correction and resubmission, said DRC. Once approved, a policy declaration page and insurance identification cards are printed at point-of-sale.

"The closed loop and streamlined process provided with DM Assistant ensures enforcement of best practices and a 'once and done' method for policy fulfillment," the company noted.

Pricing for DM Assistant starts at $50,000 and is licensed by business and state, a company representative said. Further details are available at www.decisionresearch.com.

o Duck Creek Technologies introduced a new feature, "Portfolio," within their policy administration system that helps underwriters view "at a glance" a presentation of all quotes and policies for a customer's account.

Portfolio allows data to be shared across quotes and polices for ease and consistency when entering and updating information, according to Bolivar, Mo.-based Duck Creek. The feature facilitates policy updates and endorsements by allowing simultaneous processing of transactions on any or all policies within the portfolio.

Portfolio is available in the new 3.1 release of EXAMPLE Platform, Duck Creek's policy administration solution, which ranges in price from $300,000 to $1.5 million, the company said.

According to Duck Creek, Portfolio increases underwriting workflow by making underwriting risk more visible to the underwriter. The underwriter gains more control of the underwriting decision processing by having multiple views of data between quotes and policies.

"The underwriting process is automated, leaving the underwriter to concentrate more on exception-based underwriting," the company noted. "A carrier can increase their underwriting processing; re-keying errors can be eliminated, and more consistent underwriting decisions can be made, consequently reducing the overall underwriting workload."

The Portfolio feature's architecture also provides the ability to rewrite rules about the interaction of policies within the portfolio, said Duck Creek. Further details are available at www.duckcreektech.com.

o FirstBest Systems Inc. announced last fall the general availability of its advanced Underwriting Management Systems (UMS).

Based on Web 2.0 technologies, the FirstBest UMS addressed "the entire underwriting life cycle, enabling commercial insurance carriers to profit from better underwriting," stated Lexington, Mass.-based FirstBest.

Provided as an on-demand, Web-based platform for underwriting all lines of business, the UMS delivers straight-through processing, exception-based underwriting, real-time collaboration, knowledge management and an execution platform for predictive modeling--all in one integrated solution, the company said.

"Carriers deploying this solution benefit from closer agent-underwriter relationships, management visibility into the underwriting process, and the continuous capturing and sharing of underwriting experience and best practices," said FirstBest.

Advanced collaboration capabilities provide all users with a real-time view of the underwriting process, the company said. Business rules and workflow are highly configurable and can be added or revised in real-time.

FirstBest added that UMS co-exists with carriers' existing systems, including legacy and external systems, and that it adheres to the latest standards in Web services and SOA.

"Where carriers have legacy systems based on older technologies, the FirstBest UMS adapter architecture allows the legacy system to be integrated with minimal effort," the company noted.

Pricing starts with a $250,000 per year subscription as part of a multiyear contract, a company representative said. More information is available at www.firstbest.com.

o ISCS Inc. announced this past year that its SurePower Innovation product was upgraded to include a rules-based data warehouse, an improved document imaging client tool for broader indexing and LDAP standards-based security.

According to San Jose, Calif.-based ISCS, the Web-based "SurePower Innovation" policy administration system uses service-oriented architecture to "automate personal and commercial lines underwriting, policy management, claims management, reinsurance, customer billing/remittance processing and financial reporting, all with integrated document management."

SurePower Innovation is a third-generation solution for insurance processing and management, said ISCS. It uses Java/J2EE, model-driven architecture, service-oriented architecture and model-view-controller architecture.

The technology allows companies with an active information technology staff to make their own modifications easily, the company said.

While optionally empowering IT staff with a state-of-the-art toolbox, however, "SurePower Innovation remains a solution for insurance companies that do not have IT resources," the company stated.

"SurePower Innovation is designed for real-office use," said Tim Shelton, an ISCS principal. "It's a complete system, ready to process your entire insurance business."

The minimum base price for SurePower Innovation is $300,000, a company representative said. Further details are available at www.iscs.com.

o Valen Technologies last year introduced two products for carriers that want to "improve underwriting results and improve underwriting discipline and consistency."

According to Denver-based Valen, rather than relying on subjective and intuitive underwriter judgment, Valen's underwriting solutions use "proven, predictive analytics science to objectively pinpoint the expectation of loss for an individual policy."

The first product--"Tier Right"--uses predictive analytics to place policies into different tier schedules (ultra-preferred, preferred, standard and nonstandard, for example), the company said.

"In doing so, policies will be priced more accurately," said Valen. "By placing risks more accurately in the appropriate tier, your book will witness loss ratio improvements and profitable growth."

The second product--"Schedule Right"--uses predictive analytics to provide schedule rating indications that advise underwriters of any debits or credits to apply to achieve price adequacy. By pricing to risk more precisely, carriers can be "more competitive in today's softening market," the company noted.