Agile – Software Delivery at RDT

April 21, 2015

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Agile – Software Delivery at RDT
At the heart of RDT are seven delivery teams who innovate, develop and support our products. It is important to create the right environment for them to do this and deliver value to our customers. At RDT we use a style of working called Agile to achieve this.

Agile is an umbrella term for a number of lightweight delivery methods that were put together in 2001 by a group of leading business thinkers. They created the Agile Manifesto and 12 supporting principles, which together represent the ethos we want to create in our teams.

Agile

At RDT we use the Agile practice of “scrum” for the basis of our project management framework.

This means that our teams work in two- week “sprints” to deliver high-quality software to our clients. At the beginning of each sprint we refine the requirements before planning out what needs to be done. We work together in a highly collaborative way, so it can get a little noisy! Once we have completed the sprint, we sit down with our customers to review what we have achieved, and to discuss if further changes are required. Our teams are continuously striving for improvement and come together regularly to discuss what processes or practices can be improved. We then start the two-week sprint cycle again.

There is a 30 second video which gives a visual representation of the sprint cycle here which you may find useful.

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RDT and Markerstudy up for joint British Insurance Award

April 16, 2015

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2015 British Insurance Award
RDT is very proud to announce that its Insurer-Hosted Rating Hub has been shortlisted for a Technology Award at this year’s British Insurance Awards. These are the UK’s most prestigious and influential insurance awards, considered a showcase for the industry’s highest level of innovation and performance. The awards will be presented at the Royal Albert Hall in London on July 8 – good luck everyone!

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BIA

RDT’s rating hub helps Markerstudy scoop international award

April 2, 2015

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Award for Markerstudy
Insurer Markerstudy discovered a new benefit of using RDT’s products this week when it was named as a 2015 Celent Model Insurer – thanks to its implementation of the software provider’s Insurer-Hosted Rating Hub.
The motor specialist won the award, in the Data Mastery and Analytics category, because of its success with RDT’s hub and its new Big Data Insight Project, built using platforms from two other providers. The combined projects scored highly with the judges, who rated nominations based on quantitative success, level of innovation, technology or integration excellence, and best practice.
The trophy was presented on Monday (March 23) at New York’s Carnegie Hall during research and advisory firm Celent’s annual Innovation and Insight Day.

After the presentation RDT CEO Mark Bates said:

“Everyone at RDT is very happy to see the Insurer-Hosted Rating Hub get the recognition it deserves. It’s an industry-disruptive product and in the past two years it has revolutionised the way Markerstudy sells to its customers. I believe it will change the way insurance is sold throughout the industry.”
Markerstudy’s head of IT Dan Fiehn added:

“We are delighted to have won the Data Mastery and Analytics Award. Working closely with RDT, SAS and Cloudera, we’ve taken significant steps in putting our digital strategy at the forefront of our business and we’re thrilled to have our accomplishments in this arena recognised.”
Markerstudy was the first insurer to implement RDT’s rating hub, going live with it in 2013. Since then the insurer has seen a steady growth in volume and a 3.5 percent reduction in loss ratio on an already profitable book of business. The hub currently processes 20 million quotes a day, predicted to rise to a staggering 40 million a day by 2016.
These figures underline the hub’s ability to centralise, accelerate and streamline the distribution of quotes, while its use of data enrichment at point of quote enables the insurer to know far more about its customers than before. The result for Markerstudy is a 60 percent cut in application fraud which, added to the other benefits, means enhanced business performance and a better bottom line – a significant advantage in the highly competitive motor market.

RDT hub is a ratings hit

March 24, 2015

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Impressive volume figures from Markerstudy underline the benefits of using the RDT insurer-hosted rating hub
You may have seen recent media reports that the RDT rating hub is driving both value and volume for Markerstudy, the first insurer to implement the hub. Below are some of the benefits that Markerstudy is gaining and the advantages you could achieve for your business.
12 million quotes a day and rising

The UK and European motor specialist went live with RDT’s revolutionary platform in 2013 and has seen a rapid growth in transaction volume over the last 18 months as well as a 3.5% reduction in its loss ratio over the same period. The hub is now processing over 12 million quotes a day and is predicted to reach 20 million a day within the next year.
Sixty percent reduction in application fraud

The figures underline the hub’s capability to centralise, accelerate and streamline the distribution of quotes, while data enrichment at the point of quote and during the claims process enables insurers to know far more about prospective and existing customers. The result is a 60% reduction in application fraud, achieving enhanced business performance and a better bottom line – a big advantage in highly competitive insurance markets.
Markerstudy wanted a controllable platform that would improve sales and increase its competitive position by avoiding the need to rely upon intermediary and broker channels to distribute rates – a laborious process often taking up to eight weeks via broker software houses. By implementing the RDT hub Markerstudy has achieved its objective.
Real-time results and market intelligence

Commenting on the performance of the hub, Markerstudy group underwriting director Gary Humphreys said:

“We wanted a platform where we could implement weekly updates and make changes immediately, rather than face long delays that undermine our competitive strength. The hub has achieved this admirably, giving us greater agility and speed to market, and much better market intelligence. We expect to process more than 20 million quotes a day by 2016, with the hub returning prices in a fraction of a second using real-time enrichment. That’s a very big step forward.”
Centralise and conquer

The hub allows insurers to take control of distribution and achieve efficiencies that are not possible in complex information chains. Markerstudy has proved that a centralised approach is the way forward for the industry, and its recently reported results show that it is making the right technology choices.
Data enrichment and product differentiation

The RDT hub provides real-time competitively priced products via a single source, with third-party data enrichment from companies such as Experian and LexisNexis. In addition, everything stays in-house and remains confidential, enabling insurers to customise and differentiate their products.

Summary of benefits

• Centralises and unifies rates
• Makes rates accessible for sales channels to retrieve
• Uses third-party data enrichment from a wide variety of sources
• Supports all aggregators and broker software houses including BGL, Open GI and CDL
• Integrates with all websites and most insurance systems