July 4, 2013
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UK, Australia: LEADING insurance technology supplier RDT launches its new standalone rating solution today, allowing insurers to control the distribution of rates across all their sales channels.
With all the data and channels insurers are currently forced to manage, the time has come for a faster, cheaper and more sophisticated way to control the way that rates are handled. RDT’s new Rating Hub centralises and unifies insurers’ rates, distributing results to all channels instantly and simultaneously.
Third-party data enrichment is set to dramatically change the way risks are assessed. RDT’s Rating Hub accesses information feeds such as credit checks, claims history, telematics data and others, and uses them in real time to accurately price risk. Typically, it returns prices to the calling application – be it an aggregator site, a broker software house or an internal insurance system – in well under a second.
RDT’s CEO Mark Bates says the ability to reduce fraud and to price accurately at point of sale will dramatically improve results for insurers, leaving potentially bad risks for competitors to pick up through poor intelligence.
“Empowering underwriters to respond in real time to market intelligence gives insurers a real edge. As consumers are increasingly price conscious, controlling pricing is fundamental to success for insurers. As is returning quotes in less than a second to websites, before consumers lose patience and move on.”
Mr Bates says the technology supports any line of business, currency or tax scheme and integrates into almost any insurance system, regardless of whether insurers are existing RDT clients.
Motor specialist Markerstudy is the first to go live with Rating Hub. Their Group Underwriting Director Gary Humphreys says insurers are forced to rely on underwriters to deliver technical profit as traditional revenue streams are challenged and investment returns on premiums are negligible. He says:
“Accessing the best technology ahead of the competition is Markerstudy’s weapon of choice in this tough market. The ability to control distribution and to update our rates in a day rather than six weeks will leave many of our competitors always playing catch up. Rating Hub will support our continued growth by putting data to work in price accuracy at point of sale, and, in the near future, supporting market segmentation and fraud prevention.”
Mr Humphreys says he was delighted that this IT project was delivered on time, on budget and worked perfectly from Day One – significantly increasing revenues and reducing overheads.
“We are expecting savings of around 20 per cent a year on the cost of updating rates alone, which previously had to be done across 15 systems. These efficiencies, in addition to the improved price accuracy, will make an important difference to our business.”
Markerstudy represents five per cent of the UK ’s motor insurance market, selling through a network of brokers, aggregators and its own brand, Zenith Direct. Selling more than 150 fully rateable products, Markerstudy has grown twelve-fold in the past two years and shows no sign of slowing down.
