It was designed to help insurance providers effectively manage the increased demand for annuity products following A-Day.
Many of the industry’s providers have reported increases in the number of quote requests received since A-Day, mainly due to consumers delaying financial decisions until after 6 April 2006, when the new pensions legislation came into force.
EDS SOLCORP and Focus Solutions have developed a turnkey ‘out of the box’ extranet solution that directly interfaces with ProductXpress, EDS SOLCORP’s product calculation engine, enabling automation of the annuity quotation and application process. By reducing manual processes, the solution reduces the turnaround time for quotations, providing an instant response for the intermediary and consumer.
“The new pension legislation is just one factor forcing the industry to look at how pension products are administered and distributed,” said Jonathan Phillips, client sales executive, EDS SOLCORP. “In this increasingly competitive market, Financial Advisers and consumers are demanding faster service turnaround times and EDS SOLCORP is committed to helping insurers the world over continue to meet the demands of their respective markets. Our work with Focus supports these goals and forms part of our ongoing commitment to the UK marketplace.”
Darren Bayley, propositions manager, Focus Solutions Group plc, said: “Turnaround times of five days or more for an annuities quotation response are not acceptable in a marketplace where customer service expectations are definitely on the increase. It is imperative that annuity organisations provide a high level of customer service and technology solutions are the key to providing an efficient sales process and an instant response for annuity quotations.”
