Online tool allows brokers to cache data in BMS

Applied Systems’ new IVANS Exchange online tool for Canadian brokers will include a feature that allows caching and housing of data in a broker management system (BMS) for 90 days. This allows brokerages to keep the data, even if their system is down for an extended period of time, or to handle broken files.

“It allows for a broker to be able to source the potentially broken or corrupted files that can really cause major problems when downloading the file [from an insurer’s system into a BMS],” said Caroline Schweppe, vice president of insurer solutions with vendor Applied Systems. “I’ve had a few phone calls, actually, from insurers, who are mainly interested to hear about that. They get the calls from you or from support teams to find the files,” she told brokers attending Applied Systems’ Executive Symposium last week in Toronto, when the tool was released.

Jeff Purdy, senior vice president of international operations with Applied, added that brokers will be able to retrieve the data and self-serve “if there is a hiccup and the download didn’t appear the right way in the BMS.”

The idea is to give brokers more power to manage their download connections with their insurer partners, Purdy said. “If you are going to eliminate friction from the transaction, you have to be able to enable the broker to connect with their insurers in a more effective way.”

Download data is picked up from the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations’ server and stored in the IVANs Exchange app. “That is something of interest to brokers: to be able to identify where the downloads are coming from, and who you are already connected to via CSIO,” Schweppe said.

Other features of the tool include:

• A connections report:  a personalized report that enables brokerages to review download connections that are inactive or have yet to be activated, as well as identify available download opportunities. Updated daily with the latest insurer download offerings, brokerages can customize the report to indicate:
  • available lines of business of interest for future download;
  • mark lines of business that are not currently available from select insurers, but would be of interest once available; and
  • note lines of business that a brokerage is choosing to not download.
• Single policy resend: Brokerages can quickly find and resend policies that have already been downloaded, and resend multiple policies at once directly through the application.