The Dominion issues bulletin clarifying position on tech issues

The Dominion has sent out a bulletin to brokers indicating the company’s support for e-document technology and the data exchange project launched by the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC).
“The broker-company technology touch point is an area that has seen increased attention in industry forums and in the insurance media across the country,” the bulletin says. “We’d like to confirm The Dominion’s position on two ‘hot’ technology topics.”
First, the company refers to the E-document process, citing its Online Policy Document solution. This is designed to take the broker copy of policy documents out of the paper stream. The Dominion subsequently added Bulk Policy Document Access capability.
“The third phase, expected in 2012, will download the policyholder documents to brokers through the CSIO Download process,” the company notes.
“The data file and the policy document will be sent separately but the policy document will be tagged with enough information to allow the Broker Management System (BMS) to automatically attach it to the client file. This workflow is supported by the new CSIO standard and means that the broker doesn’t need to touch each policy.”
Secondly, The Dominion reaffirms its commitment to IBAC’s data exchange project. This process is characterized by:
•data transactions that start and end in the BMS;
•data flowing between systems electronically and transparently, without user invention or data entry on insurer portals, systems or pop-up screens;
•transmission formats and content that strictly follow CSIO standards;
•immediate response generation by insurer systems, such as a simple acknowledgement, error message or, ideally, a complete return transaction; and
•any translation or manipulation of data to accommodate an insurer’s system occurs on the insurer’s side of the transaction (not within the broker system).
The Dominion says it fully supports the IBAC vision and is building new systems that lay the groundwork for this type of solution long-term.
“The destination of the IBAC vision is a journey for The Dominion, all carriers and all BMSs,” The Dominion president and CEO George Cooke says in the bulletin. “We are implementing new systems which will allow this vision to be realized – it will however take time and will likely include detours along the way.”