For release: 1 Aug 2007
EDS SOLCORP and Focus Solutions Help Insurers Improve Service Delivery In the Post A-Day Annuity Boom
LONDON, England – EDS SOLCORP and Focus Solutions today announced the launch of ProductY, a new combined technology solution which enables insurance providers to effectively manage the increased demand for annuity products following A-Day.
Many of industry's leading providers are reporting large increases in the number of quote requests received since A-Day, mainly due to consumers delaying financial decisions until after April 6th 2006, when the new pensions legislation came into force.
EDS SOLCORP and Focus Solutions have developed ProductY, a turnkey "out of the box" extranet solution that directly interfaces with ProductXpress, EDS SOLCORP's product calculation engine, enabling increased automation of the annuity quotation and application process. By reducing manual processes, the new solution significantly 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 Jon Ayres, general manager, EDS SOLCORP. "In this increasingly competitive market, Financial Advisors 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."
"Turnaround times of 5 days or more for an annuities quotation response are not acceptable in a marketplace where customer service expectations are definitely on the increase," said Darren Bayley, propositions manager, Focus Solutions Group plc. "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."
About Focus Solutions Group PLC
Focus is a leading provider of customer management solutions for the financial services industry. Focus' MCA (Multi-Channel Advice) approach, powered by goal: technology, delivers the life, pensions, mortgage and general insurance markets with a single solution to enable effective electronic trading across multiple distribution channels, online or offline, achieving straight through electronic trading at a much reduced cost to the financial services industry.
Focus has a blue chip customer base of financial services organisations including Abbey for Intermediaries, Assurant Solutions, Barclays Bank PLC, Capital Home Loans Ltd, Future Mortgages, Home of Choice, Mortgages plc, Norwich Union, Paymentshield, Prudential, Scottish Equitable, Scottish Widows, Skandia UK Group, Standard Life, West Bromwich Building Society and Zurich, as well as industry portals, including Assureweb, The Exchange, IFAengine, Trigold and Webline.
For further information on Focus, please visit www.focus-solutions.co.uk.
About EDS SOLCORP
EDS SOLCORP, a global business unit within EDS, is a leader in software solutions and services for the life insurance and wealth management industries. For 25 years, EDS SOLCORP solutions have helped customers reduce their total cost of administration, accelerate time-to-market for new products, and streamline their infrastructure.