Financial services company Coris Capital has used MIP`s employee benefit administration system to deliver daily balancing of client records to clients, enter the unit trust market and launch franchised front offices since it first implemented the system in 2002.
Critically, the software has allowed Coris Capital to set a new standard for reporting back to clients.
"We have been able to diversify our offering to clients and give them real-time statements delivered via the Web, whereas most of our competition still post printed statements, typically every quarter," says Marius Meyer, CIO at Coris Capital. "The MIP software alone has not been responsible for the developments in our business, but it underpins all of them and without it these advances would not have been possible."
Coris Capital provides benefit administration and asset management, with 160 000 member records under administration and R19 billion retirement fund assets under management. Its investment management philosophy and strategy is implemented through a disciplined multi-asset management process, which focuses on delivering out-performance relative to benchmarks of client-specific, custom-made investment mandates. Services include benefit administration, investments, communication, housing loans, retained benefits trust, disability management, risk management, collective investments (unit trusts), living annuity, retirement annuity and pensioner payroll.
"In addition to the suitability of the software itself, there are a number of inherent benefits to the solution provided by MIP," says Meyer. "It is important to us that MIP provides a well controlled development environment, tempered by a deep understanding of the trends in IT and the employee benefit market. Furthermore, MIP provides us with a high level of agility in terms of the functionality we needed, while maintaining a cost-effective product with strong local support.
Shared risk billing model
"The MIP billing model is brilliant for us, since it is a shared risk model closely resembling that of the ASP market," says Meyer. "The fee is calculated per member per month, covering the software licence, development, maintenance and support, including new developments to cater for changes in our business and market. That slots perfectly into our IT strategy of developing a solution around our chosen business model and not the other way around."
"Large payments for software, normally followed by even larger financial outlays for implementation services, as well as regular upgrade and maintenance fees are commonplace in SA, all without guarantee, which does not make any sense," says Don Elliott, sales director at MIP. "Our risk-based billing has been designed to provide a win-win partnership in that the customer loses the problems of constantly looking after its technical infrastructure and can focus on improving revenues and profits with the support of the technology service provided. This enables the business to accurately forecast its IT expenditure for the duration of the contract, the only variable being the growth in the client`s membership and/or policies, with no unexpected additional costs."
Coris Capital has also recently developed a franchise concept for its front offices. Called Fundwise after its KwaZulu-Natal-based partner, Fundwise Management Services, the concept is a call centre that validates customer application information and sends the application to Coris Capital`s administration department, which then returns it for communication back to the member.
Coris Capital will roll front offices out in different geographical areas as and when the opportunities arise. These offices rely heavily on the MIP benefits administration system.
"MIP understands the complexities associated with managing employee benefits including the collection of monthly contributions, the reinvestment of funds to ensure maximum returns and the payment of benefits to retired members," says Elliott.
The system includes a complete accounting module, offering flexible functionality such as the consolidation of multiple companies in a single database, and multiple account structures for all trading partners in a company. It provides all the tools required by an administrator to manage benefits. MIP has designed the software to cater for all the intricacies of managing a fund - from the collection of monthly contributions, to the reinvestment of funds to ensure maximum returns, to the payment of benefits to retired members.
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