Resolution Life, a new entrant to the life insurance market, has capitalised on MIP's flexible Life Assurance administration system to maintain its differentiators in the competitive life assurance market.
The company ran a pilot project that started late last year and went live in February this year.
"We have a fully automated underwriting system with probably the most flexible product offering in the market," says Garth Ibbetson, director at Resolution Life.
"There's no requirement for a carrier policy, so people can take our offerings as a standalone. We also offer them the fastest delivery in the market through an entirely automated administrative solution. Potential clients answer five simple medical questions; should these questions be answered within the parameters set out in our rapid underwriting mode, or RUM, then there is no need for any further medical underwriting, such as HIV testing, and the client can be covered for up to R2.5 million almost immediately."
Resolution Life's approach throughout its operations is no-nonsense. Its policy document is one of the shortest in the industry at just 16 pages. There are no hidden costs and the offering is simple, easily defined and without many other traditional life insurance entrapment philosophies. Company costs are kept to a minimum through its streamlined infrastructure, support and distribution, with the resultant savings being passed on to clients.
"Speed is a cornerstone of our marketing philosophy," says Ibbetson. "We've excluded time-consuming up-front medical evaluations for healthy professional people in the age group 30-45; this coupled with quick decision-making capabilities through our RUM, allows for the accommodation of professionals who want convenient purchase of contingency cover."
Resolution Life is a new-generation insurance company and therefore did not have to replace or retrofit legacy processes and systems, and instead sought a system that meets modern market trends and confers agility and responsiveness.
MIP believes enterprise systems should be flexible, extendable and unobtrusive. This can only be achieved by making business systems that users can configure without the need for human technical intervention.
"Our solution is component-based with a pricing model that reflects the current and evolving needs of the client," says Don Elliott, sales director at MIP. "The cost reflects the number of lives covered, which means that organisations like Resolution Life don't have a heavy up-front cost.
Streamlined processing
"Our system also supports the business model through streamlined policy processing achieved by reducing or eliminating paper, workflow management and shorter processing times for new business and changes."
MIP has worked closely with Resolution Life to customise certain key aspects of the solution.
"MIP had to accommodate our differentiators," says Ibbetson. "Many companies would like to differentiate themselves but are hamstrung, due partly to their history, size and infrastructure.
"We work with MIP on an ongoing basis to modify the system to reflect our unique processes and maintain our competitive advantage."
Resolution Life was referred to MIP by its medical parent company, Resolution Health.
"We were brand new and looking for a partner that could meet our needs and support our differentiators of transparency, simplicity, speed and cost," says Ibbetson. "We will never become complacent."
Broker acceptance
Based on that strategy, its underwriting capability and competitive rates, Ibbetson says Resolution Life has enjoyed solid acceptance from the broker community.
The business does not accept all brokers but selects those that meet its needs.
"We apply a strict philosophy of propensity modelling and only accept those applications aligned to our aims, goals and mutual aspirations," he says.
The IT solution is based at Resolution Life's offices with its associated administrative capacity. MIP has a relationship manager at its offices to unite the two teams and ensure the system's smooth operation.
A critical part of that process is up-to-date regulatory compliance.
MIP is closely aligned with the latest developments in the financial services industry and translates those into immediate updates that are seamlessly included in operational systems.
"The life insurance industry is faced with significant challenges, a major part of which are new regulatory directives," says Elliott. "While they meet evolving and changing regulations, they also need to ensure that they remain profitable."
"We launched in a post-Fidentia world where financial services providers are under the spotlight," says Ibbetson. "The Financial Services Board has stringent regulations that must be met before it will approve a licence. We satisfied those requirements."
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