ROOM Solutions today announced the first successful exchange of business messages into a back office system via the Lloyd’s Exchange. ROOM Solutions partnered with The Insurance Workplace (TIW), and Web Connectivity to exchange application-to-application messages over the new Lloyd’s Exchange.
This represents a significant achievement, as it is the first time that broker software has interacted with carrier software using the Lloyd’s Exchange for a true end-to-end process.
A quote request was generated using TIW’s Broker Distribution Hub and transmitted via their Web Connectivity gateway to the Lloyd’s Exchange. At this stage, both the envelope and the business message were verified against ACORD schema, transmitted across the Lloyd’s Exchange and forwarded, via ROOM’s own internal Web Connectivity gateway, to arrive in ROOM’s ipf³ front end. Upon arrival into ipf³, the workflow and business logic features prioritised and routed the message to the appropriate underwriter. A quote was then generated and sent back via the same route to TIW, and ROOM’s policy administration system Subscribe was updated automatically, eliminating the need to rekey.
“We are firmly committed to supporting Lloyd’s in its initiatives to secure it’s position as the platform of choice,” said Ameet Dave, Commercial Director at ROOM Solutions. “Working collaboratively with TIW and Web Connectivity on this pilot has produced a seamless flow throughout the placing cycle, and one that will allow our clients to enhance their core underwriting processes through automation.”
The product, ipf³ Placing from ROOM, demonstrates how a flexible technology framework like ipf³ can quickly deliver point solutions in response to market drivers. ipf³ Placing has been developed to receive and send messages via the Lloyd’s Exchange or other hubs, or on a direct peer-to-peer basis. The automatic updating of the back end software is a step-change in the way that communications can be conducted to minimise the levels of human intervention.
“The continued emphasis on market reform continues to dominate the landscape for insurers and brokers, and we are seeing the electronic transactional initiatives gather substantial momentum”, continues Dave. “Our groundbreaking technology ipf³ allows insurers to respond to market level initiatives with unprecedented speed”.
David Edwards CEO of TIW said ‘This is an important milestone in the move to straight-through-processing between brokers and carriers. With more than 50% of the Phase 1 pilot brokers using TIW and increasing numbers of carriers ready to receive messages and trade, the Lloyd’s Exchange is already proving to be a key building block to process improvement.
“Web Connectivity is delighted that our Generic Messaging Gateway, EnabledB2B, has been used at both the broker and carrier end in this first exchange of messages between broker and underwriter back end systems via the Lloyd’s Exchange,” said James Willison, Managing Director at Web Connectivity. “The Lloyd’s Exchange is a vital component in the ongoing future strength of the Lloyd’s market, particularly as the financial community recognises the attractiveness of the subscription market in London.”