Efficient database systems are the seedbed of good client service in the insurance industry

Throughout the Insurance Industry effective use of databases has become critical to ensure good client service and in today`s competitive market, to companies` very survival. This is according to Pat Felton, executive director of Clientele Life, a long-term local insurance company.

"In harnessing IT for customer/supplier service, a database system that enables the reduction of data entry costs and improves customer service through better data access and maintenance will be of benefit."

Felton mentions cases when callers with queries are often shunted around an organisation as they get transferred to someone who presumably has better information on the query. This is as result of data not being accessible to client service personnel dispersed throughout the organisation.

"In order to prevent customers being made telephonic corporate tourists, companies must use a database system that will allow easy access and retrieval of information by any person located anywhere in the organisation."

Felton cites the Pick Systems` D3 ProPlus database management system installed at Clientele Life. The system provides telephone operators with service support and customer information. It manages everything related to Clientele`s business such as client profiles and policy enquiries, through to recording all transaction details, plus keeping track of all client and policy statuses.

However, this shift in operations brought about by the DBMS requires two fundamental changes that must take place in organisations.

"Staff will need to be re-skilled and have the ability to respond to all queries. Furthermore, the application running on top of the DBMS must be user friendly

and have rich functionality to allow for the quick retrieval of data including images".

According to Adrian Oxborrow, managing director of Pick Systems, businesses should also consider the hardware platform required to run the database.

"The DBMS should be able to run in a variety of hardware platforms available in the market otherwise users may be locked into a technology that does not serve the enterprise well and which may be difficult and expensive to change. The choice of a database system should also consider factors such as recoverability, robustness and scalability."

Regarding scalability, Oxborrow mentions a recent deployment of D3 Linux DBMS Servers at Hill House Hammond, the largest insurance intermediary in the UK. The installation, with 1 400 D3 Linux user licences for all the branches of the group, is considered the largest ever financial corporate Linux deployment.

"The Hill House Hammond installation is one of a growing list of companies continuing to prove the scalability of database management systems which can offer capabilities to heterogeneously tie enterprise-wide data together."

"For the insurance sector, a stable and reliable DBMS is an imperative. It is mission critical to collect premiums and pay claims timeously and when these are done electronically, a stable database becomes very crucial," concludes Felton.