With the South African insurance industry under pressure to maintain its performance under increasing market and regulatory demands, Business Edge offers a purpose-designed software solution which is geared for this market.
Branded Koukia, the system is developed by a company of the same name, which is a subsidiary of Wesfarmers, one of Australia`s largest business conglomerates.
According to Karen Malkin, Insurance Director at Business Edge, the solution is highly relevant in light of the challenges faced by South African insurers today. "The market for insurers is always changing, putting these companies under pressure and searching for ways to improve their profitability," she says.
She describes the Koukia solution as a comprehensive, component-based system which responds to many of the industry challenges (supported by the recently published PricewaterhouseCoopers` Insurance Banana Skins report), such as:
* The high cost and variety of distribution channels.
* Providing high customer and partner service levels.
* Being able to do business in a highly competitive market with innovative products.
* Meeting the requirements around regulation and corporate governance.
* Back-office systems being able to handle the volumes.
* Managing technology.
The Koukia system encompasses customer management, policy administration, claims management, reinsurance and finance. "These components can be implemented as a holistic unit or as individual components, meeting the needs of the insurer either as a point solution, which can integrate with other systems, or as an enterprise-wide administrative solution.
"The Koukia component suite manages the full policy life cycle and is suitable for short-term insurance organisations from start-ups to established multinational or multi-site insurers," continues Malkin.
She stresses that with its service-oriented architecture (SOA) components, Koukia offers the freedom of rapid integration with customers, intermediaries, suppliers and government agencies, across the Internet and other networks.
Malkin adds that Koukia is business process-oriented, which provides the organisation with a solution that supports its business rather than business being dictated to by the system, and with a solution that will introduce process consistencies and productivity gains.
"This brings IT activity into line with the operational business; this in turn brings greater efficiency, reduced costs, and superior customer service," she says.
Malkin says Koukia components impose no significant hardware or software boundaries and are designed with open standards technology and architecture. "This provides longevity and protects existing software and hardware investments. With this solution, the insurer benefits from flexibility, the ability to accept upgrades, and the means to more easily interface with other business, government agencies and industry bodies," she explains.
"With this solution, we are providing the insurance industry with answers to the challenges of the high cost and variety of distribution channels, since Koukia provides the capability for streamlining integration with partners and customers with its SOA capabilities; offering high service levels because of improved back-office administration and management and a client centric approach; and taking advantage of market opportunities with its product configuration tools," Malkin concludes.
Koukia is supplied, implemented and supported in South Africa through Business Edge.
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