Pacific Blue Cross and BC Life Releases the Final Production Phase of the Global IQX Rating and Quotation System
Numerous Benefits Realized With Final Production Deployment
Pacific Blue Cross and BC Life Releases the Final Production Phase of the Global IQX Rating and Quotation System…
Ottawa, ON – December 1, 2010 – Global IQX Inc. a leading software provider in business automation and business process management for the North American employee benefits industry, today announced that Pacific Blue Cross and British Columbia Life & Casualty Company have successfully implemented the last in a series of phases toward automating manual and experience rating for their Health, Dental and Life insurance products. User Acceptance testing wrapped up in mid-June and a formal celebration followed surrounding the broad capabilities of the late-June deployment include online quoting, rating, automated renewal management and proposal generation for all of their product lines.
In December of 2007, Pacific Blue Cross began seeking a replacement for their Rating and Quotation systems (RQS) for Underwriting and Actuarial Services to remove the daily risk of exposure from what was considered to be a “fragile” system. They were looking to replace their then current system with a single integrated application that would offer the robustness needed to calculate rates for group benefit plans, including the following benefits: Extended Health, Dental, Life, Dependent Life, Critical Illness, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Short Term and Long Term Disability. The generation of proposals in multiple output formats was also a key requirement as was the ability to generate custom reports.
After a thorough evaluation process that considered the offerings of the leading quote and rating automation vendors in North America, Pacific Blue Cross chose Global IQX to deliver the project. The scope included the design, implementation and testing of a packaged Rating and Quotation solution, and its associated processes for all benefit lines.
“A dedicated team of Business Analysts, Project Managers and Developers from both companies have worked very hard together as a partnership to ensure that Sales, Actuarial and Underwriting realized reduced costs and streamlining of business processes across the various departments with this system” said Mike de Waal, Global IQX’s President.
According to John Crawford, Senior Vice President, Financial Services, such efficiencies included, but not limited to “more efficient allocation of human resources, improved quality for New Quotes, Proposals and Renewals, more consistent, accurate and sophisticated rates allowing more complex pricing models, and a reduction in error exposure of rating calculations, thereby addressing key internal audit issues”.
Another key outcome included the deployment of several elements of the latest version of Global IQX’s Renewal component. This was an important activity for both companies, according to de Waal. “Pacific Blue Cross contributed some valuable business requirements that aligned with and significantly enhanced the capabilities of our Renewal component”. As a result, “IQX Renewal leverages information available within an administration or claims system to re-calculate rates in preparation for the policy anniversary. It captures required business data for rate recalculations including claims, premium and rate history, and employee census. All of the necessary materials are provided through IQX Renewal (reports, summary comparisons, etc.) so that the renewal package is complete and ready for distribution to the broker, producer and/or client”.
“This milestone is a tremendous step forward for us as we advance with technologies that help us foster stronger relationships with our customers. By providing improved quote tracking & reporting capabilities, together with an integrated, more efficient generation of proposals, our customers will reap the benefits of the reductions in effort that were formally required to support Underwriting during the New Quote/Renewal process and for rate changes” added Crawford. “Overall, our positive experience in working with the Global IQX team provides a strong foundation for extending the same value to other Blue Cross organizations.”
About Pacific Blue Cross and British Columbia Life & Casualty
Pacific Blue Cross has been British Columbia’s leading provider of extended health and dental benefits for 70 years. And through its wholly owned subsidiary, British Columbia Life & Casualty Company have been offering Life, Disability and Critical Illness insurance since 1981. Their comprehensive understanding of the changing health care needs of British Columbians fuels a strong commitment to service. Pacific Blue Cross provides health benefits to nearly 1.5 million members and their dependents through more than 8,000 employer group plans for businesses, governments, unions and associations, and through individual plans for those who do not have coverage with their employer.
About Global IQX, Inc.
Global IQX, www.globaliqx.com, established in 1999, specializes in configurable, component-based sales and services automation solutions that streamline and optimize business processes for North American Group insurance organizations. Whether deployed as a complete suite of components supported by their configuration modules, or on an individual basis to extend the investment and leverage the capabilities of an existing system, these solutions automate the quoting, rating, underwriting, renewal management and enrollment processes supporting all Group insurance products for all market segments. Global IQX’s production proven solutions increase operational efficiency and reduce costs while promoting improved communication and the flow of information within and across departments. Developed and delivered by a team with unrivaled group insurance depth and experience, these solutions give business users more control, with less dependence on IT resources. Clients include many of North America’s largest insurance companies.
