Salmon was pleased to sponsor the Endorsement Manager of the Month awards at the London Market Group Forum on 26th July at the Willis Building in London. Congratulations to the winners – Ropner Insurance Services and Chubb.

The awards were presented by Christopher Croft, LMG Secretariat who also gave an update on modernisation. Chris attributed the fall in E-endorsements in June to the Jubilee celebrations, noting that the July figures have already ‘oustripped June volumes’. Read more »

On 22^nd May 2012 senior executives from the likes of Novae, Axis, Chartis, Hiscox, Markel, Mitsui, Torus, Liberty, Marsh, Cooper Gay, and Allied World Insurance attended an Executive Briefing on the theme of ‘In a troubled global economy, how are brokers and underwriters responding to the threats and opportunities in 2012?’.

Feedback from attendees was very positive so I thought I’d summarise a few of the key points here.   Read more »

Congratulations to our client, Endsleigh Insurance Services, who scooped the Insurance Times E Business Award at last night’s gala ceremony.

The winning project, delivered by Salmon and detailed here, ensures Endsleigh’s customers benefit from a truly exceptional online experience that includes the ability to purchase insurance & financial products and services directly via the internet.

The awards, in association with Global Reinsurance and StrategicRisk, hosted more than 100 different companies including some of the biggest international insurers and brokers in addition to a host of regional independent brokers, reinsurers and corporates.  The other award winners are listed here.

Congratulations to Allianz Commercial general manager Chris Hanks, who scooped the Industry Achiever of the Year award.  The much anticipated Insurer Chief Exec’s Chief Exec of the year award was handed to Barry Smith of Ageas. Oval’s Phillip Hodson won the vote in Broker Chief Exec’s Chief Exec equivalent.

And finally, congratulations to both Jennifer Day, the Online Sales Manager at Endsleigh Insurance Services  and our entire project team, who all worked so hard on the pioneering project.

Jennifer Day, Online Sales Manager, Endsleigh with Chris Harvey, CEO, Salmon

Salmon have been working with Endsleigh Insurance to deliver a truly exceptional online experience.

To reflect the way its customers want to receive quotes and buy insurance products and services, Endsleigh Insurance – the #1 student insurance provider in the UK – chose Salmon to build an intelligent online quote and buy platform.

Here are some written details on the project:

Overview:
Salmon implemented a new intelligent eCommerce website for Endsleigh Insurance Services Ltd, ensuring its customers benefit from a truly exceptional online experience that includes the ability to purchase insurance & financial products and services directly.

Business Need:
Endsleigh prides itself on understanding customers and their needs. The solution needed to be designed to allow Endsleigh to display relevant and targeted propositions, and additionally allow underwriters to develop competitive propositions and offers.

Solution:
The new website’s design and experience based architecture is centered wholly on customer needs. The innovative solution leverages a unique “recognition system” conceived by Endsleigh and developed, implemented and integrated by Salmon, which intelligently determines which content to display to any given customer segment. Salmon have developed Endsleigh’s new eCommerce platform leveraging Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Microsoft Web Content Management.

Benefits:
Endsleigh’s diverse customer content including documents, web pages, video, photos and reviews are now managed via a central repository. This ensures better knowledge sharing, improved customer communications and increased process efficiency. For returning visitors, the solution automatically checks what knowledge Endsleigh already holds. Importantly this ensures visitors are not only given access to the detail of their cover and claims advice, but also visibility of complementary products and offers or discounts applicable. Other benefits include;

• Capability to implement affinity partner strategy in areas such as co-branded landing pages and white labeled services.
• Access to business tools that allow Endsleigh staff to manage and update the entire online solution themselves, whilst following approval cycles to meet FSA regulation.
• Personalisation that allows Endsleigh to promote tailored products and advice designed to suit each individual and complementary products, offers or discounts.

Salmon demonstrated a high level of technical expertise and a comprehensive understanding of the insurance market and their passion and skills have helped us meet our vision to make endsleigh.co.uk an eCommerce website which can exceed customer expectation and help us lead the market when it comes to purchasing insurance online. Ian Passmore, Managing Director, Endsleigh Insurance

We have just announced a deal with DUAL International (part of the Hyperion Insurance Group), to develop and implement a new pan-European web-based underwriting platform.

Having successfully completed an initial strategic consulting phase, Salmon will now configure and implement RiskWrite™ to support DUAL International’s multi-lingual and multi-company operations in Spain, Germany and Italy, on a single instance of the web- based solution.

To read more about the project and Dual, as well as see our other clients in the Insurance sector click here.

Today we are delighted to announce the complete implementation of a new intelligent eCommerce website for Endsleigh, the number one student insurance provider.

Salmon delivered the new eCommerce platform on-time and on-budget, and engaged with Endsleigh after winning a competitive tender.

Salmon were chosen to ensure that Endsleigh’s customers benefit from a truly exceptional online experience that includes the ability to purchase insurance & financial products and services directly via the internet.

Ian Passmore, Managing Director of Endsleigh said:

“Endsleigh prides itself on understanding its customers and their insurance needs. The solution has, therefore, been designed to allow us to display more relevant and targeted propositions. It can also be used by our underwriters to develop more competitive propositions and offers. Customers will benefit from a website which is streamlined and easier to navigate and also from specifically tailored products and advice designed to suit each individual. Salmon demonstrated a high level of technical expertise and a comprehensive understanding of the insurance market and their passion and skills have helped us meet our vision to make endsleigh.co.uk an eCommerce website which can exceed customer expectation and help us lead the market when it comes to purchasing insurance online.”

Early online analytics demonstrate that the solution is already delivering promising results, supporting Endsleigh’s eCommerce strategy. Bounce rates have been reduced by up to 36% and there has been a 12.5% uplift in web page visitors. SERP rankings have improved by up to 6 places for key motor, home and student products whilst clients have been logging into accounts more often (logon rate up 8.5%).

Salmon have developed Endsleigh’s new eCommerce platform leveraging Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Using Microsoft’s Web Content Management capability, Endsleigh’s diverse customer content, including documents, web pages, video, photos and reviews are now managed via a central repository. This ensures better knowledge sharing, improved customer communications and increased process efficiency.

Read the full announcement here.

To find out more about Salmon’s Microsoft partnership read the press release announcing our Gold Partnership [Oct 2008]

The world has changed.  The second half of 2008 saw events that previously would not have entered our wildest dreams. Who would have thought that one of the UK’s largest banks would pass into state ownership? Who would have thought that one of the longest periods of uninterrupted economic growth would stop dead in its tracks?

With this in mind, employees at Salmon recently put their heads together to author a manifesto (in 6 parts)  for Directors and Managers of Insurance companies, who have a responsibility for eCommerce and eBusiness.   Part 1 is available now as a downloadable .pdf, and considers “Will your Customers Change?”

It is our belief that at least six key issues need to be considered by insurers right now.  We will explore each in full in due course so register here to get each part of the manifesto emailed to you.

Here are the issues as we see them.  What do you think?

• Issue #1:  Will your Customers Change? Even counter-cyclical industries, like general insurance, need to carefully consider this question.  After all, any business is only as stable as its customer base.  As we shall see, answering this question is not straightforward.  There are indications that we will have to think about meeting at least three shifts in customer demand and buying behaviour.
• Issue #2:  Flexing our Cost Base Reducing operational costs has been a major component of most organisations’ plans over the last decade but there are new challenges.  Firstly, living through an economic downturn means that we have to rethink the minimum critical size of our operations.  Secondly, economic, political and social pressures may mean that we have to revisit past strategies based on outsourcing and offshoring.  These now established recipes might not serve us too well in the coming years.
  
• Issue #3:  New Channel Relationships Emerging evidence points us to the fact that customers’ buying criteria – how they make purchasing decisions – may be changing both in commercial and consumer markets.  This means that current web based distribution will have to change if it is to deliver real value for both customers and suppliers.
• Issue #4:  How to Unlock Markets Extending the reach of offerings into new markets is a commonly cited piece of advice for organisations facing an economic downturn.  A better and more astute move is to unlock markets that traditionally minded competitors think are either unprofitable or can only be served in one time established way.  To keep ahead of the game we have to consider how technology can act as a key to redefining markets that others pass by.
• Issue #5:  Regulation – The Tool of Change:   There is no doubt that the current downturn will produce a globally co-ordinated push for new regulatory approaches to prevent another financial crisis.  November 2008’s first meeting of the G20 – the countries that will reshape the business world – put regulation right at the top of its global action plan.  All we know now is that the regulatory demands on organisations – especially in the financial services sector – will change.  The impact could range from more disclosure regarding investments, through to increased customer education and new roles for directors.  The demand for information will increase and new co-ordination and control systems will be needed.
• Issue #6:  Information for Tough Times:  Research tells us that organisations that survived the last real downturn – in the early 1990s – managed their businesses in a totally different way to those that failed and disappeared.  Those that succeeded were closer to their customers and used a far broader range of management information than did the failures.  These winners were better at getting and using customer and market information.  So, systems for decision making have to go way beyond traditional financially based approaches if our businesses are to survive and grow in the current environment.

There is no doubt, rather than entrenchment, this is a time for innovation in how business processes and systems really deliver value. I hope you like the manifestos.  Please feel free to share and re-use.

Today, Salmon announced the achievement of Gold Partner Certified status in Microsoft’s partnership programme.  In just twelve months, our Microsoft presence has grown from scratch into a mature practice, complementing our continuing desire to offer our customers choice; and a clear link between I.T. investment and the delivery of measurable business value.

Our solution development with Microsoft will predominantly be in the UK’s insurance and retail sectors.  In fact, we are already helping businesses in insurance increase revenue by improving customer satisfaction and employee productivity while reducing overall operational costs.

Microsoft’s Gold Certified Status recognises both Salmon’s technical expertise and the impact the company has made in solution development leveraging core areas of the Microsoft product portfolio; notably Security, Service Orientated Architecture (SOA), Business Process Integration and Information Worker solutions.

Gold status is the highest accolade in the Microsoft programme.

Salmon is also a Premier IBM Partner and holds partnerships and affiliations with a number of other leading ISVs.  There is a full list here.  The Microsoft practice is headed by Andrew Smith.

Two great news announcements were made this week and last.  Apologies for not getting these posted sooner.  (For all the Salmon news hot-off-the press go here, or better still subscribe to the RSS here).

Multi-Channel Health and Beauty revamp

First up, Boots.com announced its complete revamp.  Because of the nature of the project (was there a bigger eCommerce project in the UK in 2008 by the way?) Boots.com partnered with Salmon to benefit from our multi-channel and eCommerce expertise.

The new look site for Boots boasts a host of new features and functionality to improve the customer’s shopping experience; including improved navigation and a one-page checkout, as well as a ‘wish list’ facility and product ratings and reviews.

“Boots.com was initially launched more than six years ago. In this time, e-commerce has grown beyond all expectations and technology has come on at pace. In addition, our customers have told us that they would like to see more information and advice alongside our thousands of health and beauty products.”
Tim Stacey, Director, Boots.com

Boots.com is seizing the opportunity to update the technology which is used on the site, whilst at the same time introducing the richer content which customers have requested, following extensive customer research.

Tim Stacey further explained; “We know our customers want a quick, simple checkout, delivery options that suit them and to feel part of a community online. This is the first stage in an exciting period of development for Boots’ online presence and we are committed to delivering customers a multi-channel shopping experience. There are many more exciting developments planned over the next few months including the launch of a ‘buy online and collect in store’ service, further developments in health advice and information, and online communities for our customers.”

The site’s new platform will also greatly increase Boots.com’s advice and information capabilities. As well as the existing ‘Ask Boots’ advice portal in partnership with the British Medical Journal, the site will have inspiring video content with advice on everything from morning sickness to beauty videos showing how to get the latest looks.

The new ‘live pharmacist’ service means that users can email a health question to the site and have a pharmacist call them back with online pharmacy advice within 20 minutes. The service is available nightly, Monday to Saturday from 6pm to midnight.

The site’s product range has also been expanded, to include new, exclusive lines and gift ranges in time for Christmas. For example, the site’s popular Beauty Boutique will now feature online exclusives from brands such as Bliss, Korres and Caudalie.

Online Underwriting for Motor Fleet line-of-business

The second announcement reflects our delight helping Novae launch its Motor Fleet line-of-business on RiskWrite, extending the web-based platform implemented originally back in 2004, to cater for a range of new productsto be marketed quickly and efficiently.  (You can read the announcement we made when we first started working with Novae here and get a complete case study here).

Steve Fookes, IT Director Novae said; “The introduction of Novae’s Motor Fleet Underwriting Service is an opportunity to strengthen our market position. We needed a completely integrated IT infrastructure that could be aligned across the business which was cost effective and would support ongoing growth.”

Designed as a series of fully reusable and customisable components that allow insurance companies to quickly leverage a truly open IT architecture; RiskWrite provides Novae greater visibility of the insured, policies and claims throughout the life cycle; encompassing such activities as quotations, placement of orders, policy production, financial management, document generation, management information and regulatory requirements.

For those not in the know (I am assuming everyone isn’t an expert in online insurance underwriting, thankfully Salmon are) this is a big deal.  The web-based system we have developed ensures that paper-based inefficiencies are a thing of the past and help Novae provide a high level of customer service to its brokers (such as providing online quotes and offering “acceptance” immediately, together with instant documentation).  Motor Fleet Underwriting is a complex business, and as part of the project Salmon has interfaced with third party systems likes the Motor Insurance Database, however, Salmon was still able to ensure Novae hit the go-live deadline and enabled Novae to commence trading on schedule.

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What a great end to the working week….And as if it couldn’t get any better I think we might just be able to squeeze another customer announcement out on Monday!  Successful enterprise projects…..just like buses.  Three coming along at once.  But then I am used to that here.