SA insurer becomes global IBM case study

South African specialist insurer PPS’s locally-developed IT system has become a global case study for IBM.

The new IT solution was created using IBM’s Insurance Application Architecture (IAA) – a suite of data, process and service-based models that helps insurers accelerate the planning and requirements analysis of business process transformation.

“IBM has told us that they have never seen this type of system before and that they will now be using it as a global selling point,” says PPS GM: Business Applications, Stephan Clark.

Working with Cape Town-based IBM partner, Silvermoon Group, one of the company’s main goals was to decrease the length of time taken to introduce new products to market.

“Our client base consists exclusively of graduate professionals whose needs are constantly changing and we had to ensure we could keep up.”

Clark confirms that the new system has also offered other benefits: “South Africa’s insurance market is very tightly regulated and we have now been able to reduce our audit findings by 80%. We are also seeing an improvement to the top line as premium collection rates are up by as much as 10%.”

Besides allowing the member to have direct control over his or her profile, PPS has also made it easier for members to do business and manage their finances.

The PPS system will be able to accept claims immediately from a broker’s laptop and the company is currently enhancing its underwriting processes and protocols to minimise delays.

Speed, efficiency and a high degree of automation are all things that Clark believes will ultimately benefit the member’s share of the profits of PPS. “The system is strong, powerful, and its integrity is beyond doubt. It’s now time for members to enjoy this locally-developed system which is making waves globally.”