The recent report from the Gartner Group “What’s Next for Illustration Capabilities for North American Life and Annuity Providers” (Nov 2008) suggests that life insurers will save millions of dollars in switching costs if they can select life insurance illustration software today that will accommodate future business requirements by seeking solutions that deliver the greatest flexibility from vendors with vision.
“There are some emerging business requirements…and those are going to fundamentally change how illustrations are evaluated, installed and put into production.”
— Steven Leigh, Principal Research Analyst,
Gartner Group
In a podcast offered by Gartner Voice, Steven Leigh, the author of the report describes 7 emerging requirements that are the differentiators of the illustration solutions of the future:
- Great output that effectively describes the financial situation and is able to tell the financial story as is the case with services for other financial instruments (i.e. mutual funds, stocks & bonds)
- Increasing market opportunity for highly customized insurance product so solution must be able to support this level of customized product
- Extensive support for mobile devices and 7/24 internet connect capability for customers and service departments within home offices.
- Agents/advisors demanding greater integration with other products (e.g. financial planning on front-end and electronic applications on the back-end)
- Going beyond the accumulation side of equation i.e. cash flow models for post-retirement environment
- Accounting for Web 2.0 and social networking collaboration tools in the illustration service
- New generation of young agents/advisors entering the market. Service their demand for new use of technology.
Let illustrate inc help you meet your emerging needs.