illustrate inc Information Bulletin                                                                                         June, 2004   

 

The Co-operators: Collaboration For Success

A strong relationship coupled with numerous joint development efforts generate a series of streamlined policy illustration solutions to enrich Co-operator’s Life customer support and service

 

The relationship between illustrate inc and Co-operators Life (Co-operators) began over a decade ago. At the outset, Co-operators was faced with the immediate challenge of building a New Business illustration solution for a UL product in development. The company selected illustrate inc to provide an illustration engine to perform multiple calculations for UL policies. This initial undertaking commenced a long association between the two organizations. “illustrate inc's involvement with Co-operators Life predates my 10 years here.  I know that prior to my arrival, they were intimately involved with the design and development of the company's first UL product and that relationship continues today,” affirmed John Dark, Assistant Vice President, Co-operators Life Insurance Company. 

Collaboration is Key

Success is defined in many ways but the vital ingredients for achieving it are often the same: trust, respect and the development of solid professional arrangements. According to John Dark, “illustrate inc generally participates in both early planning stages and interim steps of product development. Additionally, they advise us not only on what their system is capable of, but they provide us with objective marketplace observations. Working this way with illustrate inc has allowed us to deliver products in a timely fashion and to have an accurate, dependable quote system that has more than met our needs.”

Co-operators and illustrate inc are committed to their trust in one another and have developed a collaborative working arrangement that is grounded on open and reciprocal communication. “Even though we were slow to move to Windows-based field systems, illustrate inc kept our DOS programmes alive because they understood why we needed them -- even after that was no longer commercially viable for them.  Our relationship is much stronger than just a vendor/client arrangement,” continued Dark.

Meeting the Inforce Illustrations Challenge

At the end of 2000, Co-operators and illustrate inc embarked on a new series of developments to deepen the functionality of the Co-operators policy illustration solutions and to ensure in-force and sales illustration compliance with new industry requirements.  Phase I was set in motion with the development of the first Universal Life in-force illustration solution integrating the illustrate inc ULtimate engine with Co-operators existing policy administration solution. This project was a joint effort between Co-operators, SOLCORP and illustrate inc. SOLCORP developed a unique interface to extract policy information from SOLCORP / INGENIUM to pass it on to illustrate’s ULtimate illustration engine. The information retrieved from the administration system pre-populates the illustration input screens, thereby automating the data collection process and simplifying the work of the user. This phase delivered a streamlined and effective in-force illustration solution to provide customers with an in-force policy illustration whenever requested.

Phase II in the series involved support for all of the remaining blocks of Co-operators in-force UL business. This phase has wrapped up and has been used internally for further testing and pilot programs. The biggest challenge faced by both Co-operators and illustrate inc was the implementation and release of a major platform change mid-way through the project. In spite of added complications and delays, the project schedule remained relatively solid and milestones were delivered to schedule. 

Phase II Highlights

  • Enhanced ability for users to change any field that the administration system or business practice would support;

  • Addition of new solves for: Fund Value, Premium, Premium Payment Period, Max Level Premium, Reduced Face Amount, Minimum Interest Rate

  • Ability for users to add new coverages, clients and customize report output as well as save and retrieve cases and reports. 

Development Independence

 

“There are many unique aspects in the working arrangements between Co-operators and illustrate inc. One of the most prominent differences is that unlike many customers past and present, Co-operators perform virtually all of their own development. Along with the illustration system components licensed by the company, Co-operators has taken delivery of the full illustrate inc toolset to assume internal development responsibilities. They have found many ways of exploiting the extraordinary power of these tools and in the process have benefited from a dramatic reduction in system development and maintenance costs.  Along with the tools, illustrate inc provides full support for the system and tools as well as Business Analyst training. The Business Analyst team is now heavily involved in Co-operators' customizations, providing cost effectiveness and ensuring that the expertise remains within the company. Increasing independence from the software vendor and increase in competitive edge by being able to implement new products and product updates more quickly.

The Co-operators Life Insurance Company is one of the top 15 life insurers in Canada. The company is based in Regina, Saskatchewan and employs over 500 staff. Co-operators Life offers a full range of life insurance products for individuals and families as well as individual and group retirement products and group benefits to all sizes of employee groups. Co-operators Life is a member of the Co-operators Group Limited, the largest Canadian-owned, multi-product insurer with assets of over $5 billion.