For many years, Bermuda Life Insurance Company Limited (Bermuda
Life), a member of The Argus Group, the largest Bermuda-owned
insurance organization and the leader in group health insurance
and pension plans in Bermuda, had been adequately providing
quotations for Single Premium Immediate Annuity (SPIA) by
outsourcing them to a local consultant. With the advice of
then consultant and now full-time Argus Group Actuary, Larry
Peck, the company realized that they could offer their customers
more value in the pension administration area if they had a more
effective tool to provide quotations for SPIAs.
The Search Begins
In the fall of 2005, Larry approached Argus with the proposal to
build an in-house tool and felt that an economical and simple
approach would provide the best solution. Led by Larry Peck, the
Argus Group was very clear on their criteria:
-
Desktop-based (with future web enablement)
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Easy to use, administer and maintain
-
Simple and straightforward presentation
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Cost efficient and effective
-
Proven technology
-
Proven solution builder/supplier
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Fully functioning at time of implementation
And all this had to be done with the minimum amount of resources
from Argus Group.
Enter illustrate inc
Knowing that Mr. Peck and his group did not have the appetite to
entertain a full-fledged search process involving multiple RFIs
and RFPs, multiple vendors and numerous resources from his side,
he selected
illustrate inc. Based on his past success and long term relationship with Zahir
Dhalla, president of
illustrate inc,
Larry selected Zahir and his team to get busy creating the first
SPIA illustration system with full confidence that
illustrate inc
could deliver the solution.
Simplified Project Structure
Argus Group and
illustrate inc
created a structure to maximize the efficiency of a limited
number of client resources. Argus provided the input
requirements, calculations and performed acceptance testing
while
illustrate inc
was tasked with coding and delivering the project. The structure
worked well and significant enhancements have been added to the
original solution.
“If I had to do it all over again, I would like to build in more
structure to this type of project, but given the resource
constraints with which we were faced, the Argus Group is
extremely pleased with the outcome.“ stated Larry.
“We
were very eager to accept this project. Having a strong
actuarial staff and a solid knowledge base of SPIA, we were
confident that we would be able to deliver a sound SPIA system
to Larry. We took extra care to gain clarity on certain
requirements and to address any and all constraints and
challenges that Argus brought to us. In my opinion, good
communication and a willingness on both sides to do the right
thing really made a difference on this project.” said Zahir
Dhalla, President,
illustrate inc.
Development Partners
For both parties involved, the nature of the Argus Group and
illustrate inc
relationship is viewed as a development partnership rather than
a straightforward client/vendor one.
“The benefit of prior knowledge could only go so far in this
partnership. Both the Argus team and the
illustrate inc
team worked so closely together that a whole new dynamic emerged
and a new relationship was forged”, commented Mr. Dhalla.
The Way Forward
The first release of the SPIA illustration solution went live in
spring 2006. Since then, the two companies have been making
additional functional enhancements to the system including the
addition of multiple options available at one time when offering
the pension proposal.
Argus Group users now see the value of the system and its
potential. “When we began the project, our users didn’t think
they really needed such a tool. Now, they are very pleased with
the quicker turnaround and added flexibility, ” stated Larry
Peck, Actuary. The company plans to roll out the desktop version
beyond the actuarial department to its pension administration
area in the near future. The company would ultimately like to
implement a web-based version that can be integrated with their
website and allow customers access to self-serve quotes and
calculations on the internet.
