October 2004

by Insurance Age Reporter

Meanwhile, Sirius has yet to commit to Polaris but told Insurance Age it was in active discussions and expected to make an announcement soon.

Polaris had already struck deals with Cheshire Data Systems (CDL), insure-com, Misys and Software Solutions Partners but had failed to land crucial deals with Sirius and Acturis, two of the more established players in the brokers systems market.

Acturis, the preferred system used by the Broker Network, is a rapidly growing player in the market, and is about to announce a major contract win with one of the largest independent brokers in the country.

Currently brokers accessing imarket can use a web browser to obtain commercial lines quotations and other services. Software houses will develop this service further by allowing brokers to enter data into their own systems, thus removing the need for re-keying.

The announcement of the deal came immediately after an Acturis spokesman indicated earlier in the month to Insurance Age that it had reached a compromise with Polaris after rejecting its initial offering.

An Acturis spokesman said this was because the initial business proposition was "completely unattractive", as Polaris wanted the IT suppliers to stump up all the cash upfront and said they would make the money back through commission.

He added that this proposition was unworkable, partly because he did not expect imarket to "really get going" for another couple of years when brokers' and insurers' back office will hopefully be fully integrated.

The spokesman said that rather than jump straight in, as the other systems providers had done, Acturis could afford to play the waiting game and make sure the time was right.

- Insurance Age

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