Every time we talk about data, data standards, data transfer or anything relating to data in the Short Term Insurance industry, we never fail to mention that the ultimate goal is to receive relevant data, in a set standard, in real-time, directly into our back-end system, to ensure that your data is as complete and up to date as possible. We always talk about this ideal as if it is a pipe dream; far into the future, and maybe not even possible. Well, once again this dynamic industry that we are so fortunate to work in showed us that the future is now!
Yes, you guessed it; we have completed our first real-time transaction from a system provider, through the STRIDE switch, to an insurer on Friday 20 March. Mutual and Federal and Cardinal Insurance Management Systems, with the assistance and support from the team at Astute who manages the STRIDE switch, completed their testing early on Friday to send the first real-time transaction through the switch. This includes successful certification, decryption, decompression and validation with a return message.
"At M&F we realised a long ago that real time straight through processing in an industry ACORD format is imperative for the continued success of the insurance industry and we decided to work with STRIDE and System Providers to achieve this. We set the development of this as a priority and through huge effort we are absolutely delighted that we are at this point now. The fact that we will be able to transfer data real time will mean a lot for customers, intermediaries and insurers alike" says Coenraad de Jager, Executive: Personal Lines at Mutual & Federal.
Craig Grasko, Managing Director of Cardinal Insurance Management Systems, had the following to say: “We took a simplistic view 2 years ago that with all the imminent changes in our marketplace, real-time straight through processing between the traditional broker intermediary and insurer would become fundamental to the viability of this channel. So we've specifically taken the support of STRIDE and the adoption of the ACORD standard in a very serious light. This achievement of real time processing with an insurer line of business system is a true game changer, and it will bring enormous benefits as similarly achieved in the banking and medical industries.”
We at STRIDE are absolutely thrilled and would like to communicate our congratulations to all three teams. A lot of time, effort and dedication went into this process to show the industry that it is possible and can be done. We are confident that both M&F and Cardinal will reap the benefits of being the first to achieve this milestone.
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