Allstate Saves Millions With Data Distribution

Whether they were seeking financial, product or policy-related information, Allstate Insurance Co.'s (Northbrook, IL) internal customers found their search of Allstate's distributed data centers time-consuming.

"We had separate systems and our data was on different platforms," explains Mary Fontaine, senior manager, enterprise reporting and analysis, Allstate. Allstate has systems on Unix and NT platforms, "so we needed a way to more easily pull things together," she says. "Our internal customers were spending a lot of time and energy deriving information from a number of different sources. We were also distributing many paper documents as a result."

In addition to increased efficiency, Allstate wanted to reduce internal distribution costs. After finalizing these requirements in late 1996, a cross-functional team composed of users and technical staff began conducting interviews with internal customers, including members of sales, underwriting, processing, claims, education, call centers and leadership groups, to find out the requirements of a system that would eventually be used by them. The team members created an architecture diagram to go along with their requirements and began the search for a system with a front end that enabled a broad spectrum of functionality and the connection of data on all of the different platforms and database structures. The RFP process lasted five months.

"We looked at using two different vendors to fulfill the two initial requirements," explains Fontaine. "We realized that it might be possible for us to find a single vendor to supply both of our initial requirements. Information Builders' New York WebFOCUS was the only product with both components," says Fontaine. The licensing agreement between the two companies was finalized in June 1998 after prototyping activities were completed in May of the same year.

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