CSAA Quotes with Steel Card

CSAA has selected and rolled out a new Web-based quoting system based on the Apogee platform.

The California State Automobile Association (CSAA, San Francisco) has selected and rolled out a new Web-based quoting system based on the Apogee platform from Steel Card (Santa Barbara, CA), a provider of online insurance solutions.

"We selected Steel Card because it offered a more comprehensive solution than the other stand-alone rating products" on the market, says A.J. Goldsmith, vice president, IT business development, CSAA. "Also, we are a multi-line carrier and we want to offer the ability to quote additional products."

Goldsmith says that CSAA entertained the idea of developing the online rating capability internally. "We realized that Steel Card's product has better functionality and it could be launched in a much shorter time frame," he says. CSAA gave Steel Card 30 days develop a proof of concept. "They hit the proof-of-concept deadline and they even added additional value."

Apogee has only been live in CSAA's California market since July 1, but Goldsmith says CSAA is already seeing results. "Our conversion ratios," or turning a quote into an actual policy, "are moving up quickly. We have improved over 10 percent in two weeks."

Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio