edge IPK's edgeConnect 5.0 Enhances User Experience for Multiple Communication Channels

Today at the IASA 2010 Annual Educational Conference and Business show, edge IPK, a provider of insurance-specific user-experience solutions that enable a secure, browser-based presentation layer to provide all user channels an optimized user experience, announced the launch and availability of edgeConnect 5.0. The new version of the edge IPK (Hungerford, U.K.) presentation platform offers insurers the ability to configure multi-channel applications in a fraction of the time and cost associated with traditional methods, according to Wendy Corman, president, North America, edge IPK.

Citing a growing demand for multi-channel applications with more complex and more richly featured Web offerings, edge IPK says it has designed edgeConnect 5.0 to focus solely on the presentation layer, to enable carriers to deliver richer individual online experiences. The new version of the solution includes support for external, customized and out-of-the-box widgets, a variety of presentation and usability elements to support dynamic presentation behavior, support for graphical reporting, and automated documentation. The vendor has also enhanced edgeConnect 5.0's development environment to streamline the development of the presentation experience and assist in enforcing presentation standards across development teams.

"User experience is at the heart of edgeConnect 5.0, both in terms of the platform itself and the online applications it is used to configure," comments Dharmesh Mistry, CTO, edge IPK. "This version of edgeConnect delivers an even more comprehensive set of benefits, and a more significant scope for customization to make the configuration process as straightforward and flexible as possible."

"edgeConnect 5.0 empowers non-technical business users to rapidly build Web application that differentiate a company through its online presence and breed customer loyalty," Mistry adds.

Carriers that have deployed edgeConnect include Zurich, Allianz and LV=, who have used the platform to design, build and deploy multi-channel Web applications in a much shorter time frame than traditional approaches afford, according to edge IPK's Wendy Corman. The vendor asserts that the decoupled and open nature of the platform gives business users the opportunity to extend existing legacy environments to the Web without having to make the major capital investments associated with rip-and-replace approaches to achieving modern functionality.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio