Progressive Implements SSP S4i for Foray into Australian Auto Insurance Market

Progressive Insurance (Mayfield Village, Ohio) has gone live with SSP's (Halifax, U.K./Centennial, Colo.) S4insurance solution to support the carrier's entry into the Australian auto insurance market. Progressive's goal was to launch a streamlined, Internet-only auto insurance business in Australia in less than a year, according to an SSP news release.

In Australia personal lines products, and particularly car insurance, are primarily sold direct through call centers, according to Tom King, head of international operations, Progressive. "Our research suggests there is a market for an online only product. We wanted a cost-effective, best-of-breed package that would deliver straight-through processing," King comments. "SSP and S4i enabled us to get our Australia program off the ground quickly and within budget."

In under twelve months SSP developed and implemented an entire insurance solution encompassing a fully customized Web front-end and the configuration and implementation of the S4i back-office application for the Australian market, according to the SSP release. The vendor used its S4i Product Builder to execute Progressive's complex pricing model, the release claims.

"S4i has lived up to its reputation," comments King. "Its flexibility and core capabilities were a key factor in ensuring we completed this project on time and on budget. The combination of SSP's experience in transacting car insurance and their knowledge of the Australian insurance market increased our speed to market."

SSP describes S4i as a highly-flexible, end-to-end policy administration system for all lines of business, with modules including product development, policy administration and claims management. As a fully scalable, Web-enabled solution, the vendor claims, S4i provides a modern platform for property/casualty carriers to manage the entire business lifecycle from a single system. With rich functionality, S4i delivers self-sufficiency and provides a rapid return on investment, the SSP release asserts.

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