(Image credit: Remaztered Studio.)
ACORD Solutions Group (ASG), the industry-owned subsidiary of ACORD (Pearl River, N.Y.), the standards-setting body for the global insurance industry, has announced the successful implementation of its ADEPT platform to perform automated, real-time premium accounting reconciliation between insurers and brokers. ACORD reports that this market capability was developed working closely with some of the industry’s largest stakeholders, with the first data exchanged by professional services firm and broker Aon plc (Chicago) and carrier Zurich North America (Schaumburg, Ill.).
Bijesh Jacob, SVP, Technology & Standards, ACORD.
ACORD describes ADEPT (ACORD Data Exchange Platform & Translator) as offering a secure, decentralized storage and access service which acts as a “single source of truth,” enabling participants to verify payment information. By structuring, translating, and validating the data in real time, ADEPT greatly reduces the time and cost of reconciliation, an ACORD statement says.
“While ACORD works closely with virtually all major brokers and carriers, we owe special gratitude to Aon and Zurich, who have been leading the way in defining and implementing this technology,” comments Bijesh Jacob, SVP, Technology & Standards, ACORD. “Their contributions have been invaluable in launching an industry-wide platform to enable secure, digital data exchange and validation for brokers and carriers.”
Mark Schmalzer, Global Service Delivery Leader, Aon.
Working with Aon and Zurich NA, ACORD reports that it recognized the common issues and themes associated with the premium settlement process.
“The premium accounting process is a highly inefficient transactional service provided by brokers and carriers,” says Mark Schmalzer, Global Service Delivery Leader, Aon. “Leveraging the Blockchain-based backbone of ADEPT will provide brokers and carriers with an industrial-strength platform to identify and resolve inconsistent transactions very early in the process. This industry innovation will not only drive out non-value-added cycles, but also provide clients a more seamless premium payment experience.”
Improving Customer Experience and Broker Interactions
“The insurance industry is experiencing unprecedented change and technology is unlocking new and efficient ways of conducting business,” comments Tracey Bailey, Billing Solutions Lead, Zurich North America and project manager for Zurich’s implementation of the ADEPT platform. “The ACORD ADEPT solution is well aligned with Zurich’s continued efforts to improve our customer experience and broker interactions through innovation. We are proud to be on the front end of this journey with ACORD and Aon, and are excited about ADEPT’s continued adoption within the insurance industry.”
Tracey Bailey, Billing Solutions Lead, Zurich North America.
ADEPT is designed as a market capability leveraging the industry-accepted ACORD Data Standards to link trading partners with real-time data exchange, transformation, and validation. Although extracting inefficiencies from the premium accounting process provides significant value for the trading partners, it only provides a glimpse of transformational functionality to come, according to the ACORD statement. Now that a central matching mechanism for policies is created in ADEPT, future use-cases may include claims, placing and other critical insurance processes covering all major lines of business, the statement notes.
“We are honored to help pioneer the first data exchanged on the ADEPT platform. Our collaboration with ACORD showcases Aon’s continued commitment to innovation within the insurance industry,” comments Joe Propati, COO, North America, Aon. “This technology will change the way we do business, boosting efficiency for insurance carriers and brokers all while protecting the integrity of the data.”
“Thanks to the efforts of these visionary organizations, ADEPT is now in production and able to support millions of transactions,” ACORD’s Jacob adds. “By improving operational efficiencies, strategic positioning, and customer satisfaction, ADEPT will truly transform the operating economics of our industry.”
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Editor’s Note: An attribution was changed in this article subsequent to publication at the request of a company mentioned.