The Phoenix Cos. Launches STP Inititiatve

The Phoenix Companies Inc. has completed the implementation of Metaserver Inc.'s business process integration (BPI) technology that supports the Phoenix Information Gateway, which is supporting several straight-through processing initiatives for the Connecticut-based insurer.

"Metaserver's integration capabilities were instrumental in the development of the Information Gateway, which provides a valuable business service," said Rollin Shank, vice president and chief architect, The Phoenix Companies, Inc.

"We have several partners who use a variety of data formats, and they appreciate that we do not impose data format restrictions that require additional steps and cause processing delays. Our flexible business model also makes it easier for us to accommodate new partners and improves the speed at which we can complete new projects," he added.

The Information Gateway project was triggered by the company's desire to be flexible and easily able to adapt to changing business requirements. Phoenix also wanted to set itself apart from the competition by making it as easy as possible for its business partners to send and receive data electronically. 

The Metaserver-powered Information Gateway helps Phoenix to accept data from virtually any source and pass it to any number of business systems, regardless of the technology that powers these systems or the specific data format they require.  Phoenix business partners can submit data using the format and protocols with which they are most comfortable.

Use of the Information Gateway has also prompted company initiatives specifically targeted at automating processes that formerly required re-keying of data or other human intervention. In the underwriting department, for example, Phoenix is now able to accept lab results and attending physicians' statements in the industry's standard ACORD XML data format and provide electronic views for underwriters, reducing dependency on fax and scan capabilities provided by an outside service provider. 

Similar process improvements have been realized in the corporate fulfillment area.  Requests for marketing literature and sales collateral previously had to be entered into an externally hosted sales order system and transmitted to a fulfillment bureau. Today, use of the Information Gateway enables Phoenix to accept the sales order data directly from the external system in a shortened fulfillment process that can be personalized.

Based on the success of the Information Gateway Phoenix has launched an additional  project using Metaserver's BPI software, planned to integrate new data sources with existing data sources and legacy systems to enhance distribution compensation systems.

Source: Metaserver, The Phoenix Cos.