26 June 2008
EastNets has announced that it has recently signed an exclusive partnership with UniRisX that will allow EastNets to offer a groundbreaking new service to insurance providers and brokers throughout the Middle East. Under the partnership, EastNets will offer the UniRisX eInsurance platform from its highly secure data centres in Dubai’s Internet City and in Amman, Jordan.
The system will be offered on a “Software as a Service” basis, which means that insurers who wish to gain a competitive advantage may do so by using the comprehensive capabilities of the system, without having to invest in hardware, software or infrastructure.
Hazem Mulhim, CEO, EastNets said: “We are delighted to bring this new service to the MENA region, as this has been already used by Lloyds of London and extensively in the US, two of the leading insurance markets in the world. The service will distribute and administer both conventional and Takaful insurance products and will be available for use by insurance providers, bancassurers, brokers and affinity groups.”
Tony Ferguson, Global Strategy Director at UniRisX, commented: “Product innovation is one of the biggest inhibitors to the development of the insurance industry in MENA. The UniRisX eInsurance Service from EastNets will allow insurers to develop innovative new products and launch them into the market at a fraction of the cost and in timeframes that have never previously been feasible. The eInsurance portal will accelerate the pace of competition and offer better choices to both consumers and corporate groups.”
The service will be completely internet based and will provide for new product build, quotations, policy activation, mid-term adjustments, claims, with vastly superior documentation handling and incorporating Straight Through Processing (STP).
Hazem Mulhim added: “At the GAIF 2008 Conference in Bahrain earlier this year, 60 per cent of delegates thought that outsourcing was going to become more important in the next three years. The Software as a Service model we are now bringing to the region represents the fastest growing form of outsourcing: by linking risk to reward, it substantially reduces costs and project risk. Given that we already provide outsourcing services to some 800 banks worldwide, this initiative represents a natural, complementary extension to our activities and expertise.”
The UniRisX eInsurance Service has been offered from data centres in London for the past five years and is already being used by over 20,000 affinities, brokers and providers worldwide.
“The Straight Through Processing aspects of the service will enable providers to administer more efficiently, allowing them to do a lot more work with the same headcount. As such, it will help alleviate the critical skills shortage, which insurers in the MENA region are experiencing,” added Ferguson.
Hazem Mulhim concluded: “The service has been fully prepared for operation in the region. We think this is a hugely significant initiative, which will contribute to the development of the insurance market in the Middle East.”http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2008/Jun/26/EastNets_launches_UniRisX_eInsurance_Service_in_UAE.html
