KnowledgeCenter

Rattner Mackenzie (a subsidiary of HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc.) is an innovative specialist Insurance and Reinsurance broker, located in London, New York and Bermuda. In recent years, a growing proportion of the key business information coming into the London office has arrived in the form of e-mail. But there can be problem with e-mail when looking to manage business relationships, as Steve Ahern, CEO of Rattner Mackenzie, points out:

“E-mail is fast to send and receive and definitely easier than moving paper around. But it’s a real headache to us as a business because each e-mail is trapped in the In Box of whoever the recipient happened to be.”

Rattner Mackenzie needed a way of quickly, easily and securely storing those key business e-mails and making them accessible throughout the enterprise as a business asset. The answer was KC 1View.

Using KC 1View, users can access the full power of the KCenter Document Management System (DMS) directly within Microsoft Outlook. The DMS filing structure is displayed as a folder tree right below the standard Outlook folders. Adding a new e-mail to the DMS is simply a matter of dragging it from the Outlook In-Box and dropping it onto a folder in the DMS folder structure. Crucially, KCenter automatically picks up all the information it needs to index the document directly from the DMS folder.

Steve Ahern again said:

“We have had DMS before, but this is the first time we have been able to index e-mails without any additional data input being needed – and that makes the whole process a lot more efficient and acceptable to busy users.”

By allowing e-mails to be filed in the DMS directly alongside all other documents, KCenter is delivering true consolidation of policy information. The users now only have one place to look for all the information they need about a risk and this is achieved while at the same time removing the dependency on paper.

The KCenter DMS at Rattner Mackenzie is integrated with the company’s Twins - risk and claims management system - from Trace. This is two-way integration, allowing KCenter to retrieve risk information from Twins and allowing Twins to store documents it generated in the KCenter DMS.

When there is no existing folder for a particular document, the user enters the bare minimum of index data. The remaining data is automatically populated via calls to Web Services exposed on the Twins system. All of this is achieved without any specific coding – just using the standard configuration features of KCenter. This is the first deployment of KCenter’s new Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) integration capability and KnowledgeCenter CTO, John Pile, is delighted with it working just as designed:

“It is only recently that we have seen our customer base adopt SOA as reality, not just as theory. The ability of KCenter to consume Web Services exposed by other systems, in both our DMS and Workflow functionality, means that our solutions can fit straight into infrastructures that are based on SOA.”

Learn more about KC 1View

QBE is one of the top 25 insurers and reinsurers worldwide with operations in all key global insurance markets. As a result of its strategy to achieve growth through acquisition, QBE Europe runs a variety of back-end underwriting systems and needed a mechanism to manage the underwriting process across all those systems.

Using KnowledgeCenter’s flagship KCenter software, and with a team involving KnowledgeCenter consultants, QBE was able to implement a single process that works no matter which back-end system the business is booked on. The process features a high level of automation, integrating to QBE’s MI system to collect information about each risk and drive each instance of the process through the right steps.

Tim Rawson, KnowledgeCenter’s Operations Director commented;

“The solution for QBE addresses one of the classic IT problems which is how to manage an operation that is split over multiple systems. The key here is that KCenter handles all the activity in a common workflow and by using KCenter to manage the workflow, QBE can control the whole underwriting process”.

With a common process in place, QBE can now get a view of business performance across diverse lines of business being handled by multiple business units. Crucially, the KCenter system automatically collects information about every activity that is carried out. Queries and reports built on this KCenter information allow uniform measurement and pro-active management of business performance.

Andrew Hollins, of QBE, explains;

“The key thing is that the system automatically measures and audits what is happening as people do their every day work. The people doing the work do not have to put in any extra effort to feed these management controls and the information gathered automatically allows us to really see and understand what is happening overall in this vital area of the business.”

Following the recent release of KC Binder Manager at the Acord Center in Minster Court the reaction from Brokers in the London Market has been amazing. Over 30 presentations have been held in our offices in Fenchurch Street and the first contracts for the software are expected to be signed this month.

The quarterly lease model has been very well received and definitely appears to appeal to the Broking community. A number of extensions have been applied to the base product and a contract has been signed with a major Broker for the generation of a variance on the original product to support Motor business - this product is due for release in June 2008. For further information please refer to the website.

KnowledgeCenter one of the leading providers of desktop document management, workflow and business solutions for the London Insurance Market has successfully delivered it's KC Binder Management Solution for leading international broker Price Forbes. KC Binder Manager is an end to end seamless solution for managing facility/binder/lineslip business. Following it's successful deployment for Price Forbes' Equinox Underwriting, Price Forbes has now given the go ahead to roll out the solution for it's Motor Account.

The solution provides a speedier turn around for Submissions and Quotes, a consistent approach to managing facility business, it eliminates the entry duplication of risk data, manages the processing of complex Endorsements, and includes integrated workflows with an in built Policy production capability. One of the key drivers for Price Forbes is that users can access the system through either Microsoft Outlook and/or via a browser.

At the centre of the solution is KnowledgeCenter's recently released KC 1View solution which provides desktop access, as well as a familiar look and feel for all users of the binder system through MS Outlook.

KC Binder Manager, as a generic solution, is due to be enhanced throughout the course of 2008 to support Claims Management, and Bordereaux production and reconciliation.

Andrew Walkling, Director, Price Forbes said of the agreement with KnowledgeCenter, " we were looking for a partner with a clear understanding of our business requirements along with the expertise to deliver a web based solution. We were impressed with their business knowledge and with the solution they presented to our team. KnowledgeCenter has delivered within time and budget a solution attuned to our requirements. We are now looking to move on from our North American property account to roll out the solution to other areas initially with our International Motor business. We look forward to a long and enduring partnership with them".

Eddie Tait, Strategy & Marketing Director of KnowledgeCenter, said “we are delighted with the successful partnership with Price Forbes which has delivered real business benefits for the Underwriting Entity. This in turn has led to further roll out and developments for their Motor account. We feel fully vindicated in the commitment we have made to the solutions we have developed and web browser platform we have invested in over the last 18 months and are delighted with the keen interest shown by the market”.

KnowledgeCenter provides solutions for brokers and underwriters looking to address document management, document repository, interoperability, document assembly and business process requirements through their KCenter suite of products. These products are based around a powerful, robust and scaleable web based suite of integrated products and applications, configured to support and manage broking and underwriting business processes, in line with corporate and industry compliance. The recent launch of 'KC 1 View' now delivers this capability through a single view at the desktop utilising Microsoft Outlook.

KnowledgeCenter clients include THB, Arthur J Gallagher, BMS Group, Price Forbes, Benfield, Catlin and QBE.

Following a review of corporate strategy, KnowledgeCenter Limited has re-organised the senior management team. KnowledgeCenter Limited have grown substantially since returning to London in July 2006 and ever increasing interest from the London Insurance Market has demonstrated the need to restructure for further growth.

With effect from Monday 3rd March Eddie Tait (previously Operations Director) has been appointed Strategy & Marketing Director with the responsibility for driving the company forward in line with the needs and opportunities currently apparent within the London Insurance Market. Eddie will work closely with Alan Isaacs, who has been appointed Head of Sales. Tim Rawson has been appointed as the new Operations Director (a role which he has performed before) and takes over day to day responsibility for the Solutions Team and all client related deliveries. John Pile remains as Chief Technology Officer, but through the restructure will focus on the opportunities offered by the latest technologies to provide seamless business solutions that best support emerging business standards.

We believe that this is key to our ability to provide a continually high standard of service to our clients while continuing our commitment to providing quality solutions that have relevance in a changing market landscape.

Kevin Osborn
Managing Director