KnowledgeCenter

Trend Micro partners with KnowledgeCenter to create secure email distribution

21 December, 2009, London, UK: Trend Micro™ has today announced that is has signed a partnership with KnowledgeCenter, one of the leading providers of Document Management and Business Process solutions for the insurance sector, to integrate Trend Micro's Email Encryption Gateway with KnowledgeCenter's electronic document management and business workflow solution, KCenter. The integration of Trend Micro Email Encryption Gateway will provide a secure environment for email distribution.

In order to establish which security vendor's solutions would be most suitable for integration with KCenter, KnowledgeCenter assessed Trend's offering alongside competitor solutions. In terms of evaluation criteria, it reviewed each product for security robustness, ease of integration into KCenter, and the complexity of the user interface. The company concluded that Trend's Encryption Gateway offered the best combination of robust security, an intuitive user interface, and seamless integration with KCenter.

Kevin Osborn - Managing Director of KnowledgeCenter said:

"With the need to ensure the integrity of sensitive data at the heart of corporate concern within financial institutions particularly in the London Insurance Market, it is imperative that the senders and recipients of emails are assured that they are securely encrypted. Trend Micro's Email Encryption Gateway offered us the right balance. Product integration was straight forward, the client interface is extremely user friendly but most importantly the highest level of security is maintained for each and every e-mail processed. Trend Micro's best of breed approach to security ensures that KCenter users can be confident that their emails will only be read by those authorized to do so."

Trend Micro Email Encryption Gateway provides policy-based encryption to protect intellectual property and to help achieve regulatory compliance. Enterprise gateway encryption augments email security by providing policy-based encryption and integration with messaging security infrastructure. The solution provides simple deployment and administration without altering existing business processes. When combined with content security, it enables enterprises to encrypt emails and attachments automatically, without having to rely on individual users to secure private information. Trend Micro Email Encryption Gateway employs Trend Micro Private Post technology for Identity-based Encryption (IBE), an approach which eliminates pre-registration and the certificate management burden of PKI technology.

Robin Vann, senior director, xSP business development, EMEA, Trend Micro said:

"As a highly respected developer of Document Management and Business Process solutions globally for the insurance industry, KnowledgeCenter's decision to integrate email encryption security technology from Trend, is testimony to the superiority of our technology. The integration with KCenter will ensure that the security of their Clients confidential information is not compromised."

Established in 2008 as a GCC home-based Reinsurer, Gulf Reinsurance Ltd. (Gulf Re) was formed as a 50/50 joint venture between two of the leading companies in their respective industry segments to add depth to the GCC insurance sector through supporting the growth of local insurers. 

Gulf Re’s shareholders are Gulf Investment Corporation (Kuwait) and Arch Capital (Bermuda).

In the recent Gulf Insurance Review Awards for 2010, Gulf Re was chosen as the “Reinsurer of the Year”.

Following an extensive review of Document Management and Workflow products available in the market place; Gulf Re selected Kcenter from KnowledgeCenter as its product of choice.

Kevin Osborn Managing Director of KnowledgeCenter responded;

We were extremely pleased when told by Gulf Re that we had been selected. The quality of their management team and their proven track records gives us the confidence that this will be an exciting and demanding partnership. This is our first client in this region and with Gulf Re as our flagship partner we believe that they will be the first of many.

As we enter the 4th quarter of 2009 KnowledgeCenter is going from strength to strength, in fact 2009 is proving to be a real milestone year for the company.

Following the MBO in July 2006 the corporate target was to be the premier supplier of Document Management and Business Process products in the London Insurance Market within three years. With more than 20 clients and over 5,000 seats deployed we believe we are very close to achieving that objective.

There have been a number of key achievements already this year that are augmenting and underpinning our growth;

On the Client front ;

• We have won seven (7) new clients this year with five signing contracts in the third quarter.
• We have signed our first International clients with companies in the US, Canada and Dubai
• Existing Clients have continued to grow their Client base, AJG increased their Regional Broker base from 50 to 300 and most importantly QBE announced their commitment to Kcenter by increasing their user base from 700 to 1,000. It is their intention that this base continues to grow over the next 18 months as Kcenter is rolled out across the group in the UK and Europe.

We have enhanced the product line by releasing extended functionality in existing products and continuing to develop and introduce new products;

• Kcenter has seen a steady release of extended functionality within both the DMS and Workflow elements of the product
• In May a major enhancements release of KC 1 View - our Microsoft Outlook Integration module - was made. This was extremely well received by our clients
• KC Process Manager has been developed and is presently undergoing release testing - it is scheduled for release in the 4th quarter of this year

Strategically as a Company we have successfully moved from primarily a products based organization to a solutions and products company with the introduction of new Insurance focussed business solutions;

• Following on from the release of KC Binder Manager and our ECF facility in 2008 our portfolio has been extended this year with the introduction of KC Coverholder - KC Coverholder is a portal based solution that allows Managing General Agents (MGAs) to place business by delegating their binding authority to a network of designated sub-coverholders. This product is continually being enhanced with the introduction of a Ratings Engine scheduled for the 4th quarter 2009.

Finally partnerships continue to be key to the growth plans of the company. The two most significant partnership signed so far this year are with Xceed - a consultancy who have traditionally focused on the Banking and Telecoms sectors but have moved successfully into insurance during 2009; and BenchStrength a US / Bermuda based organization with a long and successful track record in Insurance who will be KnowledgeCenters support partner in North America and Australasia.

KnowledgeCenter are very pleased to announce the release of their latest business solution for the London Insurance Market - KC Bordereau Capture.

KC Bordereau Capture eliminates a large overhead from the conduct of facility-based insurance business and helps remove the headache and frustration of handling variable data structures when processing business of this type.

So what was the problem that KC Borderau Capture was looking to address?

A facility is an agreement that is negotiated between a Managing General Agent (MGA) and a carrier – who is the ultimate underwriter of risk. Under a facility, the MGA can sign-up any insurance risks that meet pre-defined criteria. The MGA then appoints sub-coverholders (brokers) to sell this insurance to the general market. In traditional facilities business, each sub-coverholder must supply monthly or quarterly reports (Bordereau) of all new business signed, premiums collected, endorsements to existing risks, new claims raised and claims paid.

Handling the bordereau information supplied by this network of sub-coverholders has traditionally been a burdensome and largely manual task albeit many bordereau are now supplied in the form of spreadsheets attached to an e-mail. The problem was that no tool was readily available that would allow the data held in those spreadsheets to be validated and incorporated into the MGAs core business systems for financial management, risk management and reporting. This is precisely the problem that KC Bordereau Capture addresses.

KC Bordereau Capture allows the definition of bordereau templates. Each template describes the layout of a bordereau, the business rules that are to be used to establish the validity of the data it contains and the way in which that data maps into the core business system database.

When a bordereau arrives, a user simply has to identify what type of bordereau it is and which sub-coverholder it has been received from. KC Bordereau Capture then takes over;

Utilising the power of KnowledgeCenters own workflow product Kcenter business rules and processes are applied. The system automatically associates the bordereau with the correct template. Using the rules built into the template the system validates the data. If it is valid, the system will automatically load the data into the core business systems. If a totally valid bordereau is received, its processing is “straight through”. When problems are detected, the system refers the bordereau to a user, with full information about the problem or problems identified in the data received. The user can then either correct the situation or instruct the sub-coverholder to send in a new or revised bordereau.

Tim Rawson Operations Director of KnowledgeCenter said;

“Every MGA is currently spending a significant number of employee hours every month on manual bordereau handling. Apart from the sheer cost of this, the process is subject to inconsistent application of business rules and high levels of error in data transcription. Our aim when developing KC Bordereau Capture was to remove the inconsistencies, reduce the MGA’s workload, provide management control around the process and reduce the costs for all parties involved. Based upon the feedback received from companies throughout the market we believe we have achieved those goals”.

Jubilee Managing Agency Limited (Jubilee) is a specialist Lloyd's insurer headquartered in the city of London.

To compliment the company's strategic plans to expand and grow its business lines under a single brand. Jubilee has completed an extensive review of document management and business process products and selected Kcenter from KnowledgeCenter.

The company is committed to ensuring that its I.T is able to support its drive for a deeper range of product offerings and a more direct and simple way for insurance brokers and clients to transact with Jubilee.

Commenting on the selection of Kcenter, Chris Dale, IT Project Manager for Jubilee, said:

"We undertook a comprehensive search of the market for a DMS/Workflow solution to support our growing business. Kcenter proved to be a clear winner in both functionality and ease of use".

Initially Jubilee will roll out the product through its Global Property and Life Insurance operations and then out across all areas in the near future.

Jubilee has recently unified its underwriting and administrative operating companies under a single brand. The operations are now known as Jubilee Personal Lines, Jubilee Motor Policies, Jubilee Global Property, Jubilee Life Insurance and Jubilee Service Solutions.

Jubilee Managing Agency Limited has been an active participant in the Lloyd’s insurance market for many years. Underwriting through our Syndicates 1231, 5820 ans 779, we are recognised and respected as innovators and authorities in our chosen classes of Business. The company employs 200 staff based in five locations - London, Haywards Health, Sidcup, Birmingham and Amsterdam.

Jubilee Motor Policies writes motor business through Lloyd’s Syndicate 1231. We specialise in niche areas of the market including fleet, taxi, bus and coach insurance. The operation has long-term partnerships with a select panel of intermediaries.

Jubilee Global Property is an acknowledged market leader with an established track record in providing direct, facultative and binding authority solutions for clients, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to smaller commercial businesses. We write business, on a primary, excess of loss or full value basis, through Lloyd's Syndicate 5820.

Jubilee Personal Lines is a leading player in many specialist areas of the personal lines market. We are particularly well know as a payment protection, accident & health and product breakdown insurance providers. We are also recognised as authorities in GAP, mortgage related and affinity schemes business.

Jubilee Life Assurance offers a comprehensive range of term assurance products both within the UK and globally. We provide solutions for private individuals, for businesses seeking cover for employees and for companies looking to develop products for their customers.

Jubilee Service Solutions is one of the UK's leading administration companies delivering outstanding customer care and service. We offer flexible own-branded service solutions covering premium collection, policy issue and claims management facilities. We have a 5-star BACS accreditation backed up by sophisticated technology and highly skilled staff.

More information can be found at www.jubilee-insurance.com