Earlier this month, LIMOSS (London Insurance Market Operations & Strategic Sourcing) and Charles Taylor InsureTech partnered to deliver Delegated Data Manager – with the service officially launching on September 15.
Reiss Gavin, London Market programme manager at Charles Taylor InsureTech, said that while this partnership was somewhat spurred on by the market’s removal of DDM as an elective service, it was born out of a desire to give users optionality above all else.
“We had users under the core market service that wanted to continue as an elective,” he told Insurance Business. “It was client and market forces that spurred on the elected model by LIMOSS, but it was also about listening to the user base and responding to them in order to give them what they wanted – that flexibility.”
Speaking to Insurance Business, Charles Taylor InsureTech chief executive Arjun Ramdas agreed, saying that at the core of this partnership is a real desire to hand back choice to users – making it something of a ‘win win’ for everyone involved.
“There were some users in the previous mandated world who felt they already had other systems they were paying for which took care of their bordereaux management function and their delegated business,” he explained. “And therefore they weren’t fully supportive of several of the changes which our core users wanted. There’s a clearer segregation [now] – there’s one cohort who wants to be part of this journey, they’re fully committed to that – and there’s the others who preferred a different journey. [This way] both parties are happy – and it allows us to deliver faster, better innovation to our clients.”
Innovation is a big driver here, meaning all users can now benefit from several new features – including credit control, bordereaux and transactional reconciliation, aged debt management, and interoperability – all the while ensuring users have comprehensive support.
“You can’t please everyone all of the time, but now we have a user base that is committed to the product,” Gavin explained. “We’re committed to them, we have more flexibility and dialogue with them. We’re able to look at how the DA landscape is changing to see how we can strategically move and enhance the product to meet those changes. We have a better one to one relationship with our user base too.”
For Ramdas, one area he’s particularly excited about is the opportunity for change in the market. As he told IB, this partnership didn’t just happen overnight – it was born out of the ongoing dialogue and user expectations within the market. Because, when he saw change coming down the line, Ramdas was quick to act.
“The team’s done a fantastic job to have more deep dive sessions individually with each of our clients to ensure that we directly hear from them,” he explained. “What are their aspirations? What are their challenges? Sometimes a big shake up also gives you an opportunity to pause and reflect – allowing you to become a lot closer to the client. Behind every change is an opportunity – it’s about stepping back and thinking about how all this will shape your roadmap, playing that back and aligning it to your vision.”
This partnership really builds on the success of DDM, which became an essential tool for brokers, managing agents and other key industry professionals. And, with such excellent data security and privacy controls, users can rest easy that they can work across boundaries without any issues.
“It’s fantastic to have a platform that processes billions of pounds of risk premium and claims data that the markets trust in,” added Ramdas. “People know that their data is safe there, and that only people whom they want to share it with, will essentially be able to see it. We find that our offerings from our competitors are predominantly focused on one client - and therefore, while it gives a lot of flexibility and freedom to that particular one client, you’re not sharing things. You’re not having the ability to work across the boundaries because it’s naturally built for one person.
“And with this freedom comes other benefits – it’s like having a car versus a bus. There are pros and cons for both, it’s not about [competing] one against the other. However, at the same time from a UK perspective, this is one of the core databases with billions of tons of data inside which is successfully processed without any [issues] in terms of performance, security or otherwise.”
Since this partnership was made from listening to clients and responding to their needs and expectations, it’s no surprise that user satisfaction and operational efficiency is at its heart. For Charles Taylor InsureTech, their support model hasn’t changed. Users can still expect that 24/7 outreach, 365 days of the year.
“We’ve been very clear that just because it’s elective, we’re not removing our internal quality support commitments, that continue to remain,” added Gavin. “If anything, it could be more beneficial – because there’s less users so they may feel like they’re getting a more personalised service. We make sure the product keeps pace and stays relevant. [After all], we’re very much a market service for the market - so we will ensure that we make any changes in the way the delegate operates.”
For Ramdas, this moment is bittersweet – shifting this model from what was previously mandated to elective. He likens the move to parenthood, namely to encouraging children to pursue something they enjoy rather than pressuring them down the wrong path.
He told IB: “You want them to pick it up because they love it and have a passion for that particular area. You want them to be passionate about the choices they make.”
