In-force business: Data providers still missing

In a special report focusing on the digitization of insurance activities, published in the September issue of the Insurance Journal, Olivier Lafontaine, Head of Products at Equisoft, highlighted the benefits that an advisor can gain from a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.

Lafontaine pointed out that their CRM, named Connect, provides advisors with gateways to suppliers and general agents to access client product data. 

However, this access remains fragmented across the industry. Nearly half of insurers still do not offer the digital data stream that would allow an advisor to have a comprehensive view of a client's products on their screen.

"Not all insurers are perfect in this regard. I think it's improving a lot," Lafontaine observes. He adds that the data stream will never be perfect, "because the level of energy people put into a stream corresponds to the value they can derive from it." 

Uneven progress 

Established in 1995, Canadian Life Insurance Electronic Data Interchange Standards (CLIEDIS), a non-profit organization, has been working for years to rally insurers around the project of electronic data exchange in the life insurance industry. Its mission is clearly stated: to advance insurance data exchange. To date, some areas of the project are more advanced than others. 

The notification stream for received proposals is the most advanced. At the time of writing, CLIEDIS had approved this stream for 16 of the 17 insurers participating in the project.

The organization has also approved the pending business tracking data stream for 14 out of 17 insurers. These streams indicate, among other things, the status of insurance applications awaiting additional forms or medical exam results. 

The picture is less rosy when it comes to the business blocks data stream. This stream includes in-force businesses and inactive businesses, orphan client products, and advisor transfer information. CLIEDIS has approved 9 out of 17 insurers for these streams: Equitable Life, Beneva, Canada Life, Empire Life, Foresters Financial, iA Financial Group, ivari, Manulife, and RBC Insurance. 

Progress varies among the remaining 8 insurers. The project is on hold at BMO Insurance and Co-operators. Its status remains to be determined at Assumption Life and Sun Life. Meanwhile, Canada Protection Plan, whose CLIEDIS reports status separately from Foresters, Desjardins Financial Security, EDGE Benefits, and Humania Insurance have not provided information to CLIEDIS regarding this stream.