to meet the expanding needs of a broad range of insurance industry users, says Christina Nelson, president and chief executive officer.
SilverPlume's Sage product is fortified by online access of ISO content
By Len Strazewski
Christina Nelson, president and CEO of SilverPlume, says this is the first time ISO content has been available online as part of a broad-based insurance industry information service.
Philosophers say that wisdom changes with the ages, and in the volatile commercial insurance marketplace, information is only as good as its latest update.
Sage, the comprehensive online database from SilverPlume in Boulder, Colorado, is only a year old but already is changing and evolving
to meet the expanding needs of a broad range of insurance industry users, says Christina Nelson, president and chief executive officer.
In August, for example, the company announced a landmark agreement with Insurance Services Office (ISO) in Jersey City, New Jersey, to distribute via the Internet ISO content and manuals on loss costs, policy forms and insurance rules for 18 property and casualty lines of insurance in all 50 states.
ISO joins a premium list of information providers, including ACORD, A.M. Best Co., IRMI, National Underwriter and The Rough Notes Company whose coverage analyses, checklists and guides are available online through the subscription-based service.
Though ISO content has been available through the ISO proprietary online service, ISONet, and on the SilverPlume CD library, this is the first time the content has been available online as part of a broad-based insurance industry information service.
Nelson says the new agreement introduces a powerful added dimension to the Sage product and is the culmination of discussions that began prior to the launch of the Sage service more than a year ago. "The ISO content complements our extensive insurance library," she says. "Its addition makes Sage one of the most complete reference information sources in the insurance industry."
Domenick Yezzi, Jr., ISO vice president for specialty commercial lines, agrees. "We have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with SilverPlume, as they have distributed ISO rules, loss costs and forms for years through their CD products," he says. "With this new agreement, SilverPlume customers can now access this broad range of ISO content over the Internet through Sage."
Yezzi says the Sage access will not compete with the ISONet service which distributes only ISO content, but rather makes the information available to a broader audience in the context of other insurance industry information.
"And there are still plenty of subscribers to the ISO paper manuals which have been the mainstay in the industry for many years," he says. "However, it is pretty clear that electronic delivery of this kind of information is the future of the insurance industry. Sage provides an electronic method of accessing a broad range of information."
The addition of the ISO manuals, however, is only the latest in a series of evolutionary developments for SilverPlume and its insurance industry library, notes Nelson.
The online Sage service was introduced in August 2001 as a companion product to the original SilverPlume collection of content which was first released on CD in the early 1990s and which has been updated monthly with the latest forms and content.
Nelson says the company's early experience with Internet delivery revealed a strong preference among producers, in particular, for the fast and portable access to information, and interest in access via the Internet. Insurance industry technology also drove the need for the new product, she says.
A number of SilverPlume's executives gather outside the company's Boulder, Colorado, headquarters. Pictured are (from left) Christopher Kennedy, director of business development; Steve Hirsch, vice president; Christina Nelson; and Tony Lynch, controller.
The proliferation of online rating systems also created a need for rapid and sophisticated response. "Producers, in particular, are under the most pressure to come up with fast and sophisticated responses to complex risk and coverage questions. They are the individuals who are on the front lines everyday, attempting to provide the best solutions to their clients' needs," Nelson says.
Immediate information updating was also a growing need as producers continue to be asked to respond to rapidly changing rates, terms and conditions in the volatile insurance marketplace, she says.
Accessible from the first Sage Web page, the search engine lists results according to relevance, providing the best match of documents higher in the results list.
Since Sage was released, its user base has grown rapidly to 500 agents, 25 large commercial brokers and more than a dozen insurance companies. Agencies pay an average of $250 per month for a basic subscription, with an extra charge being made for additional subscription content.
The growing needs of the users and an evolving user base have since spurred significant change in the design of the service, Nelson says. "When we originally planned Sage, we conceived the product as a tool primarily for agency producers who we believed were under the strongest competitive pressure for rapid access to information.
"We assumed that other agency workers would continue to use other information sources, including the SilverPlume CD and their paper manuals. However, what we have discovered is that many other types of insurance industry workers prefer the Internet access and the comprehensive, aggregated access to information," Nelson continues.
Within agencies, market specialists and customer service representatives have been using agency Sage accounts to access the online data, preferring the more timely and rapid information access, she says. "More and more agency workers have a need for immediately updated information, and although the information may be available in individual manuals or other databases, including our own SilverPlume CD, the Internet provides the fastest, most current information," she says.
Outside the agency system, some surprising users emerged. "Many of the top 100 insurance brokers have become subscribers, and a growing number of insurance carriers subscribe for access to a broad range of market information. Risk managers and other corporate executives with interest in the insurance industry have also taken an interest in the product," Nelson explains.
Domenick Yezzi, Jr., ISO vice president for specialty commercial lines, says the recent agreement with SilverPlume will make ISO's content available to a broader audience in the context of other insurance industry information.
Users continue to enter the online service through the SilverPlume company Web site (www.silverplume.com/), and then enter a User ID and password. Sage functions well through basic 56 kps dial-up access despite the worldwide demand for faster broadband access such as local area network (LAN) access, DSL or cable modem access.
Originally, the Sage online database was organized into four separate general information categories with several subsections of information related to coverages, markets and general insurance industry information.
Sage now features a core set of information organized by topical classifications that all insurance professionals need, including:
--Business and industries profiles
--Recommended coverage checklists
--Commercial lines coverage analysis
--CGL/WC classification cross reference
--Exposure analysis checklists
--International information
--Insurance dictionary
--SIC and NAICs codes
Users can then add customized additional information packages based on their specific needs, according to Nelson.
The Sage Agency Pack focuses content for the necessary research and fact-finding that is critical to risk assessment prior to submitting accurate, complete submissions and includes targeted content from prominent industry sources including:
--Thousands of available markets
--Direct access to market Web sites
--ACORD forms
--Sample proposals, brochures, business letters and templates
The Sage Underwriter Pack includes the core Sage content and insurance industry information from The Rough Notes Company, National Underwriter, A.M. Best Underwriting Guide and ARM Tech's Practical Risk Management.
The Sage Risk Manager Pack includes the core content as well as the ARM Tech's Practical Risk Management; FC&S Bulletins, Risk Funding and Self-Insurance Bulletins (RF&S); and Directors and Officers Guide and e-Coverage Guide from National Underwriter.
The new ISO manuals can be added to any of the customized packages.
Sage also features a proprietary search engine, designed by SilverPlume Vice President Steve Hirsch. The online tool searches not only within the Sage library but insurance industry-related Internet sites not linked to Sage. Hirsch says he developed the search engine for the exclusive use of the insurance industry, building in an ability to rank results by relevance with an intuitive understanding of the connections between insurance terms.
The search engine--accessible from the first Sage Web page--returns results listed according to relevance, providing the best match of documents higher in the results list. Relevance is the key issue, according to Hirsch, and the search engine should produce more accurate and relevant results than the general engines such as Google and Inktomi that are used by most commercial Web sites.
Since Sage was launched, the search engine has become a key component, amplifying the reach of the Sage service. Although the search engine is limited to general access Web pages outside the Sage database and excludes password access to proprietary online services, Hirsch says it can identify for users Internet locations to which they can choose to subscribe, as well as free sites.
The search engine index also lists and searches more than 800 insurance wholesaler and specialty market sources, Hirsch says.
Nelson says Sage will continue to add content and provide more customized packages of content as the company identifies specific categories of users and new information needs among its existing user base. *
The author
Len Strazewski is a Chicago-based freelance writer specializing in marketing, management and technology topics. In addition to contributing to Rough Notes, he has written on insurance for Business Insurance, the Chicago Tribune and Human Resource Executive, among other publications.