Loathed quotation software

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Quotation software has to be one of the most annoying things for an insurance adviser.

Thursday, September 9th 2010, 1:19PM 1 Comment

by Russell Hutchinson

Once upon a time there were rate books - and aren't we all glad those nasty little books filled with six point type and fiddly replaceable pages are gone!

But what we've got really isn't much better. Certainly, you are spared the maths, but now the challenge is to make sense of the software.

The problem is compounded because it becomes particularly acute for the most difficult and important of cases.

The simpler case that you "just know" fits with your preferred carrier is not the issue, you know your way around their software, even a fiendishly weird interface can be mastered with regular use.

The fuses all start to blow when you have a case of such size, difficulty, and importance that you want to pull together options from a number of different companies.

Merely quoting the premium is not enough - you must include real illustrations in your report.

This involves slogging through confusing menu structures, different conventions on what is saved, entered, exited, and varying language describing each benefit.

Even tiny variations - such as how most carriers describe income protection benefits as monthly but one in particular describes it as annual - can cause problems when you are quickly trying to swap between insurers comparatively.

God forbid that you should want to reduce commission on any of them - try finding that option in an unfamiliar quote package when you are in a hurry.

What is worse is when you realise that the actual calculation of the rate is very simple and takes very little space - tables and calculators are comfortably held in small handy spreadsheet files by actuaries.

What takes up all the space is the software to produce the pages of printed guff around the premium. Most of which you probably think is a waste of space.

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