Equator

Equator is RDT’s award-winning data orchestration tool designed in collaboration with insurers, and it’s changing the way insurance is sold.

Equator, an insurer hosted rating platform, provides accurate real-time risk rating, drawing on data from third party information feeds to enable the insurer to provide the right price for the right risk. With Equator, insurers can manage their rates centrally and handle 50 million quotes a day.

The reliance on broker software houses to distribute rates isn’t just old thinking – it’s antiquated. Equator does away with the need to distribute rates altogether. Due to its lightning-fast capabilities, it allows insurers to update their rates as and when they want to, while the cloud version provides pay-as-you-use cost advantages and rapid scalability for peaks in demand.

Using Equator, insurers can be confident that they’re writing good quality business at the right price, based on the best available information. Undesirable applicants can be identified at point of quote, cutting application fraud by up to 60 per cent.

Real-time data enrichment at point of quote

Data enrichment is changing the way risk is assessed. Equator calls information feeds such as Experian, Lexis Nexis, HPI, CUE, MyLicence, CRIF and Synectics at point of quote. Using the returned data to augment details given by the customer, it calculates and prices the risk. It does this sub-second, regardless of whether the quote is from a broker software house, an aggregator site or an in-house insurance system, so that all the calculations take place in real time.

No more rates distribution

Equator removes the need for insurers to send their rates anywhere. Instead the sales channels – regardless of what type of channels they are – access the rates themselves at point of quote. Equator supports quotes from all types of channels, including aggregators, smart phone apps and direct sales websites. It does this through integration with policy admin systems and with broker software houses including CDL, BGL, Open GI, SSP, Applied Systems, Saga and the AA. Additional software houses continue to integrate.

Rates management, information and monitoring

Equator is service based and can integrate with all third party software. It enables insurers to update their rates in a matter of hours, and they can update their products as and when they want with no downtime.
Equator includes configurable mapping for integration and communication with other systems. It also takes records of transactions and calculates throughput metrics. These statistics, plus details about errors and warnings, are accessible from Equator’s user interface and can also be posted to the insurer’s own monitoring system.

Product testing and debugging

Once products have been defined, Equator’s test harness allows business users to generate requests at volume, as if provided by a third party software house. This means that users can test as and when they want without relying on the software houses to provide them with a test window. The test harness can also be used for creating and maintaining thousands of test cases, while the debugging tools allow breakpoints to be defined within the scheme logic. This allows the users to see all internal variables, as well as the XML output file change, as the scheme is evaluated. This improves rating accuracy and can also be useful in verifying rate details for compliance purposes.

Revolutionising distribution

For broker-led insurers, changing the price of a product can mean sending out the same information to several software houses individually. And, because of the way the software houses operate, the information must also be developed and tested with each of them, creating further delays. With Equator, insurers can update their rates as and when they like, and those rates will instantly become available for all their channels to access at point of quote.

Better data capture and understanding the risk

A huge number of new policies are cancelled because applicants have given inaccurate information. Using Equator insurers can understand the risk at point of quote. The same applicant could try several channels – not realising they are applying and re-applying to the same insurer – but with Equator every quote is defended with the insurer’s own rules and enrichment. Using Equator is proven to cut application fraud by up to 60 per cent.

Accurate pricing across the board

Real-time data enrichment at point of quote gives insurers peace of mind that they are providing the right price for the right risk. There is no reliance on inaccurate data from the customer, and insurers can price good risks competitively and load quotes for the bad risks. This puts them in a position where they are selecting the risk, rather than being selected against. Equator gives underwriters greater flexibility in managing rates, including the ability to change them as often as they need to, empowering them to respond in real time to current market intelligence.

Scalability

Equator is proven to be highly scalable, handling 50 million quotes a day. If hosted in Azure, it can scale up during peaks in business volumes. This gives the insurer greater operational agility and flexibility while keeping costs to a minimum, as servers are added only when needed, on a pay-per-usage basis.

Other benefits

• Allows businesses to continue selling through their usual channels
• Cheaper implementation of rates
• Spot and rectify errors within hours instead of weeks
• Optimise customer segmentation
• Rely less on IT department