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Insurance Industry News from ProgramBusiness.com

IVANS Expands Agency Interface SolutionsReflecting a growing community of users for the next generation of electronic interface between insurance carriers and independent agents and brokers, IVANS, Inc., the industry’s agency interface solutions provider, has announced new flexible, Internet-based services and pricing models for interface.

IVANS continues to provide the industry cost effective and managed multi-company/agency interface solutions, and to respond to the diverse requirements of our community of users. IVANS' new models provide carriers and agents the ability to leverage Internet technology and still realize the benefits of the managed solutions they have deployed since the 1980s, according to Anna England, vice president and general manager of the IVANS Insurance E-Commerce Solutions Division.

Insurance carriers now also have the flexibility to choose between a pricing option which is a fixed, budgeted payment cost based on a flat per agency, per-month fee; or a pay as you go, transaction-based model. At the same time, agencies are able to maximize the use of broadband Internet connections for all of their agency-company interface transactions.

IVANS’ E-Commerce Internet solutions are available for both real-time and batch agency interface communications:
Real-time ACORD XML delivery using IVANS Transformation Station‘, and Batch store and forward, managed mailboxing services for agency download and upload, using IVANS Internet Transfer Manager‘ and Electronic Commerce Server (ECS). IVANS’ Internet-based agency interface offerings "have clearly gained momentum," said England. "There are more than 10,000 agencies capable of requesting and receiving real-time ACORD XML transactions through Transformation Station, and close to 20,000 agencies and 100 insurers realizing the benefits of Internet protocol for traditional batch EDI download and upload. Download continues to grow, while at the same time the benefits of real-time transactions through Transformation Station continues to grow by 30% per month, with close to 30 carriers participating. With this niche, this growing community and economies of scale, IVANS now can provide enhanced features and pricing models never before available."

IVANS Electronic Commerce Server (ECS) was specifically designed for the property-casualty agency interface community and provides enhanced features such as user-friendly web pages for agency vendors and carriers to manage their trading partner activity. England announced a new release of IVANS Transfer Manager‘, which coupled with ECS, provides an end-to-end managed solution for agency company interface transactions (upload and download) using a mailbox-based transfer model and the Internet.

Transfer Manager is integrated in over 10 agency vendor system platforms, and more than 100 carriers are already using Transfer Manager. The Internet version offers improved function and performance, England said. "Agents have faster turnaround with high-speed connections, and they’ll continue to have one place for upload and download with vendor support."

IVANS will conduct best practices planning to help carriers arrive at the best combination of service and price, England said. Some carriers, for example, can maximize data compression to drive down cost.

More information on these announcements will be covered at IVANS’ upcoming "E-Commerce Regional Xchanges," to be held August 13, 14, 20 and 21.

About IVANS Insurance E-Commerce Solutions: IVANS Insurance E-Commerce Solutions, a division of IVANS, Inc. www.ivans.com, is a provider of unique application and exchange-based solutions and services for the insurance industry. Products and services leverage expertise in insurance workflows, ACORD and X12 standards, data<
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