Integrated rating product with TAM

[Cale Stultz]

Note:  I've also posted this question at the community.

Has Applied chosen a preferred rating product for use with TAM?  Or is it just real-time?

[brinkerdana]

So far the emphasis has been on Real Time.  It would be great if they could get more companies to do the "round trip" quoting process ala Allied.

[Jim Jensen]

Applied sold their rating product in hopes to shift everyone to real-time and probably also to get something for it before they made it obsolete and valueless. So far it hasn't come to fruition. Too many carriers are satisfied to stop at the data-bridging point and not provide the roundtrip/binding process back to TAM. That said, there still are comparative raters that work fine with Applied. EZLynx and PL Rating are two. I don't know much about EZ Lynx, but I use PL Rating. It's not perfect, but it's getting better - they've been pushing to get carriers to allow them to run the rating 'real-time' out of the carrier's systems plus they still bring it back to a comparative format and will send the data back to Applied. The interface between the two could be much better, but Applied and PL Rating don't get along, since Vertafore owns PL Rating and AMS systems. For those carriers that require us to submit through their website, the real-time process docks the quote in their system too, so I can pull the data back to TAM for applications, then complete the submission through the carrier site. That causes a little duplication, like lienholders and answering some questions, but not a lot.

[DebAmstutz]

I think Vertafore has their fingers into EZLynx also because they are on the list of vendors to avoid at ASCnet meetings.

[Ian Blundell]

I think Vertafore has their fingers into EZLynx also because they are on the list of vendors to avoid at ASCnet meetings.

I don't think that there is any connection between Vertafore & EZLynx.  Applied don't like EZLynx because they use an unauthorized "screen scraping" program to pull data out of TAM into their website.  My opinion is that the data is ours (and not Applied's) and we want to send the data to EZLynx in order to get a quote (which isn't always available through Real-Time).

[Cale Stultz]

Great conversation everyone.  It's helping me.  We currently use Ezlynx but are looking at other options.  Anyone have an opinion on Silverplume?

[Robin Deatherage]

Great conversation everyone.  It's helping me.  We currently use Ezlynx but are looking at other options.  Anyone have an opinion on Silverplume?

Our personal lines dept tried Silverplume rating and didn't like it.  I really don't know details about why, just heard them say they weren't going to use it any more.  If you want me to get details for you I can ask.

[Jim Jensen]

I would say that SilverPlume takes a little getting used to, but I don't find it problematic at all. I can't compare to EZLynx though. They do some data prefill for us - vehicle and driver discovery, including VINs. That can be a nice time-saver. If most or all of your carriers have real-time rate contracts with SilverPlume it works much easier. Manufactured rates do not seem to be their strong suit. Support is not the quickest can be a little difficult to the bottom of getting an issue resolved, but fortuantely I don't have to deal with them much.

We do have a difficult time with one carrier even with their real-time rating process - Liberty (Indiana, Ohio Casualty, Peerless) because they use package policies and have too many rates items tied to setting up the package with both lines to get the proper discounts. We start with one line, then we have to manually input the other into their web portal to get a quotes that's worth using. That should go away as the continue to convert to Safeco and drop the true package policy setup (Indiana is one of the last states for conversion).

[brinkerdana]

We use FSC.  Links to Real Time.  My only complaint is that it applies multi-policy credits on some policies that don't qualify. 

The last comparative rater I used before this was in 1980, so my experience is limited.