Upgrading Policies for Agent Engagement Using Agile

The Results: A Better, More Capable Agile Team

Together with the client, we have:

• Helped grow the client’s delivery capabilities from two agile teams staffed with 25 resources to a high water mark of eight agile teams with over 60 combined Centric and client resources.
• Defined and guided the client in the definition of program and corporate standards in agile that have allowed for consistency across the organization.
• Provided consulting resources to meet varying client demands and assisted in interviewing and acquiring new resources for the client.
• Introduced SAFe and grew its adoption, allowing for multiple development teams to work from a shared backlog to deliver software in a predictable, controlled manner.
• Pioneered architectural standards and techniques, like the introduction of a Commercial Lines API. This allowed for better and more complete test coverage and the elimination of costly end-to-end functional tests.
• Integrated the client’s business analysis and testing capabilities into the development teams, allowing for improved integration between the disciplines on the team.

Next Step: Delivery of a Commercial Lines Quoting System

All of this led to the delivery of a web-based commercial policy quoting and servicing application, allowing agents of the insurer to quote and upload new business in eleven states.

This application was delivered iteratively, one Commercial Lines of Business at a time, using the innovations that we implemented to refine the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) at the insurer.

Specifically, we:

• Made it possible for agents to provide full services across multiple commercial insurance lines of business. Previously everything but the quote needed to be handled through an in-house representative.
• Implemented a quoting capability on the server, allowing the insurer to move away from mainframe dependency in the rating process.
• Consistently applied a modern user experience across commercial and personal product lines, providing the agent with a consistent user experience.

• Created a robust change management process that reduced risk and increased productivity by allowing the highest priority features to be completed first, which resulted in a faster realization of business value.
• Streamlined quoting and application entry processes by more logically grouping policy information.
• Achieved a Columbus Technology Innovation award nomination for Application and SDLC implementation project.
• Demonstrated the application of agile methodologies at  scale, supporting multiple concurrent software development teams
• Implemented a test automation strategy to provide timely feedback on system stability and shorten the regression test cycle. This allowed for quicker and more frequent deployment of code.

More Results: Policy, Premium, and Profit Growth

Commercial agents are now able to quote and upload applications in real-time. Bound policies have increased 340 percent since the initial release of the application, allowing a premium increase of $3.5 million with the delivery of the first two lines of business.

Similar gains have been realized with each subsequent release. We are now a trusted partner and primary vendor at the client as we continue our work with them into the future.