MANULIFE REPLACES LEGACY CHANNEL MANAGEMENT APPS WITH DSPA SOLUTION

Seeking business-process efficiencies and greater ease-of-business value, Toronto-based Manulife Financial has selected DSPA's (Toronto) Field Administration Support and Tracking system (FASAT) to provide distribution management services to its Canadian sales force.

FASAT is a sales compensation and productivity software solution that uses Web browser and Windows-based technology and a thin client approach to develop and administer compensation programs, according to DSPA. FASAT enables real-time viewing and managing by product across channels or by channel across products.

Having broadcast its intention to woo the managing general agent (MGA) marketplace, the implementation of FASAT is a way of enhancing what Manulife has to offer, according to Doug Powers. "It allows us to deliver their compensation on a much more frequent, almost 'compensation-on-demand' basis," whereas today the current manual and automated legacy processes dictate a semi-monthly disbursement, he says. "This is a way of enhancing our overall offering to generate more sales, but obviously it is something that has to stand on its own merits."

It does so by enabling Manulife to replace its existing legacy channel management systems and re-engineer business processes. "We have a number of mainframe-based applications that have been built up over the years as a suite of applications, and we have a number of manual work-arounds from a business process perspective, because the various legacy system teams...simply were not able to deliver the functionality through the mainframe systems," Powers relates.

On April 1 Manulife began an implementation effort planned for completion in November, followed by a phased roll-out for its entire distribution force for life insurance and wealth management products, including MGAs, independent financial advisors and independent brokerage houses. "We're targeting the end of year to have all of our MGA channels up and operational," Powers says.

While not saying what the solution cost, Powers says Manulife's business plan includes an 18-month return on investment. Says Powers, "the efficiencies we'll glean from business process engineering are likely to generate that 18 month return."

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio