Pioneer Insurance belongs to the top five general insurance companies in the Philippines. They have 17 branches nationwide. All have online access to Non-life Insurance Information Software (NIIS), the original version of the insurance software developed by CPI. NIIS has around 100 users.

Business Challenges
Before NIIS, Pioneer had a combination of manual and stand-alone systems. These couldn’t handle the growing volume of business. System development projects couldn’t seem to end due to many revisions to properly capture user requirements.

As a result, it was difficult to get information. Management made decisions based on gut feel rather than actual data.
The Solution

Pioneer went live on NIIS in 1994. They chose to acquire the source code of NIIS so that they can customize the software in-house.

Because of the complexity of user requirements, customizations became a bottleneck during implementation. It helped that the CPI team knew the insurance business and could speak the users’ jargon. The mandate and political will from management to keep on using the system was also crucial. At present, user satisfaction level is such that according to Cecille Ligan, AVP - Software Applications, “Now, users defend the system.”

Benefits
Pioneer users are proud of the fact that they can issue a policy in one minute, including the printing of the required documents. Tracking of claims is easier. Brokers like their accurate list of accounts receivable, with aging. They say that compared with other insurance companies, Pioneer has a timely and accurate accounts receivables monitoring system. They also have reinsurance statistics that show their exposure and help them assess if a treaty is profitable or not.

Management is now more confident of their decisions, using NIIS reports to validate their gut feel. Managers know their accounts intimately. They are helped by data that is available anytime, in summary or down to the policy detail.

Consulting Services
Since 1994, as Pioneer updated NIIS for their internal requirements, they have contracted CPI consultants to augment their internal IT team. They prefer CPI consultants because aside from being competent in Oracle, they also know the insurance business. Nanette Jorge, AVP - Information Services adds, “Their attitude and culture makes them different from the other consultants we have tried. They have a sense of urgency when they do their work. They don’t just program. They also know how to analyze.” Overall, they find CPI consultants more affordable and yet the service quality is even better.

Thus, starting with CPI’s general insurance software, then using CPI consultants to enhance it for their internal needs, Pioneer found the right solutions provider to support the information requirements of their management and end-users.