This article builds on our previous blog on the Speed to Market (S2M) Toolkit, where we discussed how the road to implementation can be fraught with IT implementation challenges. These challenges do not revolve around your developers or programmers; they often stem from the complex requirements of a new or updated product, such as detailed forms, endorsement attributes, precise rating information, and accurate premium calculation steps.

This is where the AAIS S2M Toolkit comes into play. Designed to streamline the implementation process on a policy administrative system (PAS), the S2M Toolkit accelerates the success of new and updated insurance products. For existing and future AAIS Member companies, the S2M Toolkit is an essential resource during the AAIS onboarding process. Here’s a detailed look at how the S2M Tools work in conjunction with AAIS onboarding to expedite your product launch.

Understanding the Onboarding Challenge

Onboarding a new insurance product can be complex, involving a multitude of steps: determining which forms and endorsements to adopt, potentially developing a custom manual, converting loss costs into rates, and submitting the new or updated product to the respective insurance department. The final and often most critical phase is integrating the new or updated product into your PAS, which can become a bottleneck if not managed efficiently.

The Role of S2M Tools in Onboarding

The S2M Toolkit, which is delivered during onboarding, supports each stage of the process with a set of tools designed to help streamline and expedite. These tools provide clarity, accuracy, and speed in integrating new insurance products into your PAS. By integrating these tools into your onboarding strategy, you can overcome common challenges and achieve a faster, more efficient product rollout. Here’s how each component contributes to a more efficient onboarding experience:

Product Models: The Foundation of Efficient Development

The first component of the S2M Toolkit is the Product Models. These models offer a comprehensive representation of AAIS insurance products in both human-readable (Mind Maps) and machine-readable (JSON) formats. They facilitate the onboarding process through:

• Accelerated Product Development: Product Models include visualization tools and detailed product content that simplify the development process. This clarity helps your team quickly understand and integrate product data into your PAS, significantly reducing development time.
• Customization and Adaptation: Product Models enable easy tailoring of insurance products to meet specific market needs and regulatory requirements. Customization ensures that your products are not only relevant but also compliant with industry standards. 
• Centralized Metadata Management: Product Models provide a single source of product metadata, reducing inconsistencies and errors while facilitating smoother integration into your system.

S2M Human-Readable Content: Visualizing Product Structures

S2M Human-Readable Content (Mind Maps) are a crucial component of the S2M Toolkit. These visual aids offer a graphical representation of AAIS insurance products, making it easier for your team to understand complex product details. Mind Maps contribute to a more effective onboarding process by providing:

• Enhanced Visual Clarity: Mind Maps provide a clear, visual overview of the product structure and its components, helping your team grasp product intricacies and integrate it into your PAS more easily.
• Facilitation of Future Expansion: By presenting a visual roadmap, Mind Maps prepare your team for future expansions, such as adding new states or product lines. This forward-thinking approach ensures that your system can accommodate future growth and changes.

Using Mind Maps during the onboarding process enhances your team’s understanding of the product and prepares you for seamless expansion.

S2M Machine-Readable Content: Ensuring System Compatibility

S2M Machine-Readable Content delivers an electronic representation of AAIS insurance products in a JSON format that can be consumable by your system. This component of the toolkit is critical for:

• Seamless System Integration: Technical Specifications provide detailed, standardized data that supports integrating new products into your PAS. This ensures that your system can accurately process and manage the product from day one.
• Reduction in Implementation Time: The standardized format of Technical Specifications helps reduce the time required for system configuration and testing. This efficiency is crucial for meeting your company’s goal of generating premium revenue on an expedited basis.

By providing a clear and standardized format for technical data, S2M Technical Specifications streamline the integration process and accelerate your time to market.

S2M Rating & Data Tables: Accurate Rating Information

S2M Rating & Data Tables include essential AAIS factors, loss costs, and territorial definitions from multistate and state manual pages. These tables are vital for:

• Providing Product Reference Data: Rating & Data Tables offer product reference data in a digital format that is easy to integrate into your system. This eliminates the need for manual data entry and reduces the risk of errors.
• Saving Time and Money: By using preformatted Rating & Data Tables, you can significantly speed up the implementation process. This efficiency not only saves time but also reduces the overall cost of bringing a new product to market.

Rating & Data Tables ensure that your premium calculations are accurate and that your system is efficiently configured to handle new or updated products.

S2M Rating Examples: Understanding Premium Calculations

S2M Rating Examples provide detailed insights into premium calculations using sample rating data. These examples are essential for:

• Ensuring Accuracy with Up-to-Date Data: Rating Examples offer current, state-specific rating information that reflects the latest data and regulatory requirements. This ensures that your premium calculations are accurate and compliant with industry standards.
• On-Demand Guidance: Step-by-step explanations of premium calculations help your team understand and implement complex rating methodologies, ensuring that your system processes premiums correctly from the outset.
• By providing clear and detailed examples, S2M Rating Examples support accurate premium calculations and help your team navigate the complexities of rating methodologies.

The Benefits of Using S2M Tools

Integrating S2M Tools into your onboarding process offers several significant benefits:

• Accelerated Time to Market: The primary goal of the S2M Toolkit is to expedite the implementation of new or updated insurance products. With the support of S2M Tools, you can achieve a faster time to market and start generating premium revenue by utilizing the AAIS onboarding process.
• Increased Accuracy: The detailed, standardized data provided by S2M Tools reduces errors during integration, ensuring correct PAS configuration and accurate premium calculations.
• Enhanced Efficiency: S2M Tools streamline the onboarding process, allowing your team to focus on strategic tasks rather than data entry and formatting issues. This helps you bring products to market more quickly and effectively.
• Flexibility and Adaptability: The S2M Toolkit offers a flexible framework that can adapt to various product types and regulatory environments. This adaptability is essential for managing a diverse portfolio of insurance products and expanding into new markets.
• Comprehensive Support: The S2M Toolkit provides robust support throughout the onboarding process. From visual aids like Mind Maps to detailed Technical Specifications, each component offers valuable insights and resources for a smoother and more effective integration.

Conclusion

The AAIS S2M Toolkit represents a significant advancement in the onboarding and implementation of insurance products. By providing essential tools and resources, the S2M Toolkit helps organizations accelerate product launches, improve accuracy, and enhance efficiency. As the insurance market continues to evolve, having a streamlined and effective onboarding process is more important than ever.

The S2M Toolkit’s comprehensive suite of tools—Product Models (including Mind Maps and JSON Technical Specifications), Rating & Data Tables, and Rating Examples—works together to address the complexities of integrating new products into your PAS. By leveraging these tools, you can overcome common challenges, reduce implementation time, and achieve your goal of generating premium revenue as soon as possible to recoup the costs of adopting a new or updated product.

To explore how S2M Tools can transform your onboarding process, watch the AAIS Webinar replay, “Streamlining Product Adoption with the AAIS Speed to Market (S2M) Toolkit,” for an in-depth demonstration of how these tools can accelerate your path to market success.

If you are ready to leverage the S2M Toolkit, please reach out to Sheila Morris or Jeff Holaway to kick off the onboarding process and support:

Sheila Morris, CPCU, CPM

Director of Operations

sheilam@aaisonline.com

(630) 457-3286

Jeff Holaway, CPCU, CPM

Product Technical Lead

jeffh@aaisonline.com

(630) 457-3231