An e-commerce framework for improving business processes in corporate insurance systems

Abstract

This project covers a flexible and extensible methodological framework for business process improvement on the basis of practical experience by insurance companies. In view of the trends concerning the growth of E-commerce in business, although other online services have already taken off vigorously, the insurance industry’s commitment to E-commerce lags far behind competitors in the banking and brokerage industries. In order to survive in competitive economic environments, many organizations need to continuously improve their business processes. The key changes in the business environment pose a challenge to the traditional corporate insurance system. We must determine what structure will assimilate best in our business institutions. The problems being experienced based on manual methods of data management in applying for insurance policies are highlighted. And by analyzing the way insurance is being carried out, it was possible to identify current business processes. These were remodeled using the UML that supports object-oriented design to come up with new ways of carrying out the same insurance function to enable efficient and flexible supply of insurance services to customers. UML can be successfully used as a formal modeling tool without the notational complexities that are commonly found in textual specification techniques. System development involved creating user interfaces, use of web-technologies and the database. Web pages were created to input and receive formatted text. A combination of methodologies was used since none has all the components required to complete the design of the project. HTML and Java servelets were used in the programming environment. The final output was tested with insurers in the corporate system and customers to determine whether it obtains the desired expectations, so that its applicability and relevance are confirmed in the insurance industry.