BAIS has been recognized by APAC CIOOutlook Magazine as the recipient of “Hottest Insurance Tech Companies,” based on our proprietary methodology, reflecting its position in the industry. This profile has been developed by the APAC CIOOutlook research and editorial team based on insights from an interview with Jim Armstrong.

BAIS
Driving Innovation in Insurance Processing System

Jim Armstrong, Owner

Technology has inevitably changed the functioning of the insurance industry and significantly impacted the bond shared by the insurers and the insured. Consequently, the pressure on insurance companies is high for transforming their business processes in order to weather the financial storm. In the midst of soaring demands of the current economic times, there is a place for innovation. As such, companies like BA Insurance Systems (BAIS) were born. As companies constantly seek to improve their transaction processing with regards to compliance and integrity, BAIS stands out among others with its simplicity and support for business growth and innovation. “Our organization was created to innovate, customize and provide meaningful applications as part of our key value set,” says Jim Armstrong, Owner of BAIS. The company offers a fully integrated insurance processing system for insurance companies, underwriting agencies, brokers and claim management organizations. With its intuitive, cost-effective and forward-thinking products that can be implemented with ease, BAIS has positioned itself as a forerunner in the insurance industry.

BAIS, which started in 1992, has clients among the local insurance brokers in Singapore, Australia, Mauritius, the Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. The company is constantly on the lookout for ways to improve its usability and operational efficiency and provide more real-time solutions. “As consumers demand round-the-clock access to products and services, companies need systems that provide real-time solutions which take less time, and reduce costs and complexity,” says Armstrong.

ibais, the company’s browser-based software, is a full enterprise system that covers and manages end to end processing in the areas of insurance processing, client management, claims processing, commercial ledgers, task management, general ledger, document production and standard and ad-hoc reporting. It also provides integrated online insurance capabilities for B2C and B2B policies as well as broker and client portals. The fact that ibais requires zero PC deployment is another advantage, allowing the product to be used whenever and wherever required. Armstrong elaborates, “The system enables integrated responsive design online products which generate ibais transactions including accounting transactions, with online payment options and automatic acquittal.”

Insurance transactions have a variety of documentation requirements, in Ibais these may be completed by the insurance company staff, brokers or general public. The options of installment processing, premium funding interfaces, payment gateways, multi-client policies, co-insurance, and risk insurance can be easily availed online. “ibais also includes multi-company, multi-divisional, multi-currency and multi-lingual functionality,” adds Armstrong. BAIS begins with the awareness that each organization has its own requirements. “Since we exist as a single set of source code, we can customize our system to accommodate each client’s requirements using parameter settings,” explains Armstrong. This feature enables the client organization to apply its own languages, currencies, statutory charges and levies to use the product optimally.

BAIS’ expertise proved highly beneficial to a client seeking to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of broker transactions, while simultaneously providing an attractive product offering. BAIS created a suite of online products that would be available to the client’s brokers via a secure Broker Portal. These products are secure, easy to use and fully automated, besides being easily available. Implementing the solution helped BAIS’ client, to attain its aim of cutting costs while implementing no-touch binding policies that left the staff free to underwrite more complex risks, gradually growing the company’s portfolio. The client became recognized as a market leader by winning a prestigious industry award for a number of consecutive years.

At the forefront of insurance systems technology, BAIS created the DesignBAIS developer toolset with an intention to remain innovative by creating products and functionality that can keep ahead of the constantly changing needs of the industry.