TECHNOLOGY
APIs from page 27
Carrier ’ s perspective
To get a carrier ’ s perspective on APIs , I turned to Clint Pidlubny , senior director , B2B integration & enablement at Allianz Life . Mr . Pidlubny has spent his career focusing on digital transformation and has worked at Allianz for more than six years . He recently spent three years in Munich , Germany , at the Allianz Global Digital Factory , where they lead digital transformation initiatives across the Allianz portfolio of companies . During his career , Mr . Pidlubny has been a developer , a technical architect , and an executive leader building new capabilities around marketing technology , and most recently around data governance and B2B API connectivity .
Mr . Pidlubny spoke to the general impact of APIs on the life insurance business and within Allianz in particular . “ We see the value in two ways . First , APIs can be simplified down to meet specific use cases . For instance , if you want to get an updated status on a specific application , we could build an application status API that provides a near real-time status update . This kind of API call should take less than one second to make . The more traditional approach has been to provide that data through batch files , which take a lot of time and processing power to produce — because of the volume of data contained in them — and consume , which actually leads to the second value , which is that APIs can provide data in near real-time . We never want to promise realtime , but it would be much more current than data in batch files . This directly drives an improved experience , reducing the amount of telephone calls and manual follow-ups chasing data that is now in their hands .”
Strong market results
There are some areas in the business now where APIs are being used with some very good results . Mr . Hyde told me , “ I believe APIs are being used in the new business area , but I have not seen anything of real substance yet in the policy service area . There are lots of opportunities in the policy service area — policy updates , requests for and runs of in-force illustrations , real time data updates , policy renewal processes , and so forth .”
Mr . Pidlubny highlighted the areas where Allianz Life is using APIs effectively . “ Internally , we have APIs that connect many of our strategic systems so that changes in one system will be quickly reflected in another . What seems to be less common is connectivity with partners through APIs , but we ’ re seeing a shift happening . As new fintech platforms come on to the market , they ’ re expecting to have APIs available for integration . The opportunity here is that our partners can now focus on providing the best experience for the producer and their customers , knowing that they will have our most up-to-date and relevant information available to them . We can also take it one step further and push new data to their platforms when it becomes available , through API notifications that our partners can subscribe to .”
In the brokerage distribution system , APIs appear to be on the verge of making a significant impact . Mr . Hyde stated very simply and clearly the reason why . “ BGA users ,” he said , “ will benefit from APIs as they are responsible for a lot of the policy change activities .”
Making a real difference
Mr . Pidlubny shared the carrier ’ s perspective , and his viewpoint shows real promise for APIs making a real difference for the brokerage distribution system . “ BGAs utilize increasingly sophisticated tech stacks that require the kind of real-time integration experience an API catalog can offer . From a productinformation offering where they could pull new business rates or illustration data , to the account-opening process where BGA case managers need the most up-to-date information at their disposal , APIs offer that ability in a more efficient manner than ever before . By carriers increasing their API integration options and BGAs continuing their own investment in technology , we can work together to drive the best possible service experience for our mutual clients .”
For Mr . Pidlubny , the enhanced service that APIs help provide go hand in hand with increased sales opportunities . Mr . Pidlubny said , “ We believe the best way to service our customers and producers is to ensure the most up-to-date data is always at their fingertips in a format that is easily integrated with their systems . We also believe that , through the closer integration of our systems and our partners ’ systems , we can reduce effort to manage our products and make it easier to sell them . Our APIs are the key for our partners to unlock near real-time data and our business processes .”
With that key at their fingertips , you can expect more and more brokerage general agencies to take advantage of the power of APIs in increasing their efficiencies , better serving their brokers , and growing their sales and business operations . According to Mr . Hyde , “ Some carriers are leading the way — and some BGAs as well — and the ones who get this right early on will have a huge advantage .”
28 Perspectives Q2 2021