"Our employees now use the Internet and intranet much more than before. Access to the information quickly at any time is necessary for company success. With Windows 2000, we can deploy modern applications using Internet, intranet, and directory services—so we can speed up the settlement of cases."—Jaroslav Kafka, chief information officer, Ceska pojistovna a.s.
Customer Profile
CP is the oldest and largest insurance company in the Czech Republic. Its predecessor, The First Mutual Insurance Company, was founded in 1827. Its many offerings include property insurance for individuals and companies, car insurance, and all types of life insurance. It holds a market share of about 60 percent.
CP also offers complete financial services in cooperation with its daughter companies—including insurance, banking, and leasing services, stock market services, and retirement insurance.
Ceská pojistovna—New Technology Overview
Ceská pojistovna (CP) offers a range of products and services at 750 sales locations throughout the Czech Republic. The company administers approximately 11 million policies and resolves about 2 million insurance claims annually.
Taking advantage of online and other high technology products and channels, CP sells insurance through the Internet as well as by phone. For the settlement of claims, CP and Olympus have developed state-of-the-art digital transmission techniques. One of their solutions was awarded the prestigious Crystal Disc prize at the 1999 INVEX computer fair in Brno, Czech Republic.
Simple Is Strong
In February 1999, CP launched a pilot e-commerce project involving car insurance sales. This was CP's first foray into the e?commerce area. Approximately 600 car owners seized the opportunity to undertake online transactions.
The company now offers many types of insurance on its Web site. For some insurance types, CP offers online policy design, sign-up, and payment. CP also provides agency contact information (phone, e-mail, hours of operation) so that Internet users can send their help requests or comments, or place claims immediately.
This Web site is connected to the legacy CP operating systems—specifically to the systems that handle insurance administration and accounts, and to the external system that secures online payment transactions. The overall configuration has to respect the interface of these separate systems and receive feedback about the success of the transactions performed.
The Solution with Microsoft Products
Microsoft® Windows NT® Server 4.0 was selected as the operating system for the Web server and the data server. The system’s database was built on the Microsoft SQL ServerTM 7.0 database. The communication between the ASP scripts technology and SQL Server runs via the ADO (ActiveX® data objects) of the Internet Information Server 4.01, through the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) interface.
Beta testing of Microsoft Windows® 2000 Advanced Server, as the alternative to the Windows NT operating system, began in August 1999.
And the Results:
With the help of Windows 2000, CP sells three products through the Internet—travel insurance, family insurance, and MTPL. CP also presents both basic and more detailed information about other products, so that clients can get a complete look at CP’s activities. Since September 1999, when the system was set up, CP has processed about 3,500 policies over the Internet.
In the future, CP wants to expand the Web site with new functions such as online claim processing and more insurance product sales.
Software and Services
SQL ServerTM
Windows® 2000 Advanced Server
Windows NT® Server 4.0 with Internet Information Server
