Merastar Insurance Selects Steel Card's Apogee Solution
SANTA BARBARA, CA - Web-based Apogee to provide Merastar with new platform for quick product delivery, Internet self-service, and complete policy administration.
Steel Card, a provider of end-to-end, web-based software solutions to the property & casualty insurance industry, announced today that Chattanooga-based Merastar Insurance Company has selected Steel Card's Apogee Point-of-Sale and Policy Administration solutions for auto insurance across 47 states. The completely web-based Apogee solution will enable Merastar, a specialist in employer-sponsored personal automobile and homeowners insurance, to quickly deploy new products and offer significant self-service capabilities to their distribution channels as well as their customers.
After an extensive market search and system evaluation, Merastar selected Steel Card's Apogee largely due to the system's web-based technology along with its breadth and depth of functionality that includes: Rating, Rules, Forms, and full Policy Processing. Merastar identified the Apogee platform to be best in class in many areas, notably in flexibility, dynamic quoting, user interface, and overall total cost of ownership (TCO). The Apogee solution also provides the tools to support Merastar's existing environment and enable quick product development and deployment.
Ken Lytle, Merastar's Vice President of Systems, commented, "We knew it was time for a change. Our legacy environment just didn't allow us to easily make the ongoing changes we needed to support the business. Additionally, we wanted to push more functionality out to both our customers and our various distribution channels. Web-based technologies offer a huge opportunity for product and service delivery, but you need to have a solution like Apogee that can take full advantage of the Internet medium."
Mr. Lytle continued, "We really put the Steel Card system through the paces during our evaluation. As a result, we are confident that the Apogee solution will not only support our formidable needs, but put us at the leading edge."
"We are anxious to get the system into production and put as much functionality and as many service options as possible into the hands of our users," added Rich Saltzman, Merastar's Vice President of Underwriting, Customer Service, and Compliance. "The Apogee system offers us many opportunities that range from quick product deployment to integrated point-of-sale. Over time and as we learn more about the system, we expect to continually improve our operational efficiencies and service levels."
Max Drucker, Managing Partner at Steel Card, noted, "Forward-thinking organizations like Merastar are raising the bar in the insurance industry and setting new standards for product delivery and customer service. We are pleased our Apogee solution has been selected by Merastar and we are very excited to be working with such a distinguished team. The implementation is already underway and we are on track to meet the aggressive production schedule."
About Merastar Insurance
Merastar Insurance Company provides employer-sponsored personal property and casualty insurance for persons in the United States. Merastar's mission is to provide quality personal insurance to employers and their employees through the convenience of payroll deduction. Merastar helps employers provide another benefit option for their employees by making personal insurance coverage convenient, easy to access and easy to manage. For more information, please visit www.merastar.com.
About Steel Card, LLC
Headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif., Steel Card is the developer of Apogee, an end-to-end, robust, and remarkably flexible net-centric platform that enables insurers and financial institutions to sell and service property and casualty insurance. Founded in 1998 by an award-winning management team, Steel Card produces technology that empowers companies to be proactive in the insurance marketplace. For more information, please visit www.steelcard.com.
Source: Steel Card