CSIO marks "significant milestone" in data standards

CSIO marks “significant milestone” in data standards | Insurance Business Canada

Technology

CSIO marks “significant milestone” in data standards

What is in its latest release?

Technology

By
Terry Gangcuangco

The Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) has announced that its commercial lines (CL) working group has made significant strides in advancing CL Data Standards.

The group has published business requirements for quoting and binding in four additional industry segments: wholesale, manufacturing/processing, education, and member organization services.

The standards enable real-time communication between broker management systems (BMS) and insurer systems via application programming interface calls, ensuring precise data exchange across the insurance value chain. Insurers and BMS vendors who have implemented CSIO’s Commercial Lines Minimum Data Set (CL MDS) report numerous benefits in quoting efficiency.

CSIO’s Adoption Scorecard, created using member feedback, indicates that brokers receive quotes from insurers utilizing the CL MDS in an average of 10 seconds, allowing brokers to devote more time to customer interactions.

With the newly published requirements, CL Data Standards now supports 12 small business industry segments, enhancing their utility for insurers, brokers, and vendors. The new release spans the largest number of segments published by the CL working group at once, covering over 60 new Insurance Bureau of Canada codes.

Steve Whitelaw, senior vice president and general manager at Applied Systems Canada, praised the development: “I commend the CL working group for reaching this significant milestone. Applied is dedicated to working with the industry to streamline operations by making it easier for insurers and brokers to grow their commercial lines book of business using the CL Data Standards for online quoting.”

Meanwhile, in response to the increasing adoption of CL Data Standards, the industry technology association introduced the CL MDS Validator tool.

The tool assists insurers and BMS vendors in ensuring their XML files comply with the CL MDS question set for each industry segment. The Validator reviews uploaded files, flags errors, and ensures they adhere to the standards, promoting efficient data validation and exchange.

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