System and Method for Processing Requests for Insurance Proposals

Abstract

A computer system for receiving and evaluating requests for quotes for insurance services includes a processor; and a memory storage device in communication with the processor. The processor is adapted to: receive via a communications interface data including a request for a quote to provide insurance services with respect to a first risk; verify and augment the received data with respect to one or more sources of data; determine based on the verified and augmented received data whether a quote will be provided with respect to the first risk; and provide an output signal including the received data and at least a portion of the augmented data to a third party server.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer system for processing requests to provide insurance quotes, the computer system comprising:
 a computer processor;   a memory storage device in communication with the computer processor and storing data indicative of rules to select data sources correlated with categories of risk; and   a security systems device in communication with the computer processor;   wherein the computer processor is configured to:   receive via the security systems device one or more messages having data including a request for a quote to provide insurance coverage with respect to a first risk in a first category;   determine, based on the data indicative of business rules and the first category, one or more sources of data to access to validate and enhance the received data;   access the determined one or more data sources, and validate and enhance the received data to obtain validated and enhanced request data;   determine, based on the validated and enhanced request data with respect to the first risk, and using at least an appetite service, whether: (a) to provide a quote for coverage with respect to the first risk or (b) to decline to provide a quote for coverage for the first risk;
 responsive to determining to provide the quote for coverage for the first risk: 
 provide the validated and enhanced request data to an underwriting engine; 
 receive the quote for coverage for the first risk from the underwriting engine; and 
 furnish the quote in response to the request; 
   responsive to determining to decline to provide the quote for coverage for the first risk:
 provide, to a third party server multi-carrier quotation server configured to return quotes from a plurality of carriers, data including the received data and at least a portion of the validated and enhanced data. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer processor being configured to validate and enhance the received data includes the computer processor being configured to correct the received data based on data in the one or more sources of data, and wherein the data provided to the multi-carrier quotation server includes corrected received data. 
     
     
         3 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer processor being configured to validate and enhance the received data includes the computer processor being configured to add data to the received data, and wherein the data provided to the multi-carrier quotation server includes at least a portion of the added data. 
     
     
         4 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is further configured to determine based on the validated and enhanced data to provide or to decline to provide a quote with respect to a second risk distinct from the first risk. 
     
     
         5 . The computer system of  claim 4 , wherein the second risk is a property/casualty risk. 
     
     
         6 . The computer system of  claim 5 , wherein the first category is business property insurance, the second property/casualty risk is flood risk, the data sources correlated with the first category comprise geographical information services (GIS) data and flood zone data, and the computer processor is further configured to determine based on the GIS data whether an opportunity exists for underwriting flood insurance. 
     
     
         7 . The computer system of  claim 4 , wherein the first risk is business property insurance, and the computer processor is further configured to provide, in response to the request for a quote, a proposal to provide group benefits insurance. 
     
     
         8 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is further configured to enhance the received data by accessing an insurance risk score of an individual associated with the request for quote and adding the insurance risk score to the data. 
     
     
         9 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is further configured to validate the received data using vehicle identification data and motor vehicle registration data. 
     
     
         10 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the appetite service is configured to determine whether a carrier has sufficient exposure in the category of risk associated with the request for quote. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method for processing requests to provide insurance quotes, comprising:
 receiving by a computer processor, via a security systems device, one or more messages having data including a request for a quote to provide insurance coverage with respect to a first risk in a first category;   accessing by the computer processor, from a memory storage device in communication with the computer processor, data indicative of rules to select data sources correlated with categories of risk;   determining by the computer processor, based on the data indicative of business rules and the first category, one or more sources of data to access to validate and enhance the received data;   accessing by the computer processor the determined one or more data sources, and validating and enhancing by the computer processor the received data to obtain validated and enhanced request data;   determining by the computer processor, based on the validated and enhanced request data with respect to the first risk, and using at least an appetite service, whether: (a) to provide a quote for coverage with respect to the first risk or (b) to decline to provide a quote for coverage for the first risk;   responsive to determining to provide the quote for coverage for the first risk:
 providing by the computer processor the validated and enhanced request data to an underwriting engine implemented on a mainframe computer system; 
 receiving by the computer processor the quote for coverage for the first risk from the underwriting engine implemented on the mainframe computer system; and 
 furnishing by the computer processor the quote in response to the request; 
   responsive to determining to decline to provide the quote for coverage for the first risk:
 providing by the computer processor, to a third party server multi-carrier quotation server configured to return quotes from a plurality of carriers, data including the received data and at least a portion of the validated and enhanced data. 
   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the validating and enhancing the received data comprises correcting the received data based on data in the one or more sources of data, and wherein the data provided to the multi-carrier quotation server includes corrected received data. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the validating and enhancing the received data includes adding data to the received data, and wherein the data provided to the multi-carrier quotation server includes at least a portion of the added data. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising determining by the computer processor based on the validated and enhanced data to provide or to decline to provide a quote with respect to a second risk distinct from the first risk. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 14 , wherein the first risk is workers compensation insurance, and the second risk is life insurance. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising furnishing by the computer processor in response to the request enhanced and validated data. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , further comprising furnishing by the computer processor in response to the request a request for approval to pass data to a third party. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having processor-executable instructions, which instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
 receive one or more messages having data including a request for a quote to provide insurance coverage with respect to a first risk in a first category;   access, from a memory storage device in communication with the processor, data indicative of rules to select data sources correlated with categories of risk;   determine, based on the data indicative of business rules and the first category, one or more sources of data to access to validate and enhance the received data;   access the determined one or more data sources, and validate and enhance the received data to obtain validated and enhanced request data;   determine, based on the validated and enhanced request data with respect to the first risk, and using at least an appetite service, whether: (a) to provide a quote for coverage with respect to the first risk or (b) to decline to provide a quote for coverage for the first risk;
 responsive to determining to provide the quote for coverage for the first risk: 
 provide the validated and enhanced request data to an underwriting engine; 
 receive the quote for coverage for the first risk from the underwriting engine; and 
 furnish the quote in response to the request; 
   responsive to determining to decline to provide the quote for coverage for the first risk:
 provide, to a third party server multi-carrier quotation server configured to return quotes from a plurality of carriers, data including the received data and at least a portion of the validated and enhanced data. 
   
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to, using the appetite service, determine whether a carrier has sufficient exposure for property risks in a particular geographic area. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to, using a cross-sell module, in response to receipt of a request for workers compensation insurance, return a message requesting additional information needed to provide a group benefits proposal.