Zinnia Open Insurance: Powered by A Golden Source of Record

When you want to check the status of an Amazon order, you simply go to Amazon.com and look it up. When you want to check the status of a new insurance application, it will likely take several touchpoints (4-5) before you get a definitive answer. Does it really need to be this complicated? We believe the answer is a resounding NO.

Amazon provides a real-time window into your order because data flows seamlessly behind the scenes. As a consumer, we don’t care if we purchased directly from Amazon or from a third-party seller. Or who ships the order. The only thing that matters is the outcome. When will I get my package?

Insurance follows the same sales cycle as other products: develop, launch, transact, manage the relationship, execute. Today, it takes an average life insurance carrier 16-18 months to launch a new product, months to sell, weeks to underwrite, approve, and issue the policy, and years before a claim is made let alone processed. How can we make the cycle more efficient and effective?

A Single Source of Trusted Data

Many of the challenges at the heart of the insurance business could be overcome if there was simply one source of truth available to everyone in the process in real-time, auditable, and non-debatable. For example, selling policies.

Today, the processes involved in selling policies are often reliant on static data sources lodged in different systems. When stakeholders need to check the status of a policy sale, they rely on emails, calls, texts, faxes, and even snail mail — to get a reliable answer. Every one of these touchpoints adds days and dollars to the cost of selling that policy and adds undue strain to the candidate policyholder.

A single source of truth — a system of record — available to all parties in real-time through business-critical channels would eliminate unnecessary touchpoints and improve the experience for each stakeholder involved in the transaction. And not just for the new policy application process, but across the entire policy lifecycle.

Improving Outcomes with the Zahara System of Record by Zinnia 

Zahara is Zinnia’s system of record, the pipes that will enable the seamless flow of accurate, real-time, and secure data to the parties that need it. In more technical terms, Zahara will be a powerful, cloud-native system of record built on smart contracts and distributed ledger technology that serves as the trusted source of information, anytime and in real-time.

Zahara, like everything we do at Zinnia, is designed to improve outcomes across the L&A lifecycle. It powers our vision of a more open and effective insurance industry and is being built by industry experts, data scientists, and technology innovators working together to transform the business of life and annuities.

Zahara enables Open Insurance by making data standardized and transparent. It will facilitate access to golden source data by any authenticated party playing a role in a transaction, regardless of company affiliation. It will be a set of services that the insurance industry can use within their existing ecosystems – even if you aren’t using other Zinnia products. It’s a bold vision of a more open industry by Zinnia that works the way your business works, just better.