Verisk Insurance Solutions and TransUnion Announce the Launch of A-PLUS 2.0
JERSEY CITY, N.J., and CHICAGO, April 25, 2012 — Verisk Insurance Solutions and TransUnion today announced the release of A-PLUS 2.0 — the next-generation A-PLUSTM auto loss-history database. A-PLUS 2.0 offers new patent-pending household-based search technology from TransUnion that returns approximately 21 percent more claims, virtually eliminates false positives, and provides a new “alert” feature that can greatly streamline the quote process for web, call centers, agents, and back-end underwriting systems.
The A-PLUS database is used by automobile underwriters to validate prior claims history. Developed by ISO, a member of the Verisk Insurance Solutions group at Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK), the A-PLUS auto loss-history database is populated with claims records contributed from insurance companies representing 95 percent of the personal auto insurance market.
A-PLUS 2.0 features enhanced search technology from TransUnion that optimizes the search process using customer name and address records. “A-PLUS 2.0 is a giant leap forward in terms of finding additional claims and reducing the number of unrelated claims returned to the carrier,” said Steve Craig, assistant vice president and general manager of A-PLUS. “The additional lift in the number of claims returned facilitates revenue generation by identifying additional premium surcharges, refining policy rating precision, and eliminating manual procedures by agents and underwriters to reconcile false matches from existing competitive products. With this additional information, carriers have the opportunity to avoid risks that would potentially generate future losses.”
“A-PLUS 2.0 was a logical next step for Verisk and TransUnion,” said Michael Gaughan, vice president of Insurance Solutions at TransUnion. “Together, we can harness the enhanced searching algorithms developed by TransUnion while leveraging the vast claims data housed within Verisk to provide carriers with a state-of-the-art product that will help control their overall data costs. We’ve been very pleased at how many more claims are identified with our proprietary household search routines.”
In addition to enhanced matching logic, A-PLUS 2.0 now offers an optional point-of-sale alert feature. The alert feature allows an agent or carrier to receive an up-front indicator at the beginning of the quote process. This allows the carrier to avoid ordering a detailed claims history report on applicants with excellent records and also enables the carrier to implement straight-through quote processing for other applicants. The alert feature can be implemented as a stand-alone program — regardless of whether a carrier currently uses the A-PLUS auto database or a competitor’s product.
A-PLUS 2.0 can be delivered through the ISO/Verisk platform or the TransUnion platform, providing maximum implementation flexibility for carriers.
