c05 – using soa to modernize critical systems

2008

C05 – Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems

Tuesday, November 11th, 4:00 – 5:15

Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner – St. Nick Media Services

Jennifer Overhulse-King is a writer, as well as a marketing and public relations expert, with an extensive journalism background and specific insurance industry expertise. She has over 15 years of writing and editing experience and has been published in print and web publications such as: The Stars & Stripes, The Louisville Business Courier, The Kentucky Post, The Dixie News, The Encyclopedia of Sculpture, Suite 101, Book Magazine, Insurance & Technology, Tech Decisions, Best’s Review, National Underwriter, Insurance Networking News, AT&T’s Networking Exchange, IASA’s Interpreter and the Journal of Insurance Operations. Jennifer is a member of the Insurance Marketing Communications Association (IMCA), the Insurance Accounting & Systems Association (IASA) and is editor of IASA’s Interpreter.

CO5: Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems

Housekeeping items– Turn off cell phones, beepers, pagers, etc.– Please fill out the survey– Moderated Q&A at the end of the session – save your questions

Topic introduction – Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems– Many insurance companies reaching critical mass– Technology implementations can mean watershed or tears shed– With that in mind…


Moderator: Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner – St. Nick Media Services

Today’s Speakers: Adam Nordost, Director of Professional Services – Commercial

Lines – Arrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc. Andy Scurto, President – ISCS, Inc.


Adam Nordost, Director of Professional Services – Commercial Lines – Arrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc.

Adam Nordost is the Director of Professional Services – Commercial Lines for Arrowhead Insurance Group, one of the largest general agencies in the U.S. and an independent program manager with annual premium writings in excess of $900M providing an extensive range of insurance products nationwide in a turn-key fashion. Since joining Arrowhead in 2002, he has worked with multiple business divisions, technology vendors, and over fifteen carrier partners to implement highly customized policy admin, rating and billing systems for eleven lines of business in thirty states. Currently, Nordost oversees all information systems (IS) initiatives for Arrowhead’s Commercial Divisions starting with Arrowhead Exchange, Arrowhead’s point-of-sale platform to agents and brokers, through the entire life cycle of a policy ending with data feeds to carriers and agencies. He holds a BBA in MIS from Texas A&M University


Role of Technology at AGIA

Viewed as a key ingredient to revenue generation and not simply a cost center.– Faster time to market and ability to distribute to a broad base of producers cited

as key success factors.

Technology investment leads to differentiation in the marketplace.

Heavy emphasis put on “ease-of-doing-business.” Examples include: online quoting/binding, e-payments, online endorsements and policy inquiry services for agents and insureds.

Critical in creating operational efficiencies through standardized web-based workflows, e-document delivery and automated processes.


AGIA’s Growing Pains

Fast growth of new divisions led to technology and operational silos

Softening market conditions put pressure on premium growth and increased focus on cost controls.

Resources strained as more and more projects queue themselves up.

Core services were not externalized and hence had limited reuse leading to redundant services in organization.


Time for a Game Plan

Overhaul governance model to ensure a better alignment of IT and business needs/expectations. There needed to be a greater emphasis on solutions with broader application throughout the organization.

Buildup our toolbox with a combination of in-house solutions and vendor products.

Externalize core services through an SOA architecture to facilitate greater reuse within the organization.

Coincide platform consolidation (retiring non-strategic applications) with operational consolidation efforts.


Expanding Product Distribution through SOA

Arrowhead Exchange- AGIA’s secure online portal supporting 10,000+ users a day with both pre and post sale services for AGIA products.


2002- Tightly coupled set of services w/ limited extendibility.


2004- SOA Proof-of-Concept – Externalizing Rating as a Service


Realized Benefits of Rating as a Service

Opened up a new distribution channel for AGIA products. Net impact was significant and the number of “e-aggregator” partners continues to grow.

Eliminated discrepancies between various internal and vendor systems used for online quoting, binding, policy issuance and endorsements caused by small differences (rounding, manual errors, etc.) in rating programs.

Faster time to market for programs by:– Eliminating redundant development of rate changes and new rate

implementations– Allowing parallel development of systems and rating due to new separation of

duties


SOA becomes a cornerstone for the interaction of business services.


Additional and Ongoing SOA Benefits at AGIA

Faster time to market (upwards of 50%) for programs by eliminating redundant services within the organization

Adoption of an enterprise print solution allows for shared form libraries across divisions and platforms.

Integration of Active Directory into internal applications centralizes access management, improves password security and reduces the number of logins/passwords an employee must remember.


If you have questions specifically regarding this portion of the presentation, please contact:

Adam NordostDirector of Professional Services – Commercial LinesArrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc.701 B Street, Ste 2100San Diego, CA Phone: (619) 881-8414Email: [email protected]

And now, our next speaker, Andy Scurto of ISCS, Inc.


Andy Scurto, President – ISCS, Inc.

Andy Scurto is ISCS’s President, Founder and Chief Technical Officer and has been with the company since its beginning in 1994. He is the principal designer of ISCS's insurance processing solutions, and the firm's primary advisor to insurance organizations on operations improvements, MGA programs, data processing and communications. Scurto has over 20 years' experience in IT and development, which includes 18 years working specifically with insurance industry systems. He received his B.S. in Computer Engineering from San Jose State University.


What Is SOA?

SOA – Service Oriented Architecture (sometimes used synonymously with Web-Services)

Wikipedia Defines:

Architectural style for creating and using business processes, packaged as services, throughout their lifecycle.

The IT infrastructure to allow different applications to exchange data and participate in business processes.

New technology wrapped around an old idea Standardized methodology for modules (services) to speak Application software version of “plug-and-play”


What is a “Service?”

A “black-box” module which performs a business function with a well defined set of inputs and outputs

Performs a business process based on one input and returns through one output – no interservice interaction

Well defined results – can define/build unit tests No user interface interaction – must validate and perform

independently with no assumptions. Same results regardless of how called


SOA Versus Web-Services:

While SOA services are easily exposed as a web-service, web services are not a SOA

Web-services: Exposing useful business processes in a standard way to the web

SOA: An architectural design promoting module (service) plug-and-play and reuse

SOA: Easily exposed as a web-service because of service design (defined inputs/outputs and no user interface)


Why Web Services Is Just Not Enough

Exposing business processes for reuse great for 3rd party interaction

Generally, a new front end to an old methodology and technology

Does not improve internal architecture

Adds another layer to already existing complicated structures


Why a True SOA is Better

Ensures all services are ready for reuse and sharing Promotes best practices independent service development (“black

box”) Separates the user interface and the business services Promotes the use of plug-and-play Enables the system for easier integration of 3rd party services Enables integration of disparate technologies


What is SOA Not

Not a silver bullet solving all interface problems

All interfaces are small conversions

Must still perform data mapping (XML)

Solves the How not the What


Why is SOA Important?

Increased ability for re-use, plug-and-play Increased ability for automated testing Separates user interface from business processes Well defined communications Well defined security Strong Internet support Much Easier B2B Communication


How Can SOA Save My Company Money?

Component reuse – smaller more concise code base Separate user interface from processes – can have multiple user

interfaces, new technology Reduction of system issues – easier to test Integration of 3rd party components – Less code to develop Integration across unlike platforms – leverage old technology while

introducing new


Examples:

Rating engine service – (Arrowhead) Quoting service Eligibility service (rules) Billing status inquiry service Policy status inquiry service

All available for system / web / 3rd parties


Implementing SOA

Start by converting commonly used business functions into individual services:– Number issuance– Rating– Policy search– Address verification (3rd party?)

Continue with combining services forming service chains to perform complete processes:– Quoting– Issuance

Finally, develop new user interfaces to utilize the common service chains to form a system.


How Do I Ensure Success?

Business services not technical services Adopt an accepted framework / standard (SOAP) Implement a test harness (JUnit) Adopt a common dictionary / model Ensure well defined inputs and outputs for all services Ensure no cross service execution Expect a huge paradigm shift


Summary

SOA and Web-Services are not the same SOA is more powerful and an architectural style SOA is not a silver bullet – defines how not what SOA ensures better code reuse and plug-and-play SOA separates the user interface and the business processes SOA enhances integration capability SOA can save money, make applications more robust and “future-

proof” systems


What’s Next for SOA?

Cloud Computing!


What is Cloud Computing?

SOA on Steroids (Services at a hardware level) Wikipedia Defines:

A new label for (…) the use of shared computing resources.

- The gigantic data center in the sky!

Often referred to as HaaS (Hardware as a Service)

Hardware, software and services on a pay as use basis


Why is Cloud Computing Important?

Solves issues of:– Disaster Recovery– Scalability– Equipment/Software Obsolencence– Cost of Idle Equipment– Power Consumption / Cooling / Space– Required Expertise

Allows smaller companies to provide enterprise services and components (low startup costs)– More innovative– Many services available – more competition– Many Open Source or Free services available


Where is Cloud Computing Used?

SaaS providers Internet service company startups Small companies needing quick expansion Companies concerntrating on business wanting to outsource

infrastructure– Examples:

• SmugMug.com (400 Terabytes, 750 instances)

• MileMeter, Inc. (Texas Auto Insurance)


Current Computing Clouds:

Amazon Web Services

Microsoft

Force.com

IBM – Blue Cloud

Google

Many Others


Current Cloud Computing Services

Gmail / Yahoo Mail / Hotmail Salesforce.com Quicken Online Google Docs (Microsoft office competition) SmugMug Adobe – Photoshop Express Many More!!!


What Do Clouds Provide?

Infinitely scalable technical infrastructure Completely managed, backed up, etc. Disaster Recovery Application building tools (some – Force, Google)

– Amazon

• S3 – Simple Storage Service

• EC – Elastic Compute

• SimpleDB – Relational DB

• Others: SimpleQueue, FlexiblePayments, Mechanical Turk, Alexa– Force

• SalesForce.com

• AppExchange

• Force.com Sites


Today’s Practical Insurance Uses

Partial/Complete Data Center Replacement -

(Primary and/or Backup) Point Business Services (SaaS Options)

– Rating– Output generation– Data Services– Electronic Payments– Data Reporting


Tomorrow’s Potential Insurance Uses

Completely hosted systems Completely out-sourced Business Solutions

– Billing– Stat Reporting

BPO Services:– Printing– Loss Notice Processing– Claims Adjustment

Complete solutions from combining many SaaS offerings


Summary

Cloud computing is the future New technology on an old concept Entrepreneur magazine -> top 10 business influences You hear a lot about it Need to understand it and start to use it –

April Insurance & Technology: 35% or more of CEO’s admit to not knowing what SOA or Web 2.0 is!

Look into how it can save money


If you have questions specifically regarding this portion of the presentation, please contact:

Andy ScurtoPresidentISCS, Inc.100 Great Oaks Blvd. Suite 100San Jose, CA 95119Phone: 408-362-3000 ex: 101Email: [email protected]

And now, back to our moderator, Jennifer King, for the Q&A portion of our program.


Q&A with Today’s Presenters

Moderator: Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner – St. Nick Media Services

Speaker: Adam Nordost, Director of Professional Services – Commercial

Lines – Arrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc Andy Scurto, President – ISCS, Inc.


Thank you for your time. If you have questions or comments, or if you would like a copy of this presentation sent to you via email, please contact:

Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner

St. Nick Media Services

15695 Glencoe-Verona Road

Verona, KY 41092

(859) 803-6597

Email: [email protected]


c05 – using soa to modernize critical systems

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soa architecture

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