UK insurance company signs GPB 1 million deal with Sequent

London, 24 November 97 Norwich Union, a UK insurance company, has selected Sequent Computer Systems NUMA-Q 2000 data center server to host Norwich Union's new data analysis systems. It will host applications designed to help the company better understand and respond to customer needs, ensuring that the information locked within company data is fully exploited. The total deal, including Sequent professional services, is worth 1 million pounds.

Sequent's three quad, 12 Pentium Pro processor NUMA-Q 2000 server will replace existing analysis systems on a mainframe and an RS/6000 server with new Oracle7-based applications. One of the main applications, MIDAS, a marketing campaign management system, will deliver customer analysis and understanding across and down-the-line to Norwich Union Direct, the company's consumer call centre service.

Using MIDAS, marketing staff will be able to target customers more carefully, responding to niche markets by identifying and monitoring them over time. A second system, General Insurance Management Information System (GIMIS), will be used to analyze intermediary (broker) data. Among other functions, it will be used to set premium rates and for portfolio analysis and planning. NUMA servers provide a platform for MIDAS with an open architecture. This allows the use of plug-and-play tools. It has the capacity for managing large volumes of data and is expandable and scalable.

Phase one of MIDAS is almost complete with phase two due to go live in February 1998. Phase three will involve the creation of a call centre by mid-1998.

Sandra Wermer