Title: C05 – Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems Tuesday, November 11th, 4:00 – 5:15
1C05 Using SOA to Modernize Critical
SystemsTuesday, November 11th, 400 515
2CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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,
Bests Review, National Underwriter, Insurance
Networking News, ATTs Networking Exchange,
IASAs 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 IASAs Interpreter.
3CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- Housekeeping items
- Turn off cell phones, beepers, pagers, etc.
- Please fill out the survey
- Moderated QA 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
4CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- Moderator
- Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner St.
Nick Media Services - Todays Speakers
- Adam Nordost, Director of Professional Services
Commercial Lines Arrowhead General Insurance
Agency, Inc. - Andy Scurto, President ISCS, Inc.
5CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
Arrowheads Commercial Divisions starting with
Arrowhead Exchange, Arrowheads 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 AM University
6CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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.
7CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- AGIAs 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.
8CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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.
9CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- Expanding Product Distribution through SOA
- Arrowhead Exchange- AGIAs secure online portal
supporting 10,000 users a day with both pre and
post sale services for AGIA products.
10CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
2002- Tightly coupled set of services w/ limited
extendibility.
11CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
2004- SOA Proof-of-Concept Externalizing Rating
as a Service
12CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
13CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
SOA becomes a cornerstone for the interaction of
business services.
14CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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.
15CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- If you have questions specifically regarding this
portion of the presentation, please contact - Adam Nordost
- Director of Professional Services Commercial
Lines - Arrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc.
- 701 B Street, Ste 2100
- San Diego, CA
- Phone (619) 881-8414
- Email anordost_at_arrowheadgrp.com
- And now, our next speaker, Andy Scurto of ISCS,
Inc.
16CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- Andy Scurto, President ISCS, Inc.
- Andy Scurto is ISCSs 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.
17CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
18CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
19CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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)
20CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
21CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
22CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
23CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
24CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
25CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
26CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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.
27CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
28CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
29CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
Cloud Computing!
30CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
31CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
32CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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)
33CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- Current Computing Clouds
- Amazon Web Services
- Microsoft
- Force.com
- IBM Blue Cloud
- Google
- Many Others
34CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- Current Cloud Computing Services
- Gmail / Yahoo Mail / Hotmail
- Salesforce.com
- Quicken Online
- Google Docs (Microsoft office competition)
- SmugMug
- Adobe Photoshop Express
- Many More!!!
35CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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
36CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- Todays 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
37CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- Tomorrows 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
38CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- Summary
- Cloud computing is the future
- New technology on an old concept
- Entrepreneur magazine -gt 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
CEOs admit to not knowing what SOA or Web 2.0
is! - Look into how it can save money
39CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- If you have questions specifically regarding this
portion of the presentation, please contact - Andy Scurto
- President
- ISCS, Inc.
- 100 Great Oaks Blvd. Suite 100
- San Jose, CA 95119
- Phone 408-362-3000 ex 101
- Email andy.scurto_at_iscs.com
- And now, back to our moderator, Jennifer King,
for the QA portion of our program.
40CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- QA with Todays 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.
41CO5 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems
- 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 jen_at_stnickmedia.com