Case Study: Presence Systems Ltd and Morrison Edwards

How much do you value your property?

Most individuals guard their wealth with great importance and most individual's greatest asset is their home. But what if you own more than one property and you rely on Agents to manage matters on your behalf? Property Managers and Estate Agents could have any number of properties in their portfolio for letting, each requiring varying levels of management. A fundamental requirement to alleviate the worst case scenario is Insurance. Traditional methods of setting up and managing the Insurance Policies incur ineffective use of an Agents time.

A well-established Midlands based Insurance Brokerage, Morrison Edwards Insurance Services Ltd, had always been successful offering general types of Insurance. Don Morrison's firm always like to be in the lead "It's a fact, we're in a competitive market and we knew we could be even more successful by being different and offering more specialised and innovative Insurance solutions".

When an opportunity arises, how do you make it reality and why would Open Source software provide the answer?

Property Managers and Estate Agents are always eager to enhance and improve their service to their landlord clients who rent commercial and residential property. Agents who can arrange Insurance for landlords is a bonus if you are the landlord, but as an Agent the traditional methods of managing the Insurance records are time consuming. Morrison Edwards saw an opportunity and knew that Property Managers and Estate Agents wanted to eliminate this hassle.

Don Morrison and his colleagues had established a reputable business "We had the ability of negotiating exclusive Policy wordings and pricing arrangements with major Insurance Underwriters. This allowed us to offer an innovative approach based on a 'fleet' policy of Insurance to Property Managers, who then could offer a bespoke Insurance scheme to their landlord clients. Immediately, the Property Managers saw the benefits.

"We had the innovative business idea, together with the ability to deliver a specialised scheme. We knew an IT solution was inevitable and more sophisticated than we currently used but our experience of IT was not a matter to celebrate - it never seemed to do what we wanted it to do -"

How a reluctance to IT can be overcome

The Morrison Edward's IT system had been developed, some years earlier, as a standalone database system to collect information on the insured properties. Administering the data required a regular central collation of user backups, of their separate systems, to communicate the risks held to Insurance Underwriters. It required many man-hours to produce reports and to maintain the overall integrity of the numbers of users. In addition, real-time data could not be viewed. Traditional methods of arranging and managing Insurance requires much correspondence between at least three parties, culminating in frustration, lengthy processes and duplication of work.

"When we embarked on this project we had very little experience of sourcing a bespoke software solution, so we approached this issue with some trepidation. Being 'first' to offer such an innovative way of providing Insurance meant there was nothing 'off the shelf' we could use".

Through the personal referral of a mutual customer, Morrison Edwards approached Presence Systems Ltd, of Harborne, Birmingham who have a history of developing bespoke database solutions for a wide range of customers and application requirements.

PSL managed to gain the confidence of Morrison Edwards very early on. The challenge was to deliver a functional system combined with correct choice of technology allowing minimal maintenance with maximum availability. In addition, of primary importance, were the means to expand the user base without parallel increase in system costs or the need for lengthy implementation or training. It would be accessed by staff at many of the Property Managers clients.
PSL grasped the precise nature of requirements and were able to react quickly and flexibly and delivered a solution without sacrificing any functionality

"Presence Systems Ltd selected Open Source software as their top choice for developing our bespoke system, providing the most cost effective and flexible solution with the ability to rescale the solution once this lucrative business opportunity turns into business growth"

PSL knew that a web-based application, with an Internet type interface allowing real time interaction would satisfy requirements. PSL's experience allowed them to build a secure Internet communication infrastructure. High levels of security were fundamental to success. Importantly, the most cost-effective purchase and running price had to be considered.

PSL had already spent some time investigating the use of Open Source software as development tools and systems. The solution developed for Morrison Edward's was completed totally by utilising Open Source development tools and a maintained environment. The growing number of potential users of the new Extranet gave impetus to utilising systems that would not require complex and growing expensive licensing of constituent parts of the overall system. An innovative solution was achieved which did not sacrifice functionality.

Secure breakthrough approach

Morrison Edward's bespoke package is a 'first' in the world of Property Insurance.

A secure Extranet web site was developed where dedicated Morrison Edwards staff can manage data. Property managers can submit requests for Insurance quotes via email or by fax. Via secure logins, Property managers can access the easy-to-use web-application for data interrogation and the production of Insurance documentation. A key feature is that an Insurance certificate as a PDF, can be created and issued immediately, at the 'point of sale'.
Security was an issue, "we could not allow anyone intent on fraudulent misuse of the system to have access. We have no concerns in this respect - the Extranet web site is secure and exceeds our expectations.
Having this on line system allows Property Managers to see at a glance all of the properties insured and instead of having multiple renewal dates to contend with, only one renewal date is in place. Property Managers can now budget more effectively and use their time more efficiently".

An open future

Presence Systems Ltd are pleased with the overall range of tools and methodology of using Open Source systems. "We are investigating using OpenAdvantage as an ongoing training and R&D resource. This will greatly assist in the investigation of existing open source products in the marketplace that can be bolted on to expand this system and other projects in the future."

"Presence Systems are of the view that IT provision will be much more a service-based industry than a product driven market in the future. Software providers will require and offer a range of development and infrastructural skills best fitting the needs of the customer and this will include where ever possible utilising functionality from an open pool of tools and existing utilities."

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