FINEOS launches new web-based customer portal

February 19, 2001 - Dublin, London - FINEOS (formerly Managed Solutions Corporation - MSC), a leading global provider of enterprise solutions for banking and insurance, has released a self-service customer portal.

Specifically tailored for the financial services industry, the self-service portal takes the form of a customer-service website. It provides unassisted customer access to product information, quotations and applications, and enables customers to carry out 24x7 transactions across all channels, including the web and WAP phones.

For the bank or insurance company, it cuts administration costs by automating workflow, reducing call centre and branch traffic, and by cutting out time-consuming, error-prone paper processes.

FINEOS view their customer portal as the first release in a planned internet portal strategy, which will be rolled out over the next two years. The proposed product portfolio includes portals for service and sales contact centres, broker and agent channels and branch and administration centres.

Rather than regarding them as new products, the company sees them as additional channels, which make it possible for its existing products to operate in new environments. The company has already established its CRM, workflow and product management solutions with a number of banks and insurance companies across Europe.

This product strategy will enable customers to rapidly deploy thin-client solutions, designed for specific roles within banking and insurance. FINEOS will continue to enrich the functionality of its current product suite and field new solutions for lines of business within banking and insurance.

Speaking at the launch of FINEOS Customer Portal, Michael Kelly, CEO, said: "It's a simple idea. Implementing this technology in a bank or insurance company puts the customer in the driving seat. It's about convenience and letting customers take control of their relationship with their financial institution so they can carry out a host of activities - from transferring funds to generating policy quotes and submitting forms - anytime, anywhere."

Commenting on the release, Jonathan Boylan, Chief Product and Technology Architect of FINEOS said: "This is the first in a series that we've scheduled to release as part of our internet portal strategy and capitalises on two years R&D investment in Java technology. The product is already up and running with two of our customers and offers banks and insurance companies a low-cost, high-efficiency channel to do business."

As a fully component-based product built on open architecture, the FINEOS Customer Portal has enormous flexibility and can be easily integrated with any industry-standard technical infrastructure.

According to industry analysts, META Group 1 : "During 2001/02, companies will deploy customer portals to aggregate information across an engage/transact/fulfill/service (ETFS) life cycle. By 2003/04, customer portals will become the primary Web-based interface for customer-to-company interaction, requiring globalization of Web services."

1 META Trends, 2001.