Expand Product Innovationg Develop new products that improve customer

service and differentiate your company from

the competition

g Get these products to market faster with

engaging, easy-to-use self-service training

Improve Training Capabilitiesg Quickly educate agents about new products

with compelling tutorials that combine a

rich user interface with online video, audio,

animation and other graphical elements

g Increase the number of agents who sell your

insurance products, thereby expanding your

market base

Increase Sales and Reduce Costsg Expand sales channels to compete with online

leaders by offering insurance products directly

to customers through a compelling, company

Web site or agency/broker portal

g Encourage agents to sell a wider range of

coverage by helping them quickly get

up-to-speed on new insurance products

g Reduce training costs by offering agents

cost-efficient yet compelling, Web-based

“just-in-time” self-training

Enhance Customer Serviceg Create rich Internet applications that give sales

representatives a 360-degree view of customer

data in a visually-pleasing format

g Help customers identify the types and levels

of coverage they need through rich Internet

applications that allow them or their agents

to quickly examine all the variables with

intuitive tools

Strengthen Perceptions of Your Companyg Develop rich Internet applications that enable

agents to easily store and retrieve information

in one place, search for different products, and

present information to customers in a highly

engaging, visual way

g Present insurance products professionally to

customers using graphical, next-generation

applications, countering perceptions that the

insurance industry is antiquated, outdated or

slow to innovate

Rich Web Applications for the Insurance Industry

As competition intensifies, insurance companies face the growing challenge of attracting and retaining a new generation of customers and employees. To compete effectively, they must continually work to improve the customer

experience by delivering new products and services with speed, and by recruiting and training agents, brokers and customer service

representatives (CSRs) who understand these products so they can more easily sell and service them. They must also help customers make

clear decisions about their insurance choices by presenting these options in a simple, easy-to-understand format. Microsoft® Silverlight™ 2

enables insurance companies to expand their market base and differentiate themselves from the competition through the creation

of rich Web applications that transform the customer and employee experience.

Silverlight AdvantagesMicrosoft Silverlight 2 is a new Web presentation technology that enables the creation of

rich, visually stunning and interactive experiences that can be viewed using any popular

Internet browser, mobile device or desktop computer. In the past, technical constraints

prevented developers from creating Web applications that delivered the same rich user

experience possible with desktop applications. Silverlight makes it possible for insurance

companies to build next-generation user experiences that can run almost anywhere.

Cross-platform SupportSilverlight provides a cross-browser, cross-platform version of the .NET Framework,

designed for the creation of rich Web applications. This is critical for independent insurance

agents because it allows them to view Web applications provided by insurance companies

using most current browsers, operating systems and mobile devices.

Quick Development Because Silverlight is based on the .NET Framework, developers do not need to learn a new

development runtime, language or platform. With Silverlight, much of the development

process is already familiar to them through other .NET development experiences, making it

easy to develop rich Internet applications right from the start.

Easy DeploymentApplications developed with Silverlight are deployed over the Web and can run on multiple

platforms. Since carriers typically have little control over an agent’s desktop and virtually

none over a customer’s, this solves the typical deployment challenges, while simultaneously

providing a full-featured application with a rich user experience.

Broad InteroperabilitySilverlight supports interoperable Web services, making it possible for independent agents to connect

to Web services from multiple insurance carriers running on a variety of back-end platforms.

What You Can Do with Silverlight

M

Silverlight radically improves the way applications are built on the Web, allowing insurance companies to sell more insurance and strengthen their connections with customers.

Here are two example scenarios.

Scenario 1—Silverlight in Action: Sell More Insurance

CHALLENGE: Your company needs to quickly roll out a new life insurance line to help customers concerned about their financial stability in the market turmoil. But agents who represent your products are located all over the country, making it expensive to offer in-person training sessions. At the same time, your agents already have numerous other insurance policies to keep track of, and are reluctant to wade through written documents or make time for webcasts that explain your new product. To complicate matters, these agents work in diverse computer environments, using multiple browsers, agency management systems and devices.

SOLUTION: Using a Silverlight-based application, your company can train agents on your new life insurance product in an easy and entertaining way, regardless of the platform they are working from. By making it possible for these agents to watch video tutorials while also interacting with rich graphic elements in the same application, Silverlight can help them quickly come up-to-speed on your new product and showcase it effectively to customers. Silverlight also helps agents understand and explain how a complex set of variables such as their customer’s age, salary, premium payment levels, investment preferences and other factors affect the overall insurance policy, making it easy for agents to help their customers make informed decisions about the type and level of life insurance coverage they need.

BENEFITS: With Silverlight, insurance companies can develop tutorials that combine a striking user interface with online video and other graphical elements, and quickly send them to as many agents as required, no matter where they are located. Using the most current browsers, operating systems and devices, agents can view these tutorials whenever it’s convenient, helping them to better understand and sell a wider range of products, while complying with state and federal regulations. This translates to increased revenue opportunities and an expanded market for new products. Using Silverlight, insurers can differentiate themselves from their competitors by quickly and cost-effectively bringing new, innovative insurance products to market.

Scenario 2—Silverlight in Action: Transforming the Customer Experience

CHALLENGE: Your customer just had a minor automobile accident in which his car collided with a small truck on the freeway, damaging both vehicles. You need to help him quickly start the claims process and get his car repaired.

SOLUTION: Using a Silverlight-based application that enables you consolidate the customer’s insurance information from multiple systems in one place, you can view his policy and claims history, examine coverage information and photos from the incident, and quickly provide information about coverage as well as the impact of the accident on future premiums. You can also identify auto body repair shops and car rental companies close to your customer’s location and give him directions to these facilities using maps embedded in the Silverlight application. And you can do all of this quickly no matter where you are when he contacts you for help – in your office from a desktop computer, in your home from a laptop, or on the road from your cell phone or other mobile device.

BENEFITS: Using Silverlight, insurance companies can develop rich Internet applications that transform the customer experience. Because these applications can be accessed anytime, anywhere, from any device, agents can provide immediate, top-level assistance to their customers no matter where they happen to be when they receive the call.

To experience Silverlight, please visit

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/.For more information on Insurance, visit

http://www.microsoft.com/insurance/.

© Copyright 2008, Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.