| Overview
 Fidelity Investments is one of the
nation's largest mutual fund companies, with many
corporate offices and a global investment staff
of more than 600 money-management professionals.
In June of 1999, Fidelity Investments recognized
a key vacancy in the market and created the website
insurance.com. Offering consumers an unbiased online
insurance resource with products from a variety
of insurance carriers, the site immediately found
a niche. In addition, Insurance.com utilized the
insurance marketplace of Fidelity Investments and
Fidelity.com, and offered its resources and products
to Fidelity's 15 million customers.
Challenge
| Insurance.com offered consumers a compelling
proposition: |
 |
One-stop comparison-shopping
for multiple insurance products in an unbiased
marketplace. |
|
Easy access to insurance-related
information and proprietary analytical tools. |
|
Convenience, control, and
privacy without sales pressure. |
| The company
had several objectives for its forecasted
website accomplishments: |
|
Establish Insurance.com as
the Internet's leading insurance brand. |
|
Represent the site as the
trusted insurance advisor and info-mediary,
and translate that relationship to policy
sales. |
|
Portray the company as the
best overall channel for purchasing and managing
insurance. |
|
Leverage the Fidelity brand. |
|
Market to the Fidelity customer
base. |
|
Outsource all major components
of the business model. |
The goal was to transfer the current Insurance.com
system to the content management system Eprise.
The monumental task required the organization of
approximately 500 static pages, as well as implementing
the inherent application into the tool schema within
a logical framework.
| The goals
of this project were: |
|
Reduce overhead on maintenance
of the site |
|
Simplify management of all
content |
|
Automate co-branding functionality
to the extent possible. |
|
Implement a co-branded sub-site
of Insurance.com content and functionality
for Fidelity. |
Solutions
We constructed Insurance.com's secure, flexible
e-business system to guide consumers through the
entire process of buying insurance - evaluating
different types of policies and selecting from multiple
quotes to purchase the products. The project was
developed and maintained using a complex three tier
web-based application, consisting of ASP, COM, and
SQL stored procedures. Insurance.com was designed
and implemented using a real-time B2B XML transfer
applications, integrating with third parties for
comparative online insurance quotes. Due to the
complex nature of the project careful attention
had to be given to the custom development of all
database tables, stored procedures, and customized
data flow
After the creation and testing of the site all
maintenance had to be automated for ongoing service.
The solution was the creation of a web based content
management system (CMS) for maintaining and changing
Insurance.com content. This CMS allowed work secure
access to the site and allowed on technical users
to keep the site up to date.
Results
Insurance.com and Fidelity.com now share a primary
engine that was developed for their specific demands.
Visitors can now go to two separate sites to request
real time insurance quotes, provided in real time
by XML feeds that check numerous carriers for updated
insurance quotes. Both sites reported significant
gains in traffic while maintaining a fluid, dynamic
system that leaves both their clients happy and
staff members satisfied. With increased accessibility
of pertinent information and design that is both
functional and aesthetically appealing, the project
succeeded in meeting its objectives in all regards.
Whether visitors are looking for Home, Auto, Life,
or Health Insurance, they can get all their real
time quotes though the Insurance.com website. |
