The launch of an advisor screening, contracting and compliance tool for the life insurance industry has been pushed back by approximately six months as the company spearheading the initiative, Toronto-based APEXA Corp., works to resolve various issues that were identified during testing of the system by industry firms.
APEXA, a subsidiary of Toronto-based insurance sector consulting and outsourcing firm LOGiQ3 Corp., has been working with a variety of major life insurance companies, managing general agencies (MGAs) and industry vendors to develop a centralized database of insurance advisors. The goal is to help firms meet their advisor screening and contracting requirements.
See: Advisor screening tool nears rollout
The system was scheduled to launch in January 2016. When firms began testing the system in November, however, they encountered various problems, including challenges integrating the technology into their own internal systems, according to Tonya Blackmore, CEO of APEXA.
“We finished the first build in October, we put [the firms] through training in early November, and out of that training, we got into a scenario where people realized, when they first started using the system, how it was not really going to work with internal processes,” Blackmore said in an interview on Thursday. “So, they came back to us with a long list of enhancements, which we’ve sort of negotiated back and forth, and we’re now pushing out our launch until mid-2016.”
Since the ultimate goal of the initiative is to simplify the advisor screening and contracting process, Blackmore said it’s important for the system to be as user-friendly as possible.
“We really want to make this a good experience, both for the companies that are using it, as well as the advisors,” she said. “So, it was an easy decision to say yes, let’s make sure we get it right, so that we’re not rolling out something that people feel is not really helping them – because that was the whole point of APEXA.”
Blackmore estimates that the system will now be rolled out in July 2016. Although she said the delay is “disappointing,” she said the extra time will enable APEXA to improve the system for all industry users.
“We’re going to build a whole bunch of other functionality that will really make it a lot more user-friendly for them,” she said, “and give them a better advisor experience.”
Some advisors have expressed concerns around the initiative, with respect to the type of advisor information APEXA will be collecting and how that information will be handled, and the degree to which carriers are involved in the initiative, among other concerns.
Blackmore said that prior to the new mid-year launch date, APEXA will spend more time engaging with advisors and addressing their concerns.
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