Norwich Union – Merlin

Norwich Union – Merlin

What was the issue?

Norwich Union wanted to be able to easily allocate vehicle repair work to workshops that were closest to the insured person and had capacity to take on work the same day.  The objective of the Merlin project was to enable approved suppliers to visit a web portal and input their capacity for work at the beginning of each week, making the process of booking in insurance repairs local to the customer more efficient and cost effective.

What benefits were delivered?

The development of an integrated process for the management of vehicle repairs is a complex undertaking, but it has delivered many benefits.  The system enables every user to have access to the varying stages involved in getting an insured vehicle repaired.  The claimant, repairer, insurer and vehicle hire company are now able to get access to the information they need without having to speak to everyone involved in the process.

Storm Consulting advised on the design and implementation of this system to enable the management of vehicles throughout the repair process across the Norwich Union network. This has enabled the insurer to:

  • easily identify which of their authorised repairers is nearest to the claimant
  • assign new repairs based on capacity, location and complexity of the work required
  • view available capacity

How were they delivered?

As soon as an insurance claim was made the data was picked up via the web service by Merlin and allocated to the appropriate area-specific workshop. Storm acted as technical consultants for the web service which is now used as a standard in the motor insurance claim industry. Storm Consulting advised in the design and implementation of the web service interface. Our clients for this were Adactus, a Thame based software house, working with Cap Gemini and Norwich Union. This system has gone on to be developed by Adactus and the insurance market as a whole. It is marketed as Pulse Claims Management Software.

What were the results?

The system soon became an insurance industry standard, making the management of vehicles undergoing repair a more centralised process. The system acts to shorten the lifecycle of each claim, therefore reducing cost and improving operational activity.

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