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Spark Data wins second job after impressing insurance firm Sutton Specialist Risks
One of Spark’s newest finance clients are Sutton Specialist Risks Ltd (SSR), a wholesale insurance broker to the security, fire protection, cleaning, electrical, heating and ventilation contracting industries.
Spark started working with them following a recommendstion by the firm’s design agency Kubiak, and so impressed the firm with the first project - to build a set of online insurance proposal forms using the current set of printed ones - that they were given a second brief, as Jon Jones, director at Spark Data Systems explains.
“We started with a small project putting some of their paper forms online. The forms can now be accessed online and filled out by prospective customers or insurance brokers looking for a commercial insurance quotation.
“Once the forms have been completed they are built into a PDF and emailed to SSR for them to process and provide an insurance quote to either the broker or customer. .
“This was a good ‘get to know you’ project where they could see how we work and we got to learn more about their business. From there the relationship has gone from strength to strength as when it came to the replacement one of their core IT system we were the natural choice. This project replaces their desktop system with a modern web based system.”
The new system has three core sections; a client, broker, policy and claims module, a reporting module, that will allow SSR to produce up to date reports on client policies, business won and lost and claims and an admin module to allow SSR to administrate settings and user accounts within the application.
“We asked Spark to develop a browser based application that will provide a single point of deployment, instead of the current individual desktop installation,” explains Sandy Fogg, Systems Specialist at SSR.
Spark used SSR’s existing SQL database and made several design improvements to improve the data structure and to support new features requested by SSR. This included a redesign of the reporting module which had grown organically and as a result, become confusing and difficult to use.
“The new application will allow SSR to quickly access details of specific clients, their policies, any claims that have been made against the polices, along with the ability to create new clients, policies, brokers and claims,” said Sandy, concluding, “My job is to help keep SSR at the leading edge of service provision in our sector. This new application is very much an important part of achieving this goal”
To find out more contact Jon Jones on 0117 9076563 or email jon@sparkdata.co.uk
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Spark delivers browser based Management Information website for West of England
West of England is a leading mutual marine insurer providing its worldwide membership of around 6,000 ship owners, charterers and operators with liability insurance and related services.
The way West of England works is quite complicated – it is like an insurance club with a few hundred members, and that means calculations of risk and liability can be complex. Spark has been working with West Of England for more than 5 years and in that time has completed a number of high profile projects, including a complete rebuild of their claims system. For this Spark had to migrate more than 40 years of legacy data on to an integrated database and document management platform using Microsoft SharePoint.
The system has greatly improved timings for the processing of claims and payments. The most recent project was the “Information Gateway”, a browser based Management Information web site that allows West of England’s management, and their clients, to do all sorts of things with their own data.
For example, they can see their annual figures and calculate their current liability. If there is a large one off claim that is skewing their figures, they can remove that claim and re-calculate using what’s left.
Thanks to their Spark system, West of England now have absolute confidence in calculations and figures."
To find out more contact Lee Fedder on 0117 9076563 or email lee@sparkdata.co.uk
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Spark ensures health insurance specialist April UK meets FSA requirements
One of Spark’s long standing client relationships is with health insurance specialist April UK, one of the UK’s leading providers of Income Protection and Private Medical Insurance. Formerly known as April Insurety, April UK has been a client of Spark Data since 1998, as Peter Marshall, director at Spark Data explains:
“When we started working with April UK, their core system was in need of updating. It had been stared when April UK was a start up, but as the company was going through rapid expansion they needed greater expertise in software development, and a dedicated team to produce it.”
“We took the existing system, built up the existing features and added new ones. In the early years this was a constant and rapid process of define, prototype, implement, and review, to reflect the changes that the client was going through to ensure that its products met the needs of their customers.
“The system we created has enabled April UK to develop and offer the range of products that made them successful in the first place. We have also provided support in ensuring that they have requirements of the FSA as the industry has become increasingly regulated.”
April UK sells insurance products through commission based consultants, and the system that Spark created manages a great deal of data. This includes information about the products, for example, what a policy will cost, and what is included/excluded from it as well as customer details such as who has applied to buy which products and the payment details.
The system also manages the direct debits for the payments due, and when a claim is made that the claim is valid. “It also manages consultant details, which enables April UK to easily see who is selling which product, and also what commission they have earned. This includes complex rules around what happens if a policy is cancelled at a particular stage in the process and works out things like how much commission should be clawed back,” explains Peter.
“We continue to work with April UK, developing the system as the company develops and ensuring it is as good as it can possibly be.”
To find out more contact Peter Marshall on 0117 9076563 or email peter@sparkdata.co.uk
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One of Spark Data Systems’ longest serving web developers has tied the knot.
Jonathan Days, known affectionately by his colleagues and clients as Daisy, married his long term girlfriend Kelly Marsh in Italy last month.
Daisy and social worker Kelly, both 29, married at the beautiful Castello Di Rosciano resort in Perugia in front of 60 guests.
Daisy chose his best mate Michael Clouter as best man and had two groomsmen, while Kelly had best friend Jennifer Blakeman as her maid of honour as well as four bridesmaids which included her sister Casey.
Thanks to the 40 degree weather, most of the wedding day was held outside, with the ceremony itself on the lawn of the castle.
Guests enjoyed a sumptuous five course meal and were entertained by a string duet during the ceremony and a live band in the evening.
Following the wedding, the newlyweds enjoyed a honeymoon in Kuala Lumpar and Bali.
The pair, who met 12 years ago when they both worked at WH Smith at The Mall in Cribbs Causeway, have been together for six years and live in Shepton Mallet with their Chocolate Labrador Nelson.
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