We never forget that we owe our success to our customers
Our Services
Our company's success is founded on strong customer relationships. Some of our clients have been with us for almost 20 years and the quality of our services is key to maintaining those relationships.
Implementation
Sheraton’s team of experienced insurance professionals will manage the whole implementation process, ensuring that your move to Websure is as fast and seamless as possible. Our services include:
- Requirements Analysis
- Project Management
- Software Customisation and Development
- Configuration and Scheme Setup
- Management Reporting
- Document Design
- Web Design
- Infrastructure Planning
- Integration services
- Data Migration
- Training
- Disaster Recovery
We are one of the few insurance software suppliers willing to carry out the entire implementation process on a fixed price basis. The first stage of the process will be a “Scope Study”. From this, we can generally determine the exact cost for the entire implementation, giving you the assurance that costs will remain within budget and allowing us to control the scope and deliver the project on time.
Project Management
Working to Prince2 project management standards, we control the project from the initial discussions through to delivery, training and post implementation support. During that time, we keep you informed of progress through regular project meetings and reports.
A written project plan specifies each element, with its key inputs and outputs and with specific goals and activities. Divided into manageable stages, the method enables an efficient control of resources and allows us to monitor and report any deviations from the plan.
Being a structured methodology widely recognized and understood, Prince2 provides a common language for all participants in the project. The various roles and responsibilities involved in a project are fully described and are adaptable to suit the complexity of the project and skills of the organisation.
Careful management of the project ensures that we deliver on time, on budget and retain a growing list of satisfied customers.
Customisation
Websure is an exceptionally flexible system and is designed to handle the vast majority of insurance products without modifications to its core functionality. In most cases therefore, customisation revolves around setting up your rates and underwriting rules, customising reports for your specific requirements configuring data entry screens and developing on-line web sites.
Unlike many systems, Websure allows much of this work to be carried out by the customer’s own staff, without the need for highly technical programming skills and this can provide significant cost savings.
The extent to which your own staff will handle the implementation and customisation is entirely up to you. Some customers prefer to leave everything to us. Others handle almost all the project in-house. With Websure, you have the choice.
Integration Services
Websure supports a variety of integration mechanisms. In most cases, we integrate with external systems using secure XML web services. These allow us to provide real-time integration, supporting very high transaction volumes with full automation.
Applications of XML technology include integration with external marketing operations such as aggregators and direct links between your customer’s own retail systems for high-volume, low-premium business such as product warranty.
We also use this technology for stage payment collection via external billing systems and for collection by credit card and by BACS.
Data Migration
Data migration requires careful planning and testing to ensure a smooth changeover. There are invariably several alternative approaches and we will look carefully at your existing systems and recommend the best option.
In some cases, a “big bang” approach is possible. We will develop routines to take data automatically from your existing system into Websure, allowing you to switch entirely from one system to the other in one single step.
The practicality of this approach however, depends to a great extent on the quality and completeness of the data in your existing system and in many cases, the big-bang approach is simply not practical or cost effective.
For many of our customers, the move to Websure provided a chance to clean up their existing data by re-entering policy information into Websure as each policy becomes due for renewal. Although this creates more manual work, it can sometimes be more cost effective than developing the necessary data transfer routines.
Customers may prefer to handle the data migration using their own resources and to assist them, we provide a Data Migration Toolkit. This consists of a simplified version of the Websure database with tools for validating and manipulating the incoming data. From here, the data can be pushed into Websure as a single process.
At an early stage in the project, we will look at your existing systems and provide you with costs and recommendations for the alternative approaches to data migration.
Training
Sheraton offers a comprehensive range of training services to provide Websure users with the information they need to successfully perform their jobs. We can either train individual users or we can train your trainers and equip your company to handle ongoing training.
Training methods include classroom instruction, one-to-one training, comprehensive documentation, on-line help and coaching.
Our end-user support strategies and best-practices, context-sensitive on-line help systems, and electronic document management, complement the preliminary training efforts.
Our trainers have many years of insurance experience in addition to an in-depth knowledge of Websure and work in collaboration with your team to define the best blend of tools and instruction methods for your company.
Replication Services
For maximum fault tolerance, the database can be replicated across two or more servers in different locations. Sheraton’s own load-balanced servers are located at Global Switch in Docklands, one of the UK’s main Internet data centres with backup servers at Sheraton’s Wickford office. Replication provides three major benefits:
- Fault tolerance
- Disaster recovery
- Scaleability
Web customers, sales agents and staff working from home or in small area offices generally access Websure via the Internet while larger offices typically have their own local server for maximum performance. Small companies wanting to avoid the expense of running their own servers may choose instead, to run Websure on Sheraton’s servers.
Data entered on any server is replicated within seconds to all other servers and users can switch between servers at any time, giving Websure an exceptional level of fault tolerance.
The SQL Server databases are connected via secure Internet connections. If any of the Internet servers were to fail or be taken off-line, web users will be switched automatically to another by the load balancing software.
In an office with a large number of users, multiple servers can be used to spread the load provide almost unlimited scalability. Each server will typically support up to 100 users although this figure will vary depending on the type of use.
Disaster Recovery
All data, including scanned documents, is replicated continuously between all servers. In the event of a fire or other disaster, users can carry on working from another location immediately with no loss of data. All they need is a PC with Internet connection.
Integrated document management ensures that all correspondence is retained, even if paper files are lost.
Support
Our support team has many years of insurance experience and is committed to providing unbeatable customer support to ensure that your business runs smoothly.
All calls are logged and monitored and an escalation procedure ensures that business critical queries are dealt with quickly and efficiently.
For each call, you will be issued with an incident number and will be able to track progress via our on-line helpdesk system.