Aqera, the innovative software company, today announced the launch of the next phase of its Software Platform for UK Financial Services. The Aqera e-Com Service Manager enables financial services businesses to manage multiple channels and internal departments from one central point.
Aqera's system is designed for use across a spectrum of business models, from product providers and networks, through wraps and fund supermarkets, and ultimately to a full-scale shared industry hub approach.
Leading industry analyst, Ned Cazalet of Cazalet Consulting said, "The UK life industry's new business and in-force administration cost base is running at almost £12 billion a year, which is simply way too high in today's difficult, low inflation, low margin world. The challenge for providers is to reduce costs, so that products deliver value to customers along with acceptable profitability levels, at the same time maintaining or improving service standards; a challenge which should help create a lot of interest in Aqera's new e-commerce module."
Ed Holt, Managing Director of Aqera, commented, "We're very pleased with the positive response to our new module. Aqera is now uniquely placed to help a whole spectrum of business models manage their various channels from a single online platform. This is one more major step towards a full and versatile industry-wide software platform, with huge cost-saving implications for the sector."
The major components of Aqera's e-Com Service Manager are:
- Security layer: controls access to both the platform and to gateways to in-house systems
- Authentication: proves individual identities using Unipass Digital Certificates
- User-definable organisation structures: allows each user organisation to set and manage their organisational units and personnel changes online
- Rights and permissions: defines who can see and do what; these permissions can be delegated from the platform operator to the authorised user organisations, and then to individual units or departments
- MI / usage: captures management information and usage pattern data, and captures the data needed for billing
- Audit reporting: a full set of realtime audit reports meets traceability requirements for compliance and monitoring purposes
- Transaction management: ensures that all transactions through the Platform are managed and resilient
- Third party gateway management: manages the setting up and control of gateways to third party systems integrated with the platform
- Platform (hub) management: delivers the tools and services to allow the operator of the platform to set and manage usage
- Messaging and orchestration: the underlying technical infrastructure which manages all the messages in and out of the platform