Direct Line takes insurance online

Direct Line has launched an online service which it claims can offer customers an insurance policy within minutes.

Rather than forcing customers to fill in lengthy application forms, the company has engineered what it claims is "a quick and easy process" to allow users to make payments online - a move that analysts believe will force other insurance companies to look more seriously at the Internet as a source of revenue.

Jay Marathe, head of consulting at Durlacher Research, believes Direct Line's service will stir up the market. "This is quite significant, it is now the major player and other insurance companies will have to follow, especially as the market for people not purchasing online will get smaller and smaller," she said.

He added that with Direct Line's strong brand-name, it will successfully drive people to use the site, and its ease of use will convert a lot of those visitors to buyers.

One of the most important aspects of the service, according to Direct Line IT director, Richard Beal, is the ability for call centre agents to gain instant access to quotes saved online.

He said: "Customers don't necessarily want to work with the Internet alone - they may have a difficult question or a query about their credit card. Therefore the two must be integrated.

"The key factor in integrating the two is basically having the right kind of connection between your Web server and your central database, in our case a very large mainframe, and link them together so they are completely integrated," he said.

"Customers also want to be sure that their data really is safe. With our site, not only do we use 128-bit encryption, but we also store all the data on our secure mainframe."

Beal claims many insurance companies are still living in the dark ages when it comes to IT. "It has taken them so long to clock onto the call centre - and now they are having to contend with the Internet," he said.