IBNA has renamed and relaunched its troubled broker management system and is looking to add insurers to the system.

The platform – now called BrokersIT – was introduced at the Austbrokers & IBNA Member Services (AIMS) Convention in Auckland last week.

IBNA has also signed an outsourcing service agreement with Brisbane-based 3W.

“They will handle the migration of brokers to the new platform and will also provide help with maintaining the system as well as training,” IBNA Chairman Gary Gribbin told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“3W has offshore capacity to provide greater IT capacity at favourable terms. We are looking at this costing 60% of what we budgeted for.”

Mr Gribbin says one major insurer has already completed the proof of concept evaluation and others have expressed interest in putting their products on BrokersIT.

“IBNA is now in discussion with the major insurers about them joining the platform,” he said. “Apart from all AIMS products, we are looking to add some niche insurance provider products such as marine.

“We also have two major premium funders looking at the platform.”

The IBNA platform has had a troubled history since its launch in October 2010 when the group formed a joint venture partnership with InsuranceConnect. IBNA terminated the agreement last November.

“We believe IBNA now has a long-term solution for the platform,” Mr Gribbin said. “We are now providing a full-cycle platform for brokers where the cost of connection is low.”

He declined to reveal connection costs, saying this varies between brokers.

“It is a web-based platform and brokers will sign a service agreement,” he said. “The fee is not a one case fits all approach. They just pay a user licence agreement and there is no transaction pricing.”

Mr Gribbin says another group of brokers is looking at joining the five or six brokers now using the platform.