IBNA’s stalled broker management system is to be relaunched after the broking cluster and system’s designer parted ways last year.

The final version of BrokerCentral, initially designed by Melbourne-based insurance software developer InsuranceConnect, will be unveiled and given a new name at the IBNA members’ meeting on April 21, as speculation continues over members’ willingness to embrace the in-house product.

After signing an agreement with InsuranceConnect CEO Andrew Bennett in October 2010, IBNA ended the arrangement in November last year. After meeting with several IT providers late last year – including dominant player Ebix – IBNA signed a long-term contract with a Queensland-based IT group.

While IBNA has not commented on the reason behind the name change, insuranceNEWS.com.au understands the company wants to remove any association with the BrokerCentral name.

Industry sources have described the program as a “problem child”, although IBNA Chairman Gary Gribbin told insuranceNEWS.com.au more than a dozen IBNA offices have already installed the new software.

It’s understood one IBNA member abandoned the system after a week in its early stages of development, while another major IBNA broker has opted for a competitor’s product.

IBNA will not disclose how much it is spending on the new IT infrastructure, but it is believed to have cost several million dollars so far.

Mr Gribbin says he is confident IBNA members will embrace the company’s start-up broker platform once it is relaunched later this year.

“The product has some outstanding characteristics, which I think members will realise once they see a full demonstration,” he said.