Relay Platform – Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Relay platform do?

Relay helps you win more deals, whether renewal or new. It gets you winning proposals faster, collecting quotes over API (i.e. electronic integration), portal or email, and organizing all placement information and communications in one place. With Relay, you collaborate on quotes and proposals much better, for single-line or multiline placements, and secure capabilities you never thought possible, be it for proposal conversion analytics or bulk renewal for instance.

Why should I place business through Relay?

There are too many reasons to list them all, so let’s start with a simple few. We give you much greater speed to market for both simple and complex placements, visibility across your teams and placements, the latest data extraction and reporting capabilities, and the ability to connect dealflow with placement success. Additionally, we integrate with carrier API faster than anyone in the business, which means we can add new capacity providers to your system so you get instant quotes for more commercial lines. This is a big trend in insurance, and we are leading it.

How much does Relay cost?

We are pleased to provide the Relay solution at no cost with no limitations to number of users or volume or placements. For customizations to your Relay experience please contact us for special pricing.

Is Relay secure?

Relay has been approved by multiple enterprise data security teams including large carriers and brokers.

  • Bank-grade security: we rely on advanced, industry-recognized security safeguards to keep all of your data private and protected. With password-protected login, firewall protected servers and the same encryption technology (256 bit SSL) used by the world’s top banks, we have the security elements in place to give you peace of mind.
  • User authentication: we provide login access to Relay with email and password. In addition, we offer two-factor authentication to provide a second level of security to your Relay accounts. Relay also supports SAML integration with enterprise authentication systems such as Microsoft Active Directory to provide Single Sign-On capabilities.
  • Data encryption: we encrypt all data transmitted between you and Relay using industry-standard TLS (Transport Layer Security). Your data is also encrypted at rest when it is stored on our servers, and encrypted when transferred between data centres for backup and replication.
  • Network protection: Relay provides multiple layers of security controls to protect access to and within our environment, including firewalls, strict access control policies and network segregation. Relay’s security services are configured, monitored and maintained according to industry best practices.
Does Relay house capacity?

We do not provide capacity – we help you connect better to it.

How does Relay help brokers with existing platforms?

Relay believes the role of brokers is rapidly changing and that placing business requires a smarter solution. Relay can integrate with existing brokerage systems to enhance their ability to connect to carriers and clients. With carriers, it delivers winning proposals, after collecting quotes for you. Relay helps automate the client proposal creation and update process, saving hours of work for brokers. Relay also generates easy-to-use-and-configure analytics and reports, including performance metrics you never saw previously.

Which markets are participating in Relay? How many carriers and reinsurers did Relay sign up so far?

Relay emulates the existing email quoting process whenever it does not have an API connection with a carrier or broker, therefore it has access to all of them. If you do not see a market, please feel free to invite them to answer quotes, which they can do by email or through the Relay interface. In that respect, every capacity provider is available through Relay. Additionally, many large carriers have already responded to quotes managed through Relay.

Will I see a summary of the deal terms and conditions before I send it out for quote?

Yes, if you use the Relay interface instead of responding directly to a Relay email. The submission process includes a one-page summary of all information to be exchanged with the market.

As a capacity seeker or a broker, can I track how successful I have been with each market?
Yes, you can generate a report by market and line of specialty to review deal success and response rates. Relay greatly enhances your visibility into the performance of capacity providers.
Can other Capacity Providers see what other markets quote?
No. They would only see their own quote. However, once a portion of capacity has been taken by another market, the portion will be shown as unavailable to other markets, without revealing the name of the provider.
Do I need approval from legal in my company before I can answer quotes on Relay?

Did you require approval for Microsoft Outlook or Gmail? Relay fully integrates with email, and is no different in that regard from an email client. That said, Relay also adds a lot more security and legal compliance. For instance, emailing sensitive files puts participants at risks of breach. With Relay, those can easily be secured on the platform. They can be emailed, still, but only once the right permissions have been obtained by all participants. Relay also ensures that whatever data is provided is better protected both from an IT security and a legal standpoints. If you engage with those departments for a confirmation, please make sure to mention that Relay fully supports email responses, as per your likely previous method.

What if some Capacity Providers do not want to respond through Relay?

Responding through the Relay platform is risk-free. Relay sends your request for a quote just like MS Outlook or Gmail would. In addition, capacity providers can also respond by email. Should they still not want to respond through Relay, we suggest you let them know this is the system you are using – all carriers, reinsurers and brokers we engaged with have told us they would accept business through any platform so far. We would appreciate knowing if any provides a different perspective, so we can reach out and help you keep all activity within the platform.

Does Relay link to our accounting, policy administration or claims systems?

Yes, through an integration project, like most other placement systems, but we made it much easier with our architecture. Contact us for more information.

Can I invite and assign a placement to my teammate or manager?

Yes the platform is designed to help with internal and external collaboration. You can assign a risk transfer to a teammate and share status of current deals with your manager, who can also be invited.

How do I upload emails, attachments and loss runs?

Documents like loss runs can be attached when creating the submission. Additional files can also be sent and track between both parties via the email conversation tracking in Relay. They can also be emailed directly to the placement email. Once the submission has been sent no more documents can be added, but then you can use the broadcast feature to share docs with all markets.

Can other Capacity Providers see which markets I have asked to participate in the deal?

No, they would only have access to see the information you provided to them and for them to generate a quote or decline.

Can I send notifications through the system or communicate with placement partners?

Yes, Relay has a fully featured messaging system with in-app and email notifications. Capacity Providers and Brokers can respond in the app or via email.

What type of APIs are currently available for use?

Relay is built on an API architecture, so things are flexible in that regard. We suggest that you contact [email protected] and share your specific needs.