Summary
Progress against our Blueprint Two goals
As 2023 draws to a close, we have an opportunity to reflect on what we’ve achieved this year to prepare for the delivery and adoption of Blueprint Two solutions from 2024. The success of the programme is a market-wide effort, requiring all firms to cutover to phase one digital services in July 2024. We’d like to thank you for your support and commitment in helping us on our journey towards a better, faster and cheaper market.
Last week we shared an update on the launch of phase two Blueprint Two digital services. Phase two services were planned to go live in October 2024, and the technology build remains firmly on track. Following a request from the LMA Board, Velonetic and Lloyd’s have agreed to move this date to April 2025 to focus all market participants on the successful cutover to phase one services.
With the cutover of phase one in July 2024, the market can take confidence having processed two quarters of data through the new digital solutions before continuing their journey in adoption of phase two services.
Going forward, we’ll continue to provide regular updates on our progress towards key milestones and the resources available to support your implementation and adoption of the new digital solutions.
A summary of our final update for 2023:
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The Vanguard early adopters test environment is ready, with initial connectivity testing already in flight.
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The Process Roles & Responsibilities (PRR) Working Group and ACORD hosted a webinar covering the PRR Final Recommendations for a fully digital open market and facultative placement process and the ACORD GRLC Contract, Risk and Pre-Accounting Implementation Toolkit. You can view the slides and a recording of the session now.
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53 of 54 eligible managing agents having signed their market user agreement with LIMOSS to use the Faster Claims Payments solution, and two webinars took place in November to showcase recent enhancements. The materials from the sessions are now available.
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Updated standard Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) messaging specifications have been published, and market firms with customised EDIs have been contacted to develop an individual way forward.
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The first training materials to support your adoption and implementation of the new solutions were published in November and can be accessed now.
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Velonetic are on track to release the Digital Processing Services Agreement (DPSA) and associated pricing in January 2024 for signature. All Velonetic customers should have signed the new DPSA by 29 March 2024.
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Customer testing will enable market participants to test that their processes, technology and data work with the new solutions, and will be available from 2 April 2024.
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We shared a H1 2024 adoption plan at our last market event on 11 December, focusing on key moments to plan for across training and onboarding, along with major market milestones.
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A wealth of key resources to support your implementation and adoption of the new digital solutions are available. Find out more below and visit our website.
Here is the roadmap for 2024/2025 delivery:
Progress update
Q4 milestones
Vanguard testing
The Vanguard early adopters’ group has been set up to test real world implementations of the new digital services ahead of wider adoption. The Vanguard test environment is now ready, with initial connectivity testing already in flight.
Vanguard participants, which have now expanded to over 30 brokers and carriers, are currently piloting the training approach as part of a comprehensive and coordinated testing framework.
Vanguard testing will ramp up through Q1 2024 with early functionality testing, and we'll be sharing test results for you to access on the Blueprint Two website.
Training materials
On 1 November, we published the first market training material to support your adoption and implementation of the Blueprint Two solutions.
Firms will need to take action to get ready to adopt the new services in 2024, and consider the potential changes for your people, processes and technology. Our training material is intended to inform and support your preparation in a way that is purposeful, relevant, and timely.
Open market placement
Process, Roles and Responsibilities work continues
On 4 October, the London Market Group Data Council’s Process Roles & Responsibilities (PRR) working group and ACORD hosted a webinar covering the PRR Final Recommendations for a fully digital open market and facultative placement process, and the ACORD GRLC Contract, Risk and Pre-Accounting Implementation Toolkit.
This interactive follow-up session gave attendees an overview of these two key documents, and an opportunity to ask questions.
View the slides and a recording of the sessions
The PRR working group – made up of IUA, LIIBA, Lloyd's and LMA representatives – have since shifted their focus to the claims process, from first notification of loss to settlement. The group then plans to pick up where the placement process left off and turn to the premium process, covering from accounting to settlement.
These outputs will form part of a series of adoption materials that will provide brokers, carriers and platform providers with the information required to enable adoption of the new, digital ways of working introduced through phase two of Blueprint Two.
Claims
Adoption of Faster Claims Payment
Faster Claims Payment (FCP) closes 2023 with 53 of 54 eligible managing agents having signed their market user agreement with LIMOSS to use the service. The combined FCP adoption team across LIMOSS, Lloyd’s, the LMA and Vitesse continues its efforts to increase usage and enable more people around the world to benefit from the transformative payment solution for Lloyd’s delegated authority business.
In November we hosted two global webinars for delegated claims administrators, coverholders, managing agents and brokers to update them on recent FCP enhancements.
View the slides and a recording of one of the sessions
FCP is a significant improvement for our multi-billion-pound delegated authority business, and the result of months of consultation and collaboration between Lloyd’s, Vitesse, our market associations and market champions. The scale of the initiative and the cooperation involved has been recognised with more than 20 nominations during 2023 at various insurance, payments and fintech industry awards, with several wins to date, including ‘Excellence in Technology – Claims’ at the Insurance Times Awards on 6 December.
Technology build
Messaging
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) messages are a set of communication messaging standards that drive the market processes for premium accounting and settlement, and claims processing and settlement.
In Q3, we shared that EDIs will be replaced when the phase two digital processing services are fully operational. Until then Velonetic will continue to support standard EDI messages. We have since updated and published 23 standard EDI specifications, highlighting where changes have been made to the structure or format of the message. These can be accessed on the Blueprint Two website, with the full suite available in early 2024.
Access the standard EDI specifications
We also previously shared that Velonetic were analysing the usage of customised EDI messages.
This analysis is now complete and firms with customised EDIs have been contacted to develop an individual path forward. If you are impacted and need any further information, please contact your engagement partner.
EDIs will provide continuity of existing messaging when Velonetic customers cutover to phase one of digital processing services on 1 July 2024.
Market engagement and adoption
December 11 market event
On 11 December we hosted a market event with tailored sessions for CEOs, COOs, technology and claims practitioners and those key to delivering Blueprint Two. We provided an update on the progress made throughout 2023 and importantly, the actions required to be ready for market cutover on 1 July 2024.
We covered a range of adoption-related topics, including build progress, our Vanguard approach, testing, training and onboarding, as well as sharing the below H1 2024 adoption plan. This focuses on key moments for market participants, enabling you to plan your training and onboarding approach.
We’ll share the slides and recordings from the market event shortly. More information on the key readiness activities for phase one cutover can be found within this progress update.
Digital Processing Service Agreement
Velonetic’s Digital Processing Service Agreement (DPSA) will replace the current Fern agreements, outlining the contractual terms and defining the services that Velonetic will provide when we cutover to the phase one digital services.
Velonetic continues to work closely with the market, having engaged a Customer Panel to design contractual terms and pricing principles, and sharing both the DPSA and price book with market associations for review and negotiation.
Velonetic will release the DPSA and pricing schedule to its customers in January 2024 for signature. Market participants should sign the new DPSA by 29 March 2024.
Customer testing
A rigorous testing model within a robust governance framework is in place to ensure a smooth cutover to phase one digital services on 1 July 2024.
Customer testing will enable market participants to test that their processes, technology and data work with the new solutions. For phase one, customer testing will be made available for all market participants from 2 April 2024.
There will be two options available:
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A coordinated self-service offering that will provide a test environment to enable you to execute test scenarios, with coordination by LIMOSS and support from Velonetic for end-to-end testing.
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An enhanced self-service offering that will provide additional Velonetic support on test planning and the development and execution of bespoke test scenarios, at an added cost.
Adoption resources
We’ve updated three key resources to support your adoption of Blueprint Two solutions:
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Version two of the Blueprint Two phase one adoption guide for brokers and carriers is now available. The updated guide improves usability and adds valuable information about portals and applications, and more detailed content on programme management, testing, reporting, and messaging. Activities are consolidated into an example adoption timeline, making it easier to follow the actions required, and sections are tailored by broker and carrier pathways covering open market and delegated authority (DA) messaging with Velonetic.
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Supporting this, the phase one user journeys have also been updated. These will help you gain a greater understanding of the phase one digital journey and should be used alongside the adoption guide.
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Managing agents can now access an updated Blueprint Two playbook, published by the LMA in collaboration with Lloyd’s, NTT Data and Velonetic. The playbook provides managing agents with the tools and knowledge required to implement Blueprint Two.
A wealth of adoption and technical resources to support your implementation of phase one digital services are available on our website.
Market survey
Our quarterly market survey helps us understand how a sample of market participants are progressing with readiness activities required to adopt Blueprint Two, while also highlighting areas requiring additional focus and support.
Overall, responses to this quarter’s survey demonstrate strong momentum and progress in adoption readiness across the sample firms: senior stakeholder support within firms, change management planning, and resource allocation within firms are at encouragingly high levels, and confidence in system readiness for 1 July 2024 has also increased.
There are areas that require further action. While change management plans have been initiated for most, there is less understanding of changes required and the impact of those changes on operational activities. You’re encouraged to access adoption and technical resources here to support your planning activities, and to contact your engagement partner for tailored support.
