Pensions firm updates document system for A-day

Pensions and investments firm Skandia Life is replacing its in-house built document system as part of its "A-day" preparations.

Many of the investment company's business systems have been built in-house, including the system which generates documents and letters for its customers, explained Skandia Life IT director Tim Mann.

Skandia is now in the process of replacing its home-grown system with a package from Thunderhead.

"We are starting to replace the existing proprietary system. That's going to take a year or two. It will greatly reduce the number of templates we have," Mann said.

Mann said the project should pay for itself quite quickly by reducing the number of templates and the costs of changing them.

"IT doesn't need to get involved anymore - at the moment if you want to change a template it's a developer job," Mann added.

Another benefit of the new system is that it will allow Skandia to create emails to send to brokers and customers.

Skandia will initially implement the system in two areas: in the production of policy documentation for a new range of pension products and to create annual review statements for its protection products.

The new package will also figure in Skandia's preparations for the 'A-day' changes, when new pension tax simplification rules take effect on 6 April.

"We've got it on-site and we are using it for some of our work on A-day," Mann said.

"We need to change our systems to be compliant for A-day and I'm confident that we've got that under control," he added.