Client Profile:
Allied Strategy is a start-up company formed by graduates of the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management (Britton Nielsen, Jeff Runyan, and Colby Thomson) in October, 2003. The company provides innovative software solutions to the insurance industry. This new initiative complements Allied Strategy's SEMCAT product, which assists insurance agents in providing accurate, comparative quotes for their customers.

Project Opportunity:
Purchasing insurance is an important decision, but consumers currently have no objective means to determine the quality of an insurance company's service or to find a good agent to advise them. Because insurance consumers suffer from an information disadvantage, they often make poor purchasing decisions. This insulates the insurance industry from the market effects necessary to ensure self-regulation. Government legislation has long attempted to address this issue, but social networking and online collaboration offer new opportunities to help consumers inform themselves.

Project Solution:
The J.D. Edwards Design Studio team will create an Amazon.com-like online portal enabling Americans to make informed insurance purchases. Users of the portal will be able to search for and buy from carriers and agencies rated highly based on personalized criteria. In addition, users will be able to share relevant stories and reviews to assist others in making good decisions. The site will make use of Web 2.0 technologies, a unique rating review and credibility system, and social networking collaboration tools to accomplish this goal.

Technologies:
Ruby on Rails
MySQL