A rules engine has a transformative effect on a business when properly implemented. A rules engine is a robust software solution that runs “if-then” statements known as business rules. These simple but powerful conditional statements help run companies and organizations by evaluating whether an action meets specified rules. For example, an online retailer uses rules to spell out the criteria for free shipping and a 10% discount.
The Benefits of Business Rules Engines
A business rules engine automates complex manual tasks, which improves collaboration with an organization while reducing potentially costly errors.
One of the most unique features of rules engines is that non-technical users are able to make updates without any help from the IT department. So companies using rules engines can drastically shorten the time it takes to make new products —from months to a matter of minutes! This way businesses can immediately react to market changes.
The Insurance Industry
This is why rules engines are one of the most important components in insurance technology. For example, an insurance carrier uses a rules engine to determine whether a candidate is eligible for an insurance plan.
Insurance providers also use rules engines to automate their underwriting tasks. Underwriting is typically a labor-intensive process, which means that it isn’t immune from human error. In order to avoid potentially costly mistakes and save time, insurers use rules engines to automate and approve easy and straightforward cases. This gives human underwriters enough time to focus their attention on more difficult cases.
Here’s how other industries are leveraging the power of business rules engines.
Product Configurator
A rules engine can also act as a product configurator. A product configurator is a piece of software that helps users choose the features of a product. This lets both companies and customers select product options that meet specific needs.
Manufacturers stand to immensely benefit from product configurators because they don’t have to manually create quotes and specifications. Product configurators automate the process, which speeds the time it takes to issue a quote and get a product into production.
Rules Engine in the Financial Sector
The financial industry has to constantly deal with strong pricing pressure. Profit margins very often take a hit. At the same time, the level of competition to attract profitable customers is almost unprecedented.
Against this background, banks use rules engines to create financial products while remaining compliant with all the relevant legislation.
Financial institutions use business rules engines to carry out mission-critical processes such as:
- Product Eligibility
- Customer Screening and Data Verification
- Identifying Upsell Opportunities
There is also another extremely important process that rules engines perform – detecting and preventing fraud.
Prevent Fraud
Financial organizations can use rules engines to prevent new fraudulent schemes from harming their business.
For example, when a bank learns about a new fraudulent trend, its employees can easily write a rule in a rules engine that would identify and block this particular scheme.
Rules Engines in Retail
Retailers need to keep tabs on their supply chain while meeting customer demand in order to grow and compete. In order to do so, retailers need to:
- Offer customer-centric information
- Add new products and make changes to existing ones
- Optimize the supplier certification process
- React instantly to changes in prices
This is why most retailers use business rules to manage their operations. For example, due to supply chain problems, the shipping fees could change on a daily basis. Retailers can’t wait days or weeks to make adjustments to their system – it has to be done in minutes, which is why they use rules engines.
Conclusion
Business rules engines optimize vital processes in departments like HR, Finance, and Sales.
From performing customer eligibility to creating regulatory policies and customer segmentation, rules engines give subject-matter experts the ability to create and manage rules that help businesses grow without getting into the code.
