Friends Provident, the FTSE 100 life and pensions company, has announced a new business process that extends intermediaries' access to all unit-linked information on their clients' policies via their back office systems.

Plum Software is a back office software provider to go live with Friends Provident’s new extended contract enquiry service, which covers whole of life and endowment contracts in addition to bonds and pensions. The service is compliant with Origo’s industry standard.

Using a real-time valuation service will enables the policy information to be delivered directly into the intermediary’s own system, reducing the errors associated with having to type in manual information, cutting down unnecessary paperwork and saving much valued time through bypassing more traditional methods of obtaining this information.

Dave Mace, head of eBusiness for Friends Provident, said: In order for e-business to continue to flourish in the industry, it is vital that it meets the needs of intermediaries and makes life easier for them. As part of that objective, our aim is to ensure they can adopt a single business process for all enquiries on their customers’ policies, whether this is via our Extranet or as a data feed directly to their back office.