Archive

For February, 2012

Feb 27

Independent Agents Take a Leap for Real-Time This Year

By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments

We have written periodically about similarities and differences between independent agents in the US and brokers in Canada as each group seeks to rationalize electronic connectivity with its insurance carrier partners.  While the goals of the two groups align in important ways, one difference is crystal clear:  US Agents have fine tuned the promotion of its objectives into something resembling an art form.  As there is some beginnings of similar work in Canada, interested Canadian brokers might take a look at how this is done on Leap Day (February 29th) this year.

Some background.  The search for seamless connectivity between independent insurance distributors and insurance carriers goes back over 40 years.  While there has been progress, everyone involved agrees that the current state is far from any definition of ideal.  In addition, while almost everyone has an opinion about the roadblocks, there is general consensus that awareness by all players – carriers, distributors, and suppliers – is an on-going problem.

Over the years, there have been marketing campaigns by individual organizations and associations.  However, these come and go.  A few years ago, a group of leading independent agents, with the support of insurers, technology suppliers, agent associations, and ACORD, set up a semi-permanent marketing campaign under the banner of “Get Real Time”.  There are a number of initiatives, including promotions, training activities, tools for business case calculations, and more on the GetRealTime.org web site.

The latest initiative is the Real Time Day campaign set for Leap Day (February 29) 2012.  There are a series of on-line activities hosted by stakeholder groups to inform and motivate.  Why Leap Day?  Eddie (the cartoon leader of RealTime) says it best:

 

Do promotions like Real time Day and the ongoing campaign actually stimulate the real work required to implement standard distributor connectivity?   It’s fair to say that the jury is out.  However, there is little doubt that these types of activities keep the discussion open.

Canadian brokers have started something similar with ORBiT.  It will be interesting to see how this progresses.  In the meantime, for those involved or just interested, Leap Day is an opportunity to have a look at how our American friends do it.

And have a Great Real-Time Day!

 

Feb 25

Innovation, Impact & ICTA – Part Three: Service DIY

By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments

In this, the last of the three-part blog series on the Insurance-Canada Technology Award (ICTA) finalists, we will look at a set of  finalists which showed achievement in outward delegation, also known as customer empowerment.

To recap: the 2012 ICTAs are intended to celebrate implementations of technology which show innovation and impact on business.  In two previous posts, we tried to look inside the jurors minds while they selected the nine finalists out of fifty excellent nominations.  In the first post, we saw patterns with three finalists which focused on inside improvements to yield  improvements to outside service and sales.  In the second, we found three organizations applying creativity to the long standing challenges of broker connectivity.

In this our last (but not least) effort, we see three organizations – two distributors, and one supplier -  which have successfully improved customer service, as well as their own bottom lines, by implementing initiatives to let the customer become, in effect, the customer service agent.  These organizations are:

  • AP Reid for ZipSure, a self described  “100% self-serve and 100% on-line insurance brokerage” which collected the attributes of a number of large apartment buildings in its target market, allowing its carriers to predetermine rates and criteria, and subsequently allowing qualified resident prospects to complete all application and subsequent service functions through the website.
  • Ingle International for the technology they use to develop and operate micro-sites used by school administrators and student customers of its student health and accident insurance.  While this concept is not new, Ingle’s implementation allowed  a highly customized product for each school, which includes variables such as:  logos/co-branding,  specific products and characteristics, custom claims forms, booklets, etc.
  • Allianz Global Assistance (formerly Mondial Assistance) for its implementation of an online customer claims portal.  The development was driven by a six-sigma project to reduce customer facing cycle time for claims.  The result of the carefully planned and implemented project exceeded projected goals by a substantial margin.

Common characteristics of each of these finalists was careful consideration of the market needs, planning to empower customers with technology to best serve their needs, and measurement throughout the process to ensure the customer service, customer satisfaction,   and business objectives were being achieved.

2012 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology ConferenceOur judges were clearly impressed for the first round of voting.  We will see whether any of these competitors impressed the judges enough to take away a coveted ICTA when the awards are announced at the ICTA Luncheon at the Insurance-Canada Technology Conference on March 5, 2012.

You could witness it yourself.  Register today.

 

 

Feb 23

Innovation, Impact & ICTA – Part Two: Creative Connectivity

By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments

Emboldened by our success (or perhaps the lack of outright derision) from  a recent post,  where we tried to look inside the minds of the  Insurance-Canada Technology Awards jurists as they determined finalists for the 2012 Awards, we are taking another shot.  This time, our crystal ball sees trails of creativity leading to broker connectivity.

In our first attempt, we noted that 3 of the 9 ICTA finalists shared  a common trait:  each had an initially inward looking focus on effectiveness and efficiency which ultimately resulted in innovation and positively impacted overall business functions.  In our second group we see solid business and technology drivers leading to some elegant, innovative solutions which are easily understood and marketable.  The finalists here are:

  • Unica Insurance (formerly York Fire & Casualty) for their project to directly connect Broker transactions from the Keal BMS to Unica’s systems, supported by iter8′s technology.
  • SGI Canada for the pioneering work implementing standards for downloading of broker copy of policy declaration pages and broker memos as part of their daily EDI download transactions.
  • Zycomp + MASTERCOM for the technology development and integration allowing downloading of broker copy of policy declaration pages and broker memos as part of their daily EDI download transactions. These are automatically filed at the broker without intervention.

The concepts of broker connectivity have been around for over 3 decades in Canada, so what’s the big deal?  We see two important elements:

  1. Measurement.  We have all heard the claims that connectivity will improve competitiveness and productivity, but there has been a dearth of hard data.  Part of the Unica implementation was clear measurement of the time saved and the reduction in friction using a direct connection versus using 3rd party intermediaries.
  2. Demonstrating real value in simple terms.  The ability for CSIO data transactions to also carry documents (policy dec pages, e.g.) which can be filed electronically (and automatically) in the brokers office and sent directly to customers electronically.  This is a direct benefit of the SGI/Mastercomm-Zycomp solution.

The organizations involved in these projects went public with details, and there is fresh ‘buzz’ around Broker Connectivity.  And while marketing alone will not make Standards based connectivity a solution, it is fool-hardy to ignore the importance of success stories, well told, to influence decision makers.

Interested in learning more about these implementations and other developments in Broker Connectivity?  Then the 2012 Insurance-Canada Technology Conference is the place to be.  There are numerous sessions of interest.  For example:

So was it the sizzle or the steak that finally sold our honourable jurists to make one of these finalists a category winner?  That secret will be revealed on March 5th at the ICTA Awards Luncheon, held in connection with the ICT  Conference.  Be there to find out.  Register today!

Feb 20

Innovation, Impact & ICTA – Part One: An Inside Job

By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments

Since the announcement of the finalists for the Insurance-Canada Technology Awards (ICTAs), we have had a number of questions along the lines of:  “What makes these nine organizations different from the forty-one other, highly qualified candidates that were nominated?”

There’s a short answer and a long answer.

In this post, we’ll give the short answer and the long answer for one group of the finalists.  Over the next few posts, we’ll put out our take on the remainder.  And remember, the winners will be announced (and awards given) at the ICTA Luncheon and Awards Ceremony on March 5, 2012.

So here’s the short answer:  Why these nine?  Because the ICTA jury – consisting of 7 recognized insurance technology experts – said so.  The jury was charged with using two criteria for guidance:  Innovation and Impact on Business.  We posted on the process the jurors chose to take after their first meeting late last year.

Looking at the results, however, we’d like to offer our opinions of what differentiated these 9.  One group of nominees focused on internal applications.  In this group, we would put:

  • RMS with its iClarify product, which provides it clients portal or web services access to RMS risk management, underwriting support services.  This improves field underwriting by brokers and streamlines internal underwriting time, while improving accuracy.
  • The Economical for its implementation of Pitney Bowes Software’s location intelligence platform for underwriters to confirm & map location, map in force policies, recognize key exposures, evaluate aggregate risk.  This improves effectiveness and efficiency in underwriting, claims, and marketing.
  • Donovan Insurance Brokers for its implementation of an integration strategy involving it Keal BMS, Brovada’s NexCentre, voice recording, and a number of office productivity tools to support increase in effectiveness and efficiency.  The result has been improved staff satisfaction, better customer service, increased retention, and growth (organic and by acquisition).

The thread with this group seems to be careful implementation of technology, focusing on improved effectiveness and efficiency, resulting in carefully measured/monitored business innovation.

But that’s our interpretation.  We’ll make conjectures on other threads over the next week or so.  You can ask the judges themselves at the ICTA Awards Lunch.

Note:  All of the finalists will be profiled in more detail in the February 2012 issue of Canadian Insurance Top Broker Magazine, which will be distributed at the Insurance-Canada Technology Conference.

Feb 15

Canadian Insurance Telematics Poll Results

By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments

Insurance-Canada.ca conducted an on-line poll on the subject of telematics in insurance.  While not scientific, the results open a window onto the thinking of insurance practitioners and suppliers in Canada.

The results generally support trends we have reported on in this space.  There is clear interest in telematics by a cross section of the industry and most believe that Telematics is being used in Canada for insurance now or will be used soon.  And, respondents feel that there are several areas that Telematics will impact for insurance.  One poll result, however, is an open question.  We’ll get to that.

The composition of the respondents reflects the components of the industry.  One third of respondents were from insurance companies , another third represented brokers or MGAs, the balance were suppliers, service providers, and others.

In regard to insurance use, the majority of respondents – 75% – believe that telematics is already being used or is very close on the horizon.

Few respondents think that technology is a barrier to implementation.  The largest segment believe that customer acceptance is the major impediment followed by carrier appetite/initiative.

 

The majority felt that telematics driven usage-based insurance or pay-as-you-drive schemes (primarily implemented in personal lines insurance) offered the  greatest value for insurance.  Interestingly, almost one third of respondents said risk management and asset tracking (generally, elements in commercial lines insurance) as well as education offered the most value.

 

As we said at the beginning, one  result is something of an enigma.  Half of the respondents indicated that they were not clear what telematics is, and another 10% did not know the uses of telematics in insurance.  However, when these two groups were filtered out, there were no changes in the ordering of the results for the other questions.

There are any number of explanations.   We won’t speculate here, because there’s a better place to get answers to this and other questions relating to insurance and telematics. There is a panel of experts on telematics and insurance that will be presenting at the upcoming Insurance-Canada Technology Conference March 5th.  We’re looking forward to their input on this and other questions.  And we hope you’ll join us in getting answers.

 

 

Feb 12

Broker Imperative: Enhance Customer Relationships and Support Profitatbility with Technology

By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments

Independent brokers need to focus on the inherent strength of their distribution system – the relationships they have with their customers – by making maximum use of technologies that reduce friction and improve customer communications.  Fortunately, there are new technologies and support structures that can help.  And there is an event coming up where the developers and adopters of these technologies will be available for consultation.

The independent broker distribution system is facing a number of challenges:  Direct marketers, carriers moving to mixed distribution channels, a continuing soft market, and lack of consensus on broker connectivity. However, research from agent associations in the US and broker associations in Canada continue to suggest that independents have a lead over other channels in the relationships with end consumers.

However, that lead is being eroded by two factors:

  1. The disproportionate amount of time that brokers have to spend on non-productive activities; and
  2. The lack of strategies to adopt modern customer communications.

Fortunately, technology and support is becoming available to assist brokers in both areas.

The first step to reducing non-productive activities is to identify all of the activities in the brokers office and get a solid understanding of the costs associated and the revenues generated.  In days past, gathering this information and industry benchmarks were time-consuming and sometimes costly.  Modern technology has addressed this.  Leading broker management system vendors are including operations management and business intelligence tools in their offerings and supporting industry efforts to gather benchmarking data on broker operations.

With that knowledge, brokers can take steps to improve operations and work with carriers to develop strategies to attack productive market segments.  And technology can be put in place to accurately measure success levels in these areas.

With regard to modern communications, there is increasing evidence that consumers generally and insurance consumers specifically are expecting to communicate in whatever manners they – the consumers – choose .  This includes traditional – phone, fax, email – and non-traditional – social media.  We have noted in this space that independent distributors who get into social media are seeing real rewards.

2012 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology ConferenceA questions for brokers is where to begin.  We (humbly) suggest the the 2012 Insurance-Canada Technology Conference (ICTA) on March 5, 2012 as a great place to start.  There is an entire stream devoted to distribution technology and will include  presentations on operations measurement, benchmarking, and management. In addition, there are several sessions focusing on customer communications, including the integration of social media into communications strategies.

The day begins with a Strategy Session Panel, comprised of industry leaders, discussing broker challenges and includes a luncheon keynote address from Gartner’s Kimberly Harris-Ferrante presenting new Canadian research, which includes information on broker facing technology.

Registration information is available here.  A number of our sponsors have made arrangements for discounted registration for brokers.   We would look forward to welcoming you March 5.

 

 

Feb 09

Analytics: The New Competitive Landscape Differentiator

By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments

There is increasing evidence that intelligent use of data – to gain understanding and to anticipate results – is becoming the foundation for success in the new landscape of insurance.  A number of experts in the area will be presenting at the 2012 Insurance-Canada Technology Conference  on March 5, 2012 in Toronto.

As reported in Insurance & Technology, a recent survey by Towers Watson found that 85% of the 69 insurers polled “use or are planning to use” predictive modeling.  Further, while there has been emphasis on its use in the personal lines arena, Commercial lines carriers  are showing significant interest and “are planning or implementing programs at a 70% clip. ”

Claims is one area of specific interest. The same article cites Liberty Mutual’s implementations in its Workers Comp program which found that 50 percent of most workers compensation policyholders’ claims drive 90 percent of total claim costs.  A statement from Liberty Mutual indicated that “Identifying these early and getting them the proper resources quickly, delivers the best possible outcomes for injured workers and their employers.”

A number of suppliers to the industry are focusing on data and analytics for the P&C industry.  Several  of these organizations will be presenting at  the 2012 Insurance-Canada Technology Conference in Toronto on March 5, 2012, including the two Platinum Sponsors, SAS and IBM.

Dan McKenzie, Fraud Analytics Specialst, SAS Canada, will be presenting on “The Insurance Fraud Race: Using Information and Analytics to Stay Ahead of Criminals”.  This session will highlight the benefits insurers are realizing in the use of analytics for fraud detection and prevention and provide insight into organizing and implementing a successful analytics program.

Analytics are also powerful tools in marketing, customer relationship management, and underwriting.  In his presentation “Turning Information into Insight”, Neil Isford, IBM VP Business Analytics & Optimization, will focus on how insurance companies are using business analytics to strengthen customer care & insight, risk/finance optimization as well as claims processing. Neil will also talk about how emerging technologies such as Big Data, social media analytics, and IBM’s Watson, can help you make informed decisions with greater confidence.

The challenge is how to use these powerful tools in the current environment.  The 2012 Insurance-2012 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology ConferenceCanada Technology Conference offers a unique opportunity to explore ways to meet this challenge.  We look forward to seeing you there.

 

Feb 06

Insurance Telematics In Canada: Poll Will Offer Opinions; Panel Will Offer Knowledge

By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments

Is Canada poised to jump onto the telematics train for insurance?  Insurance-Canada is approaching this question on two levels.  First, a poll is underway  to get a sense of levels of interest.  Second, a panel is preparing to offer expert knowledge on the subject at the 2012 Insurance-Canada Technology Conference.

We have written here about the progress that Telematics applications – including pay-as-you-drive  schemes – are making in various parts of the world including the US, Europe, and the UK. We have suggested that Telematics is one of the trends to watch in 2012.  We haven’t written much on Canada simply because we were only seeing some stirrings behind the scenes.  Recently, Insurance-Canada launched an on-line poll to test that assumption.

The short poll was opened on February 2, 2012 and is available here.  It will close on February 10th.  We’re looking forward to your comments.  Already, a good number of your colleagues have expressed their opinions, with respondents primarily in the practitioner ranks, split roughly equally between distributors and insurance carriers. We will feature results from the poll here shortly after it closes.

(As an aside, we did have an interesting response from a broker who believes that we are asking the wrong question.  We are checking to see if he will elaborate.)

Also, the 2012 Insurance-Canada Technology Conference will feature a number of sessions on mobile technology generally, 2012 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conferenceand one session entitled Telematics: Learning to Drive in the New Landscape will feature an expert panel which will describe the current implementations and how Telematics may evolve in Canada.

We’d welcome you to participate in the poll, attend the conference, and comment here.  Preferably, all of the above.

 

 

Feb 02

Modern Technology: Underpinning Insurance Growth, Profitability; Focus of ICTC 2012

By Insurance-Canada.ca BlogEditorNo Comments

Evidence continues to mount that eliminating constraints imposed by legacy systems is less an operational requirement than a strategic necessity for 2012 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conferenceinsurance carriers.  This is evidenced by the fact that many of the sessions at the 2012 Insurance-Canada Technology Conference (ICTC) will focus on growth and profitability opportunities only available with modern core technologies.

Writing in PropertyCasualty360.com, Steven Callahan,  a senior consultant and practice director for the Robert E. Nolan Company, notes that most organizations have taken steps to improve efficiency, reduce cycle time, improve pricing, strengthen brand;  many to the point of diminishing return.  Callahan contends that: “Leadership within the industry must focus on innovative integration and leveraging of technology to significantly alter the mechanics of how insurance is designed, communicated, distributed, and serviced.”  Callahan lists four areas requiring focused attention:

  • nimble adaption to customized product design
  • extensive, ubiquitous service options
  • analytically informed operational functionality
  • consolidated, holistic, and economically valued customer information

Virtually all of these elements are subjects of one or more presentations at the 2012 Insurance-Canada Technology Conference, March 5, 2012 in Toronto.

While technology is at the heart of much of this change, informed, nimble management is the key element to success. Craig Weber, CEO of Celent, will be presenting on ‘Creative Disruption in insurance’.    In this session, Weber will review the change drivers and provide insight, gained from research, on how to manage discomfort associated with the change and capitalize on creative elements.

Once disruption has taken place, a new vision of integrated processes and data is required to guide the implementation of new technology.  Several presenters, including Oracle, and MajescoMastek will explore the challenges and game-changing opportunities offered with modern technology.

While much attention is given to marketing and underwriting, management of claims offers both bottom and top line improvements.  Industry experts and practitioners, including Guidewire and TD Meloche, Gore Mutual and Uniban will discuss results of groundbreaking work in utilizing communications and benchmarking  with claims.

Flexibility is key to modern organizations.  One method of achieving flexibility is by shedding the need for an insurance organization to manage its technology and applications infrastructure.  Exigen will be presenting on the benefits of moving to a cloud environment to allow more agility in operations.

Modern technology – including implementation and management -  is not the domain of insurance carriers alone. Several suppliers of broker management systems – including Keal and Applied Systems – will be offering techniques to better utilize operational metrics available from the systems to manage and control broker activities to focus on growth and profitability.

As usual, the conference will include an active exhibit area where practitioners, suppliers, presenters, and attendees can discuss needs and successes in an informal environment.

More details and registration information for the 2012 ICTC is available here.

 

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