Why Brokers Need to Seriously Review Their Use of Technology.

By Stacey Miranda,

Sales Manager, Keal Technology

Originally published in the Sasksatchwan Broker Magazine – Fall 2014

 

There is a wide disparity of technology adoption in the Broker community.  Some make better use of technology than others, yet there are still very few brokers nationally that are taking full advantage of the tools available to them.  We see brokers that are large and prominent in their respective communities and you might assume they are high users of technology, yet in digging deeper, you will find they waste hundreds of hours manually processing items for which there is an automated solution. 

 

Why?  It is definitely not ignorance.  Insurance Brokers are some of the most connected and tuned-in groups of any industry. 

Instead, we find that these brokers understand the position they are in, but they are either a) too busy to put serious focus on technology  b) too overwhelmed by their options that they do not know where to start and/or c) it is just easier to keep the status-quo.

So what’s the problem with this?  The fact is what worked in the past will not cut it today, and it certainly will not be good enough for the future.  Consumers want more, your next generation of staff will want more and really, principal brokers, you should want more…and you can have it. 

Don’t believe me?  Survey your clients.

Think about what I am suggesting for a moment and consider how easy it is for you to do this.  How easy is it for you to get a targeted client list for this?  How would you send the survey?  How would you track the responses of the surveys?  There are tools for this today in the Canadian market and they should be used to the point where brokers are experts in this.  

You’re on board.  Great!  Now what?   

1.       Embrace change.  So many times we hear “my staff will never go for that.”  Change is scary.  Especially for those that have been following the same rules for a long time.  But nobody ever grew by staying inside their comfort zone.  Identifying a technology champion internally can help, but as the brokerage leader, it is incumbent on you to challenge your team to grow. 

2.       Focus on your clients.  “Customer Centric” is not just a buzzword-term.  Think about your clients and your ultimate wish list for them.  What are the missing pieces?  How could you improve their experience on a regular basis?  Not just at renewal! 

3.       Audit your current solutions.  What do you have, how much are you using and what are you missing?  We contact our clients regularly to see how we can help.  Take us up on it!  This doesn’t necessarily mean buying more, it means using more and using better.  We talk to more brokers in a week than you likely do and are happy to share advice on creative trends we see.

The bottom line is, build a plan and act on it.  Technology is not going away and brokers that master it will flourish in doing so. 

Are Today's Consumers Satisfied with Brokers?

By Pat Durepos
President, Keal Technology
Originally published in Insurance West, Sept/2013

Canadian brokers provide a choice for their clients and prospects, in addition to being a trusted advisor. But is it enough to keep clients or attract new ones? I am of the opinion that, unfortunately, in 2013, it is not enough. What is lacking?

This past March I attended a presentation focusing on a Canada-wide IBM survey involving more than 1,000 participants. It concentrated, in part, on consumer buying habits for home and auto insurance and compared these buying habits with direct writers and broker company insurers.

The survey concluded that consumers value and choose brokers for choice and their advisory role; consumers choose direct writers for speed and ease of doing business. On the ease of doing business with broker companies, 70 per cent and more of consumers require the ability to do simple transactions with brokers, i.e. address change, billing change, policy change, report a claim, and all in real time.

Upwards of 65 per cent of broker consumers indicated they wanted to do these transactions 24/7 from the device of their choice – web, smartphones, tablets, etc. These days, unfortunately, most brokers are not providing this ease of doing business.

On July 19/2013 Canadian Underwriter magazine published a must-read article on this subject. Although restricted to Quebec and Ontario, and smaller in size than the IBM survey, the conclusions are the same. The article is appropriately titled "Serve them before you lose them." Here are a few excerpts:

• Deloitte suggested in the report that insurance customers want online capabilities to handle simple tasks that don’t require a live conversation with a representative of the carrier. Insurance customers, it said, "are starting to get used to the type of online capabilities provided by banks – the insurers’ financial-sector peers ... they are expecting the same level of capability, and it’s just not there."


• More than half – 52 per cent – of respondents would switch insurers if they could get "greater online capability, which should be a frightening number to some of the carriers out there that have no strategy around how they are going to go online or how they are going to serve their policyholders. As the direct carriers get more prevalence, they will naturally provide these capabilities."

• Carriers lag in their online offerings and are not meeting the expectations of customers younger than 40 with post-secondary educations, according to the report. "We feel a lot of insurance carriers have looked the other way on providing some of these capabilities, on the assumption that the brokers are responsible for it, but I think the overall theme of this survey shows that policyholders have an expectation of this capability. Brokers aren’t providing it, therefore carriers need to find a way to provide it."
 


• "The preferences did not vary as far as what people wanted based on their channel of purchase ... meaning if you were a broker-based versus direct ... it wasn’t statistically different, what you wanted from the carrier."
 


• But "virtually none of the respondents’ carriers provided the online services that the respondents wanted."

Brokers, insurers and broker software companies know exactly what is being requested by consumers. We know our market share in personal lines is dwindling steadily and surely. As president of Keal Technology, I know the technology is there and available today to answer consumer demands. As an owner of a Canadian brokerage, I know we can not only reverse the market share trend in personal lines, but turn this trend to our favour.

Brokers must lobby and demand from their major insurers a commitment to invest in real time mobility access for their consumers. I hope this short article becomes a call to action for brokers across Canada.

Fifty-two per cent and 70 per cent are large consumer demand percentages. Keal and Unica now have automated real time policy changes; soon this will be available to Unica insureds. We need more insurers to offer this service to their brokers. Brokers excel at lobbying, so I suggest you write to your provincial associations and to your insurance company presidents and representatives demanding immediate action and investment on real time initiatives.

Keal is dedicated to doing its part to make this happen – by making brokers more efficient and more profitable, by increasing their market share and ultimately by helping them stay in business.

But we can’t do it without you, the brokers.

BMS Supporting Broker Growth - Luck o’ the Irish – or Deeply Aligned Business Strategy?

By Stacey Miranda

Sales Manager, Keal Technology  

March 17^th 2014 was a day of celebration for Keal, and perhaps not for the reasons you might think.

Each year, we participate in an event with 600+ Insurance Professionals called the Insurance Canada Technology Conference (ICTC) in Ontario.   The conference puts focus on how technology impacts the Canadian Insurance Industry through of its all sectors, segments and channels.  It does this through keynote speakers, focus groups and speaker streams centred on the following core areas; Business Transformation, Marketing, Core Systems, Broker Technology, Data & Analytics, and Telematics & UBI. 

Ives Insurance Brokers, Quindell & Keal Technology - 2014 ICTA Award

In years past, the broker representation at this event was slight and our competitors were conspicuous by their absence.  So this year, we were excited to be joining the IBAO hosted, broker focused, discussion “BMS Supporting Broker Growth”.   The session included a debrief from Randy Carroll and Rick Orr of the IBAO on their survey of Insurance Consumer needs, a presentation each by Keal, Applied Systems and Customer Software Solutions on how each vendor answers those needs, and a Q&A panel of each vendor.   As author of this article, I have to admit that I have a bias, but I will say it was extremely easy to be proud of where I work during this presentation.   Without recapping the entire presentation, the IBAO highlighted 3 key points:

1.       Insureds want more contact with their brokers at a time & place of their choosing.  This convenient access was the #1 influencing factor for insureds to continue during business with a broker, or select another advisor. 

2.       Broker commissions are being reduced, time spent speaking with insureds is increasing.  Brokers must find ways to manage their time and workflows more efficiently.

3.       Brokers must “know their competitor”.  It’s not the broker down the street.  It’s the direct writers.

So, what is Keal doing to help our clients with these challenges?   We are working diligently to make sure every tool available in the modern world is in the hands of our brokers, reducing your processing time and increasing the time you spend selling and building relationships with your insurance consumer.   To name a few:

·         Real time policy change

o   This exists today and is being expanded to include more national insurers.

·         Call recording integration

o   Several brokers are using this today to bind business over the phone with audio signatures.

·         Zero touch eDoc processing

o   Keal was the first BMS to deliver this (and may still be the only zero touch option), and the upcoming sigXP release includes workgroup and suspense options to further enhance this workflow.

·        Keal Engage - Automated consumer surveys 

o   Integrated with sigXP, you can have transaction triggered surveys sent to your clients in real time.  Thus contributing to their need for additional communication from you throughout the year. 

·         Keal CAP, Consumer Access Point

o   Real time insurance consumer access.  True consumer self service options, connected in real time to your BMS. 

If you are not familiar with these solutions, I urge you to contact your Keal Sales & Account Executive or email us at sales@keal.com

Since 2010, the ICTC has hosted an award component at this conference.  An Insurance Canada Technology Award (ICTA) is bestowed upon the ‘Best in Class’ in 3 categories.  This year, those categories were Distributor, Insurer, and Supplier.  Keal was nominated for a distributor award for the Keal CAP, together with our partners Quindell and Ives Insurance.  Ives is the first broker to go live with the Keal CAP and delivering real time access to their consumers.  In this category, we were up against two distributors nominated in partnership with Applied Systems.  Keal took home the award.

This brings us back to the celebrating.  Was it because it was St. Patrick’s day?  Or because it was our President, Patrick Durepos’ birthday?  Or maybe because we won an award, recognizing Keal Brokers as having the most innovative solutions yet again?  Incidentally, we have been nominated every year and brought home the win 4 out of 5 nominations – something no other BMS partner can boast about. 

All of those things are fantastic, but no, this is not why we were celebrating.  As the only BMS partner that participated with a trade show booth, we celebrated the fact that our clients present at the event choose to spend their time with us at our booth.  Of all the companies present, our clients chose our space to hang out during breaks, take their lunch and sit with during sessions.  We see this as a testament to the fact that we are not just a vendor, but a partner.  We work hard to deliver the goods, because our clients are not just “users” of our systems, they are a part of our family.  And our family deserves the best. 

For a copy of the Keal Presentations shared at the ICTC please email stacey.miranda@keal.com