eDocs - Take the SNAIL out of your Mail!

By Sheldon Williams
Sales & Account Executive and Trainer
Keal Technology

Recently I watched a movie with my son about a snail that gained super powers as a result of a freak accident.  The snail mutated and became capable of moving at super fast speeds – he was a Turbo Snail.  While watching this movie, I could not help but see a similarity between snail mail and eDocs.

eDocs provides us all with the ability to download policy documents from the insurance carriers and eliminate the following actions:

·         opening mail

·         sorting mail

·         stamping mail

·         distributing mail

·         scanning

·         & hopefully shredding

Without this super power, we are subject to operating at a snail’s pace.

So, why are some reluctant to adopt this functionality? Is it the fear of change, or maybe that safe feeling that paper gives you? Or maybe many are unsure of whether Turbo is a pace that you are comfortable with. On the other hand, many are gearing up with eDocs while others are full speed ahead and benefiting by saving time, money and increasing efficiencies.  Of course, the proof is in the pudding and to validate the cost saving, CSIO has released an online eDocs Savings Calculator, as well as a number of testimonials of the savings. Here is a hyperlink to their website: http://www.csio.com/edocs-savings-calculator

 

Automatic Suspense (Abeyance) for eDocs/EDI

If moving at a turbo pace is not fast enough, hold on to your seats as we blow passed eDoc reports and automate the abeyance set-up process for eDocs & EDI. Currently, Keal brokers benefit from a zero-touch eDoc experience which allows documents to download directly into the client file with no manual intervention. This means no need to trigger the process by initiating a daily eDocs download into the client files. How do you know what documents have arrived? Historically eDoc reports are pulled showing what has downloaded for the day and then abeyances are set to advise the broker that their eDocs have arrived and to take necessary action. Keal brokers can fly passed this step so now when an eDoc or EDI download comes into your BMS, a suspense (or open abeyance) is created automatically. These can be created for a specific individual or workgroup and can also be colour coded if desired.

 

Suspense (Abeyance) Workgroups

Central processing has become more common as of late. Whether by transaction, alpha split, company etc. workgroups help to share the work amongst many and allow for a team approach to tackling workloads. This shared abeyance list can be linked to automated eDocs & EDI abeyances to streamline the process of distributing work providing a little nitro in your processing department. Suspenses will be displayed in a separate panel for workgroups and it clearly indicates which workgroup this suspense belongs to.

So, at the end of the movie, the snail ended up losing his super powers, however, he determined that all along he had the heart that it took to win the race. The same can be said for our broker partners. With all the technology available, the success of a brokerage is based on having heart. However, you have to admit, having heart and turbo can definitely put you ahead of the pack – with a few less paper cuts as well.

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

Use What You Have.

Pat Durepos
President, Keal Technology

A recent ad-hoc survey found that fewer than 1% of brokers work in real time with their insurers and none of them support access to their insureds on a 24-7 basis. The technology is available that lets brokers operate in real time with their insurer suppliers, but the dedication to take full advantage of it is lacking.

 

The aim of this article is to outline what stakeholders in the independent broker distribution network need to do, not only to maintain but to increase their presence and provide a healthy, stable, competitive marketplace for consumers, employees and shareholders.

Consumers want value for their insurance dollars, access to a trusted advisor, and be able to do simple transactions in real time from wherever they are and from whichever devices they choose.

Technology providers want to equip brokers with better technology than other distribution networks. This is a huge element in the equation to let the independent broker network survive and, more importantly, to thrive.

It has been said that the technology necessary to compete with that of direct writers is here now. The technological framework to deal with new issues is also here, and one of those technologies is telematics.

Telematics in Canada is barely a year old, but the regulatory and standard organizations have spoken. This is moving at an accelerated pace, which is a definite positive. However, will our distribution network move at an equal pace? The Centre for Study of Insurance Operations, and the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario’s IBRI subsidiary also deserve recognition for their contributions.

Last fall, Keal Technology did an internal ad-hoc survey with brokers in the Canadian market place. That survey found:

 

•Less than 50% of brokers work in a true paperless environment;

•Less than 20% of brokers work with integrated telephony; 

•Less than 1% of brokers work in real time with their insurers;

•0% of brokers provide support access to their insured's on a 24/7 basis.

It should be noted that in 2014, some brokers say they still do not download using CSIONet because they do not trust the data.

Owners and managers of brokerages are often asked: On a per-cent basis, how do you think your organization is using the full extent of your BMS, whichever make and model you have?  The answer is fairly consistent: "My people are pretty good; they probably use it to 75%-80% of its capacity."

However, the answer changes when we at Keal offer them one day of consulting – with no charge if their statement is verified as correct. On the other hand, they would have to pay for that consulting if it turns out they do not use their BMS to the capacity they claim. I have not given a free day yet, because so far, brokers have realized that the use of their existing tools is 50% or less.

The Insurance Brokers Association of Canada has been instrumental in providing guidelines via white papers on many technology issues. They are to be complimented for their approach and efforts in this area. Are stakeholders taking these as serious as they should, BMS providers included?

What Is Left To Do?

Brokers need to look at their organizations from ‘outside the box’ and start fully utilizing the technology they now have. There is an urgent need to invest in their organization to catch up. Time and dollars must be committed. This will result in transforming their organizations into efficient, client-focused and marketing oriented companies, growing over a short period of time and providing sustained profitability.

Brokers also need to lobby and work with their insurers to seriously commit to a technology partnership.

Insurers need to put a greater priority on real-time integration with brokers. Is it normal that fewer than three insurers are committed to doing automated policy change transactions with brokers? This is a transaction that accounts for an average of 30% of all transactions done in a broker's office and yet it brings less than 1% of the dollar revenue to the brokerage. Most importantly, consumers want to do simple changes as defined by them when and from what devices they choose. In a 2013 Deloitte survey focused on consumers dealing with the independent broker distribution network, 52% of consumers confirmed that they will move to direct writers if they cannot do simple policy changes (such as change of address) in an automated manner with their brokers.  Unfortunately, there are many other examples.

At the rate we are going, it is difficult to foresee the day when 80% of brokers can operate in real time with their insurer suppliers. The technology to do this is available today. It is the dedication that is lacking. Insurers often say they have built real-time upload integration and only 5% of brokers are using this. Sadly, this is true. We ask brokers why they are not using this tool and the reply is: we will use it when we have the real time download capability as well. We are caught up in the classic “chicken and egg” problem.

If brokers and insurers come together in a true technology partnership, then the technology is available to support all of these endeavors. The eDocs solution is living proof of what can be done in less than 12 months.

New generations are wired differently and communication makes for a fast-paced, multi-tasking environment. In this environment, answers and solutions need to be available in real time and they do not necessarily have to be provided by humans. This is possibly the most compelling reason for all stakeholders in this distribution network to act now. It is hard to make a financial business case to convince everyone to jump in and do their part.

However, time is of the essence. Consumers will decide our fate and one day, the federal and provincial regulatory bodies will not be as protective of our distribution network. So it bears repeating: time is of the essence.