Rowing in the Same Direction

Brokers succeeding without carriers or carriers succeeding without brokers is no success at all. A consensus is evolving that we need to succeed together, not individually, whenever delivering industry solutions.

This shift became noticeable to me when Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) changed its mission and vision statements to say it wants to collaborate with all parties interested in delivering innovative solutions to the

industry. Shortly thereafter, the Centre for the Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) affirmed its mandate to deliver technology standards and solutions that will improve the competitiveness of the broker channel. With this new sense of purpose, we need to build standard solutions that will augment consumers’ interactions with brokers and truly reduce industry expense ratios.

ROWING IN THE SAME DIRECTION

One solution that has taken the industry by storm is Electronic Document Transfer or e-Doc. This allows renewals and documents to be downloaded into the broker management system (BMS) and attached directly to the client file automatically. This solution clearly demonstrates that when insurers, brokers, BMS vendors and CSIO all work together, we are able to develop a standard process that facilitates the electronic transfer of documents in a very short period. e-Doc happened in less than one year.

e-Doc sets the stage for future solutions and innovation. One example is the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) Data Exchange project, which would essentially eliminate the current dependency on insurance company portals. While e-Doc introduces significant cost savings by reducing the need for paper and simplifying the logistics of moving it around the country, Data Exchange stands to deliver exponentially more significant savings. It is premised on brokers using their own BMS as the sole system in which we transact all business.

In my view, stakeholders would not have committed to pursue a more speculative project like Data Exchange if we couldn’t get our act together on e-Docs, which was very easy to justify from a cost savings standpoint.

Another area of interest is measuring ongoing customer engagement. Many stakeholders have become aware of how changing buying habits of consumers have affected their satisfaction with and ongoing commitment to the broker channel. Recent research shows that broker customers are not as engaged as they once were.

Historically, if carriers did any customer research at all, it remained proprietary and often not well-communicated or understood. The same could be said of research conducted by the few brokers that tried to gather their own customer feedback.

More recently, carriers such as Aviva, AXA, Gore Mutual, Intact and Unica have recognized the critical importance of having accurate, reliable customer intelligence. IBAO has been able to collaborate with these carriers to create a standard measurement tool that helps to set credible benchmarks against which brokers can gauge their performance. This collective approach to broker customer research also allows for the development of sophisticated predictive models, which offer critical insight into what drives consumer preference for buying though the broker channel.

We are running this study again in 2012. We have obtained significant ongoing commitment from both carriers and member brokers to continue supporting this critical initiative. We estimate that in 2012, at least 100 Ontario brokers will receive individual brokerage Risk Assessment and Performance Reports. The reports will support ongoing statistical aggregate analysis, performance benchmarking and the development of critical customer insights.

ROWING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS

Brokers must continue to convince insurers that collaborating as a channel on customer engagement is critically important. Unfortunately, even as we work collaboratively to learn more about consumer wants and needs, we still have insurers working at engagement solutions in one direction while brokers and their associations are working in another. Consider the examples below:

Mobile apps

Brokers represent a number of insurers. Consumers appreciate both choice and expert advice, and they are demanding increased touch points with their brokers. Responding to this demand, our strategic partner, Independent Broker Resources Inc. (IBRI), developed a mobile app for brokers. The app is branded to individual brokerages, allowing clients to access information about their own insurers. If an insured is in a claim, the app will allow the insured to report the claim roadside. The app then directs the insured to the preferred repair centre of his or her insurance company.

We are delighted with the success of the mobile app as it has been taken up not just in Ontario, but also in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec and Alberta. Quebec is very interested in a French version. Many insurers are providing to IBRI their preferred vendors lists for across the country.

Hopefully, this too will become an industry solution helping to engage consumers. The app connects the consumer with his or her broker of choice, the consumer gets specific claims advice from the insurer and the insurer is able to direct more claims to their preferred network of suppliers which, in turn, reduces fraud and an insurer’s claims costs. Everyone wins with the broker mobile app and, yet, insurers are still releasing their own individual mobile apps. This will provide multiple, confusing messages and options to the client. We need to work together.

Online quoting

Online quoting is another shiny object that seems to distract insurers. Four years ago, IBRI launched myinsuranceshopper.ca (MIS), an online branding exercise that allows consumers to find a local broker, get a price and engage them in a space where the broker brand did not have a presence as of 2008. We have invested significant resources to drive traffic to this site and have delivered a valuable online branding campaign. Recently, through some changes in the architecture of the site, MIS is much more likely to appear on the top of Google search pages, which present the outcome of keyword searches in order of relevancy. Our hope is that when the keyword “insurance” is searched through Google, consumers will be directed to broker websites as the first option, followed by the MIS site.

How is this a standard industry solution? Consumers tell us they like to shop online. However, they don’t like to make a purchase without consulting with a licensed professional.

As a channel, we need to deliver an effective tool for consumers to do their online shopping. This tool must provide a solution for not just one insurer or broker, but for all insurers and brokers. We need to win the online traffic as a channel; we can’t as individual brokers or insurers.

However, insurers continue to build their own individual online quoting tools. This runs the significant risk of fracturing the online marketplace.

I believe MIS presents an opportunity for brokers and insurers alike to adopt an online tool that enhances the broker channel value proposition instead of clouding it with multiple direct access solutions. Working together is less expensive for each of us and delivers a better solution. So far myinsuranceshopper.ca has been endorsed by Ontario, New Brunswick and most recently Alberta. Other provinces are also investigating MIS and are likely to make announcements shortly.

COLLABORATION

It is critical that insurers market online as well as brokers. A couple of insurers are doing a really nice job of online marketing and branding. If those insurers would add a call to action on each site visit for a consumer to “click here to get a quote,” and if that site traffic were driven to MIS (where the consumer can pick a broker), we are then marrying the consumer with an insu rer’s national brand recognition and the trusted advice of his or her local broker. That is where we will find true success!

We need to succeed together by finding broad industry solutions rather than narrow individual solutions. That is the place from which our long-term success will come.