How to profitably grow premiums
Posted by David Gallagher on Thu, Jan 14, 2010 @ 10:42 AM
The New Year is upon us. It is already two weeks old, and I am still not writing "2010" as the date. Maybe by this time next year I'll have settled into writing 2010!
It's a good thing technology moves faster than I do. At iter8 we have completed a major update to our Agent Portal product - collabor8. Completed in December 2009, and undergoing final testing as it is rolled out in our current implementations it represents a major technology upgrade for collabor8.
With rich new functionality, enhancements to current processes, and enhancements to performance it represents another step forward for collabor8. Information from our current customers, from prospective new customers and through market assessment combine to guide our product upgrade efforts.
All new implementations will use the new product version, while current clients will migrate at a pace they wish.
In my last blog I spoke about 5 key answers our customers are seeking. The first is "How to profitably grow their premiums". Insurance Networking News issued an article at the start of the month "Technology Unleashes Underwriters from desks". Read how three carriers are using connected Agent Portals to change the role of their underwriting team to profitably grow their premiums. In this case there are two main drivers:
- Through automation and straight-through processing Underwriters are freed from Administrative tasks, and can focus on more high-value tasks, and prospective new business
- As administrative tasks are reduced underwriters can interact more with independent agents and fulfill a business development role
According to INN, quoting the 2009 "Independent Producer Survey" from Celent, independent agents said the underwriter relationship is the No. 1 reason they call a certain carrier their favorite. To grow premiums carriers must have a critical mass of independent agents calling them "their favorites." To reinforce a position iter8 has taken for many years, Mike Fitzgerald of Celent, author of the study stated, "Automated underwriting is not going to replace the underwriter, it's going to free up underwriters to use their talent in the best place possible."
iter8 customers find that the implementation of a connected agent portal is best addressed through a strategy to implement numerous deliverables over a multi-year period. This is much more valuable than an all-or-nothing strategy. In this manner the project can be broken into manageable deliverables, each of which delivers "wins" to agents and carriers. As successes arise and growth occurs new opportunities and challenges emerge that drive the next phases of the project. The result is a long series of wins, and steady growth.