Question

Enterprise Transformation at Trustworthy Insurance

CIO Sheila Lee had every reason to be pleased with herself on this crisp winter day. She smiled at her image in the ladies room mirror as she checked her suit jacket. A petite Asian who dressed with flair, she had recently been recognized as one of the country’s top 100 most powerful women. A newcomer to Trustworthy Insurance’s executive leadership team, she had successfully delivered a huge new enterprise initiative that was central to her company’s transformation strategy—on time and on budget. Concerto Insurance was North America’s first fully online direct insurance business—and a new brand of its parent company, Trustworthy Insurance. For the first time, customers could obtain a fully binding quote for their car or home insurance directly online and purchase it without the need to go through a customer service representative or insurance broker to finalize the deal.

Although it was entirely ITbased, Concerto had been a significant undertaking for the entire company, Sheila reflected, as she walked down the hall to the boardroom. She couldn’t have done it without the CEO’s support and that of the entire business leadership team. When Sheila joined Trustworthy Insurance two years ago it was a midsized multichannel insurance company founded in 1871 with premiums of more than $2 billion annually and $6 billion in assets. Over the years it had experienced considerable growth and change through the acquisition of a number of different brands, including a pet insurance division and a commercial insurance division. Until Concerto, however, its business model had essentially remained the same. It relied on its network of independent brokers who worked in agencies across the country to recommend Trustworthy products. But as CEO Kelly Mason noted in a shareholders’ meeting three years’ ago, the insurance industry was changing rapidly and companies that didn’t keep pace would be left behind. “We have a vision of becoming a top property and casualty insurer,” she had said. “Our executive leadership team is committed to growing our business and we want to deliver the best possible products and service to our customers. We can’t do this simply by doing business in the same old way. We have a great broker network and we’re fully supportive of it, but our research shows that there are many customers we are not reaching.

Even excluding the impact of our investment in Concerto, our adjusted combined ratio is still 104.6 percent, which is too high. And we expect our strategic investments will continue to increase operating expenses over the next few years. However, we hope these investments will begin to improve our operational efficiency over the next few quarters and expect to see profitable growth in the longer term as a result. A key challenge in addressing these numbers has been our underwriting performance that has been poorer than expected. As you know, our goal with Concerto was to rewrite underwriting to make it fully automated for our customers. We will need to continue to tweak this component in order to make it more cost beneficial. And finally, while the market has given us a bit of a break this past year, we can expect it to be tougher on us going forward.” With that, Ron sat down and Kelly nodded at Jim Jenkins. Jim, who looked every bit of the actuary he was, in a pinstripe suit and horn-rimmed glasses, glanced around the room somewhat nervously. “Well,” he said, “I guess that puts us in Underwriting on the hot seat.

As you all know, automating underwriting has been a significant component of Concerto. We invested heavily in big data so we could access both structured and unstructured data about an individual’s home and car without them having to answer numerous questions. This required developing real-time access to a variety of third-party data providers through external interfaces. We can now get comprehensive information about properties in a particular postal area from a variety of service providers and details about an individual’s claims and driving history from the insurance bureau and Ministry of Transportation information simply by asking a customer a few key questions. We had to put a lot of work into these questions to get this right. We then developed advanced analytics so we could prepare a binding quote for an online buyer in real time. We wanted to keep things simple and straightforward but to know enough to be able to offer a customer a unique product tailored to their needs. This has been an instrumental component in providing our customers a unique insurance experience.” Jim gazed at the ceiling as if seeking inspiration to continue.

After a long pause he said, “As you all know, Concerto suggests three levels of coverage for each customer request: economy, recommended, and premium. However, as you have seen from the financials, there is still work to be done in our underwriting processes. We are constantly working to improve our ability to gather and use information, and tweaking our underwriting algorithms is our number one priority. Our use of big data and realtime analytics has captured global attention in the insurance industry and already sets us apart. Our full attention in Underwriting will now be on making the necessary adjustments to remain price competitive while reducing our combined ratios.” Kristen Stewart then took the floor. Although much younger than everyone else in the room, she had won their respect through her social media acumen and intuitive grasp of customer needs. “Marketing’s research played a significant role in the development of the Concerto strategy,” she said. “You all know that a key value of our company is our commitment to an exceptional customer experience. That is why we value our brokers so highly and why we invested significantly in customer research before making the decision to develop an online channel. We believe these investments have helped us create a highly customer-centric product with Concerto.

We, in Marketing, began this process several years ago with an initiative to explore shifting customer expectations and identify unmet customer needs.” “We found that almost one-half of all personal insurance policies were sold online, and that number was growing annually. But most players in the industry tap into rational marketing drivers such as price. We felt there was also some white space there around an emotional connection. In fact, our research revealed that when it comes to buying insurance 56 percent of purchasing drivers are actually emotional. Combining this with the needs of potential millennial customers, we realized that we could win the hearts and minds of these customers by changing everything about their experience with buying insurance, not just putting a traditional insurance experience online. Our goal was to be known as ‘not your typical insurance company.’ In short, Concerto has been designed to be a parallel digital experience. It doesn’t take away from our brokerage offerings but expands our market significantly.” Warming to her topic, Kristen held up three fingers. “When we began work on Concerto, we based it on three pillars: make it simple; make it available at their fingertips; and offer a customized product that best meets customer needs. To this end the Concerto team first mapped the end-to-end customer journey through the discovery, quoting, purchasing, servicing, and claims processes and then ensured these three pillars were addressed at every touch point.

Concerto products are also written in everyday language—like we speak—and clean modern design is used in both our print and online materials to help customers easily understand complex topics. They provide an engaging experience for customers that informs and creates connections for them.” “This new approach at Concerto was complemented by a broader shift to an even more customer-centric focus at Trustworthy that positions us as a forward-looking partner in the industry as well as a trusted one. We’ve simplified our overall image to create a more modern look that better reflects our ambitions as a company. We have refreshed our brand and redesigned our web site to more accurately tell our company story. Our biggest challenge now is to bring what we’ve learned with Concerto to our broker community to help them offer a best-in-class experience combining advice and digital support. But we aren’t sure what this will look like yet.” “Thank you Kristen,” said Kelly. “I think we all agree that our new look-and-feel is impressive. I’ll now ask Sheila to summarize IT’s perspective on Concerto and our ongoing transformation needs.” “Thanks Kelly,” said Sheila, walking to the front of the room. “As the newest member of our leadership team, who missed participating in the strategy development process, I deeply appreciate all the support you’ve given me since I joined Trustworthy. Although Concerto looks like an IT product, what we’ve just heard reinforces the fact that it’s a business strategy and its success required full business participation. From a technology point of view, this was an ideal project. Not only did we have a fully committed business team, we also had Kelly’s support at every single steering committee meeting.” Gesturing to the room, she bowed briefly to each of them.

“It is thanks to each of you that we’ve come so far so fast.” Smiling broadly, she continued. “When I joined Trustworthy as its CIO, frankly, I was uncertain we could pull this off, but I was very impressed with the discipline I found at all levels. In addition to full business support, I believe a critical success factor for this project was the fact that we were supported in taking a green field approach. By creating a separate office and team, we were freed from having to deal with a lot of legacy technology baggage. Although there was some back-end systems integration to contend with, we got knowledgeable people moved over to the Concerto office to help us. Creating a separate Concerto team enabled us to adopt a collaborative working model that facilitated problem solving.” Sheila’s enthusiasm was infectious although the group had only a limited understanding of the technological details she was speaking about. “The Concerto project adopted agile and DevOps practices from the start,” she said. “We divided our staff into small multidisciplinary teams so that each could work to continuously develop, integrate, and implement new functionality. We also developed a hybrid model of cloud and on-premise technology that has enabled an agile environment and which now helps us respond to new demands and opportunities extremely quickly.

“In fact, the main challenge I am dealing with right now is handling our other IT staff who want to know why the Concerto team is having so much fun! And we need to figure out how to bring what we’ve learned at Concerto back to our parent Trustworthy IT and business organizations.” “Thank you Sheila,” said Kelly warmly, as she stood up and began a round of applause. “I think I speak for all of us when I say we couldn’t have done it without you! A business strategy is only as good as its execution and Concerto in my opinion has been superbly executed. Well done! “Concerto has helped bring our growth strategy to life,” Kelly continued. “It started us on a journey of digital transformation but it’s just a start. Our next step will be to leverage our Concerto platform and experience for the rest of our business, especially our broker channel. From the beginning, we’ve been careful in how we managed our broker relationships, but now we have to redesign the rest of the insurance experience by combining digital transformation with deep industry expertise. As I said earlier, we cannot afford to stand still. We either have to disrupt or be disrupted.

Therefore, our challenges are twofold: to continue to improve the Concerto brand, and to apply what we’ve learned to our other Trustworthy brands and processes. “I see this as part of our multichannel evolution. It will involve further research, new ways of using data, new delivery mechanisms, new digital services, education, and cultural change. Our focus must continue to be on providing a superb customer experience regardless of the process or channel used. You have all been an important part of our transformation to date. I believe we as a company are unique in that we have taken a multifaceted approach to change. Our competitors have tended to focus only on technology. Fundamentally, the key to our competitiveness has been the successful business–IT collaboration at multiple levels. For this reason, I have decided to create a new position on our executive team here at Trustworthy. Please congratulate Sheila Lee as our new Chief Transformation Officer. She will be working with each of you and our new CIO to lead our company-wide digital transformation forward.” She paused, allowing Sheila to accept the congratulations of her peers. Then turning to Sheila she said, “The ball is in your court Sheila. What’s our next move?” “Thanks, Kelly,” Sheila said, standing up and smoothing her skirt. She had known about her new role for two days and had been thinking exclusively about the “next move.” She began cautiously. “Each of you has touched on part of the challenge we have with Concerto. We need to find ways to manage our costs down. It’s not just new business we’re after but profitable business and business efficiency. We must focus on how to use data to manage the risks of the business—such as exposure to different markets and products, dependence on third-party data, and changing demographics— as well as simply improving underwriting. And we are re-positioning ourselves in the marketplace with our three-pronged approach to customer experience. “But our bigger challenge as an organization is how do we leverage what we have learned with Concerto? First, we have to consider our traditional business, which has been our bread-and-butter. Kelly has just underlined the strategic importance of our agents to the future success of the company.

Discussion Questions

1. 1. Flesh out Sheila’s nightmare. Describe a scenario where Concerto becomes “disintermediated by a non-traditional company.” What impacts would this have on Trustworthy Insurance?

2. 2. Why would this be important to consider before designing any future transformation initiatives?

3. 3. Outline the next steps of a business strategy for Trustworthy Insurance that would extend transformation further into the organization. .

Answer 1

Ans1 :  Concerto would become “disintermediated by a non-traditional company” as the company automating underwriting is significant component of the company. The company has invested too much big data so that they can access both the structured and unstructured data about an user’s home and car without asking their users so many questions and answers from them. It required third party data interfaces. They could get comprehensive information about properties in a particular mail area from a variety of facility providers and details about an individual’s claims and taking history from the insurance bureau and Ministry of Transportation information simply by asking a customer a few key questions. The advance use of analytics would help them converting an buyer online. The other aim that company wants from analytics is to provide users great experience.Concerto would become “disintermediated by a non-traditional company” as the company automating underwriting is significant component of the company. The company has invested too much big data so that they can access both the structured and unstructured data about an user’s home and car without asking their users so many questions and answers from them. It required third party data interfaces. They could get comprehensive information about properties in a particular mail area from a variety of facility providers and details about an individual’s claims and taking history from the insurance bureau and Ministry of Transportation information simply by asking a customer a few key questions. The advance use of analytics would help them converting an buyer online. The other aim that company wants from analytics is to provide users great experience.Concerto would become “disintermediated by a non-traditional company” as the company automating underwriting is significant component of the company. The company has invested too much big data so that they can access both the structured and unstructured data about an user’s home and car without asking their users so many questions and answers from them. It required third party data interfaces. They could get comprehensive information about properties in a particular mail area from a variety of facility providers and details about an individual’s claims and taking history from the insurance bureau and Ministry of Transportation information simply by asking a customer a few key questions. The advance use of analytics would help them converting an buyer online. The other aim that company wants from analytics is to provide users great experience. The challenges for Trustworthy are costs cutting, run the business effectively and efficiently, make business profitable, focus on how to use and manage data, changing demographics and repositioning the minds of customers.

Ans B: It is important to consider before future transformation as the current insurance industry is broker dominated and is offline process and company is moving towards digital transformation. From the starting them company has good broker relationship and by going online they will remve their intermediatory role. The company is redesigning insurance experience by combining digital transformation with deep industry expertise. The company has to continusally improve its brand and processes and provide customer experience regardless of the channel used.

Ans 3: The steps the comapny could extend is to become online insurance aggregator. The company could also extends its product line for increasing the portfolio their offerings. By use of big data and alaytics the company can offer customer centric products.