The Broker's Portal

Swiss Re's exciting proposal is stirring up each broker and independent financial advisor around, but the old saying that insurance is a product that has to be sold, not bought, is still very much true.

The internet will be very helpful for brokers to use to carry out their business. A managing director of one of the largest Swedish brokerage firms was quoted in a Datamonitor report, Brokers in European Insurance; Challenges in a Channel under Threat, "Online technologies are at the core or brokers' attempts to reposition themselves in the market. They are essential not only to increase the efficiency and reduce the costs of customer management, but also to make brokers more accessible to their clients."

They are starting to be very important in making insurance companies more available to brokers. By presenting brokers secure portal-based entrance to an insurer's network, insurers make it easier for brokers to do business with them. Broker portals allow brokers to complete a number of activities, from executing rate calculations to submitting new business.

To the insurance company broker, self-service can mean expense savings in many ways. UK Insurer Independent Insurance estimates that, as 95% of the costs of an insurance policy are able to be transacted, brokers could be sold policies for a cheaper price if the transaction was completed through the web.

There's also quite a bit of money to be put back by the administration, like decreased call center traffic, less paper handling, getting rid of errors because companies can build in mandatory edits that keep brokers from going further if they've made an error. In addition to this, the insurance company gets to drastically improve service levels by quickening turnaround times on everything from alterations to proposals capture.

Empire BlueCross BlueShield, an American insurance provider, has enlarged its broker services to provide quotes, rate calculation, proposal creation and enrollment on its broker website. The brokers have gladly received it. According to a spokesperson from the company, "The vendors just love it. It gives them the opportunity to wow their customers. They feel more in control. They are not dependent on us to be here for customer service. They can come in on Saturdays and Sundays and work with the product."

It would be nice if all customer service could run this wonderfully!