Next Generation Insurance: Leading from the front.

The role of “business analyst” is getting more and more important as product/package companies are passing more control from IT to the hands of business users. Things like maintaining business rules, changing workflows or adding new fields on a screen - things that involved IT just few years back are now comfortably being done by business analysts. The toolset based products which can be changed via “configuration” through UI, rather than “customization” through code is helping the paradigm shift. The catch is very often it requires some IT skills like knowledge of XML or learning a scripting language which an ordinary business user (like an underwriter) may not be able to do. To make this happen a new set of “trained” business analysts are evolving who have good understanding of both business and IT. Let’s call them “Business Analyst 2.0”.

So who are these people and what skills they need? Typically they come from two different backgrounds. First set of people are business users who have used the systems for a long time and then learned the “back end stuff” through projects. So they started from business and moved towards IT. Second set of people are IT developers who have acquired the business knowledge through their interaction with business users. So they started from IT and moved towards business. So the business analyst 2.0 is someone who has the right balance of experience & expertise in both IT & business. Remind me of “blue flame” – just the right balance of air & fuel which produces maximum light.

Now, we are all very familiar with the concept of PMO – Project/Program Management Office. The concept of the PMO, having a centralized unit with focused approach, can very well be applied to business analysts also. And companies have started having a common team of business analysts - trained & managed centrally and serving wide variety of projects. And I bet we will hear the term BAO – Business Analyst Office more & more in future. You may call it differently but the core concept will be very similar.

Wanted to know from you – does your company or your client is making use of the Business Analyst 2.0 or BAO? Please share your thoughts and experience related to this concept.

Posted by Souvik Roychoudhury at 5:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Product launches are the lifeblood of most insurance carriers- even for those who position themselves as providers of basic product features, there is a tendency to bloat the product portfolio with the push to cater to various market niches with variations of core products. In many cases, these product launches tend to drive operational complexity and creation of additional silos due to the pressure of speed to market but also because of the dramatic pull of revenues on the business case for a product launch.

If you consider the financial case for a new product launch, the revenue and related margin expectations provide significant justification for spending the organizational efforts to cater to the new / emerging market needs. But very often the operational short-cuts (postponements of "Day2 aspects") result in increasing complexity and impact on customer satisfaction is left out of the equation. It is often very difficult for future investments in operational improvements to make a similarly sound financial case due to the lack of cohesive metrics to connect customer service degradation to customer retention and financial bottomline- it is easier to inject band-aids & fixes than make the case for investing in operational improvements that can save only internal carrier costs.

One way to address the imbalance is to look towards customer impact scores - a simple mechanism to ensure operational complexity does not adversely impact customer impact is to add the costs for addressing any operational complexity to the cost of the product launch itself. From a COO standpoint, any new product launch should at worst be neutral to customer servicing impact - maintaining a scoring mechanism or customer impact and estimating future costs of keeping the score neutral can be established as a core component of the business case for the product launch itself.

Posted by George Ignatius at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently came across an article on the demographic shifts in the US market where:

1.The multigenerational household is gaining prominence - affecting major purchases, like automobiles, homes and college tuition. With a record 70 million grandparents in America in 2010, these grandparents will be deeply involved with their grandchildren - with decisions often being made by two generations of people - the parents and the grandparents.

2.No household type will neatly describe even one-third of households. The iconic American family (married couple with children) will account for a mere 22% of households. The most prevalent type of U.S. household will be married couple with no kids, followed closely by single-person households

3.Diversity will vary greatly by age - the younger population substantially more diverse than the old . By 2015, 80% of people age 65-plus will be white non-Hispanics and just 54% of children under age 18 will be white non-Hispanics. White non-Hispanics will account for fewer than half of births by 2015

Other than the shifts, the next generation of consumers will be heavily influenced a fragmented media I believe, with these changes in demographics, the “Always On Society” (the next generation of consumers) will demand and leverage “Always On Business Models” dramatically increasing the number of touchpoints between a consumer and an Insurance carrier. I believe that the key imperatives for carriers in dealing with the next-generation of policy owners are going to be:

1.Know Your Customer : Analytics program to drive a better understanding the next generation of policy owners and their needs / buying patterns
2.Target your customer : Interactive & Social Marketing
3.Multi-channel Distribution : A distribution model that provides multiple access points while maintaining a consistent user experience
4.Ubiquitous Service Model : An always on service model

What’s your take?

Posted by Sanjay Mohan at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently came across an article on the demographic shifts in the US market where

1.The multigenerational household is gaining prominence - affecting major purchases, like automobiles, homes and college tuition. With a record 70 million grandparents in America in 2010, these grandparents will be deeply involved with their grandchildren - with decisions often being made by two generations of people - the parents and the grandparents.

2.No household type will neatly describe even one-third of households. The iconic American family (married couple with children) will account for a mere 22% of households. The most prevalent type of U.S. household will be married couple with no kids, followed closely by single-person households

3.Diversity will vary greatly by age - the younger population substantially more diverse than the old . By 2015, 80% of people age 65-plus will be white non-Hispanics and just 54% of children under age 18 will be white non-Hispanics. White non-Hispanics will account for fewer than half of births by 2015

Other than the shifts, the next generation of consumers will be heavily influenced a fragmented media I believe, with these changes in demographics, the “Always On Society” (the next generation of consumers) will demand and leverage “Always On Business Models” dramatically increasing the number of touchpoints between a consumer and an Insurance carrier. I believe that the key imperatives for carriers in dealing with the next-generation of policy owners are going to be

1.Know Your Customer : Analytics program to drive a better understanding the next generation of policy owners and their needs / buying patterns
2.Target your customer : Interactive & Social Marketing
3.Multi-channel Distribution : A distribution model that provides multiple access points while maintaining a consistent user experience
4.Ubiquitous Service Model : An always on service model

What’s your take?

Posted by Siva Nandiwada at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)