When carriers think about innovation and achieving competitive advantage, most focus on big changes: introducing new products like Usage Based Insurance, redesigning business processes, deploying major technology initiatives like customer and agent portals or new policy administration systems. They think of trends like social media, predictive analytics, and big data.
But innovation and competitive advantage can be achieved by making smaller improvements in everyday processes. For example, understanding and keeping current with ISO changes is critical to most carriers. Consider ISO’s recent Commercial Lines updates. Per their October briefing, ISO CL Update, the Commercial Automobile Program alone included a new auto dealers program and 26 new optional endorsements.
For most carriers, hearing that major updates are coming raises shudders. Carriers know that analyzing ISO updates, comparing them to the current version of rates and forms in use, and identifying changes is a challenge. It takes significant time and knowledge to pour through the various ISO materials and determine what has changed and how the changes impact the carrier’s book of business. Since so many carriers already have too much on their plate, they often let ISO updates slide, failing to adopt them in a timely manner. Thus they miss the small innovations that can improve their product offerings and improve their bottom line. When they do choose to catch-up, it is often a daunting effort to jump several versions in one leap, introducing massive change to their systems, processes, and books of business.
Applying automation to the comparison of ISO changes could improve the efficiency of the analysis process, allowing carriers to more quickly determine the impact of adopting or not adopting ISO changes. This targeted solution is not a major system implementation, but it is an innovation that would allow you to best leverage your investment in ISO content, and improve a cumbersome process. It is a small innovation that would allow a carrier to dramatically improve its ability to analyze and react to ISO changes. A small innovation with a big payoff in more efficient internal processes that can translate to improved products, product pricing, and the bottom line.
A solution already exists. Edgewater Consulting has leveraged its deep industry and technical knowledge and long-standing ISO relationship to develop a cloud-based solution to address this critical business need. The solution compares ISO rate books and quickly identifies what has changed, and presents results in Microsoft Excel, a familiar yet powerful analytical tool.
We will be hosting a webinar with ISO to demonstrate the tool, using it to analyze ISO’s commercial auto changes released on October 1. If you’re interested in attending, register here.
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