Frank Heaps's blog

Frank Heaps
Director, P&C Product Marketing
StoneRiver

Are you keeping up with your customers? Technology is changing rapidly; we all know that. We also understand that keeping up is a huge challenge. All this change is reshaping consumer expectations and they will quickly change their expectations of their insurance carriers. Youth generally drives technology change but older consumers are quickly embracing the ability to easily access and update information. All this inter-connectivity has been around for years, but the user interaction has become so simple and so seamless that basically anyone can do it. However, too many carriers are still processing insurance on systems that are 30 years old and cannot easily adapt to the new world.

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Frank Heaps
Director, P&C Product Marketing
StoneRiver

Recruiting is a tough proposition for most carriers. The average working age of an insurance professional is 56 and they plan to retire by 66. Within 14 years the approaching talent gap will severely impact our industry. Factor in the time to train people, attrition, and market dynamics, and we are looking at a chasm in our underwriters, adjusters, management, etc.

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Frank Heaps
Director, P&C Product Marketing
StoneRiver

That is a great question. Each year we see a new report from analysts and industry media that laments the aging work force of insurance and insurance IT professionals. When you couple the aging workforce issue with carriers that are downsizing or not replacing staff that leave, this is a real and a serious business problem. We know that the market will turn at some point, and indications are it could happen within the next 12 to 18 months. Will you be ready? How long does it take you to train an underwriter? An adjuster? A CSR?

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Frank Heaps
Director, P&C Product Marketing
StoneRiver

This is the time of year when many solution providers are hosting their first of at least two user community meetings. “User community” is not just a fancy way to say “user group” but represents a way to define multiple groups that work together for a common goal; like the community where you live. To continue the analogy, these are your town hall meetings.

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Frank Heaps
Director, P&C Product Marketing
StoneRiver

As I read through analyst reviews of trends in the P&C software and solutions industry, I am struck by the hype of solutions that focus on a toolkit approach to workflow design. This is a popular trend in the industry and one of the keys to improving speed and accuracy in your insurance operation. However, the industry is still maturing when it comes to workflow-driven solutions.

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Frank Heaps
Director, P&C Product Marketing
StoneRiver

This is a continuation of our three-part look at ways to retain your customers and attract new customers through innovation. Part one was about policy processing and ways to help attract new customers. Part two examined billing and ways to provide innovative service in electronic form. In this part we look at how to excel in the eyes of your customers and prove the value of being a customer of your company. Claims are the single most important touch point and the place where you show your value as an insurance company. I specialize in the claims domain and often refer to claims as the reason we have insurance to begin with: things get damaged or people are injured and therefore you need to replace, fix, or heal.

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Frank Heaps
Director, P&C Product Marketing
StoneRiver

This is a continuation of our three-part look at ways to retain your customers and attract new customers through innovation. Part one was about policy processing and ways to help attract new customers. Part three will focus on showing your true value to your customers. This posting examines billing and ways to be innovative as part of ongoing customer service and support.

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Frank Heaps
Director, P&C Product Marketing
StoneRiver

The past 18 months have been tough for the property and casualty insurance industry. The soft market coupled with a weak economy has put companies under pressure to grow the business while working to retain customers. The consumer that may be more directly affected by our economy is the most price sensitive shopper: younger consumers. That is not to say that the more affluent income earner is not price sensitive or at risk, but they are not as likely to evaluate new carriers to save a few percentage points a year for their insurance. At a recent meeting of our advisory group of customer executives, several members indicated that retention rates in personal and consumer lines are weakening.

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