INSURANCE AGENT – WHAT NOW?
MODERN STRUCTURE FOR YOUR FUTURE
The world is in constant change. Many people believe that this change yields dangers on the one hand, but also a lot of opportunities on the other. We think that this change only is dangerous for those who shut themselves off to it. Whereas the opportunities are extensive and offer a wide range of improvements for your agency. It is up to you to take advantage of these opportunities and set up your agency for the future.
YOUR WIN: TIME
A totally justifiable question is why one should undertake these changes. After all, the transformation is associated with a lot of effort.
But this effort is well justified. Because after completion of the transformation, you receive: time. No matter from which perspective you look at it, the efficiency gained is most easily expressed in time. Time that is freely available to you. Time that can be invested in acquisition. Time that can also be invested in free time. Time is a parameter that one can influence only conditionally and only by an intelligent design of its use.
How much time is saved, of course, can only be estimated in advance- Though, in peaks, it can be up to 25%! In other words, you and your employees complete their tasks in six instead of eight hours.
THE WAY TO THE PRESENT
What does everyday life look like in your agency? Do you think you are fit for the present? You cannot answer these questions in a lump sum, but we can already reveal that much: Digitalization is more than just sending forms to your customers by e-mail.
But what exactly does digitization mean in view of daily work in an insurance agency? Probably there are as many answers to this question as there are insurance agencies, because the solutions are subject to the same individual parameters as the previous way of working. The number of employees plays just as big of a role as the personal skills and characteristics of the individual employees. The number of variables makes it almost impossible to develop a standard solution that is equally applicable to all insurance agencies. That is why we pursue a solution based on an individual analysis of the circumstances.
1. THE ANALYSIS
The basis of our work is an extensive analysis of the actual state. Here, the previous procedures in all relevant areas such as acquisition/sales, consulting, product comparison, order handling and after sales are examined intensively. An important aspect of this is the respective process utilization, since there is a great potential for savings here.
But not only are the work processes themselves put to the test, but also the employees. The goal is to get a comprehensive impression of both the prevailing processes and the resources available. In particular, there are often unknown resources hidden in the individual skills and competencies of team members.
Thirdly, the existing IT infrastructure with all your hardware and software components used is assessed. Here it is necessary to determine which of these components meet the new requirements and which do not.
In order to obtain a coherent overall picture, the existing customer and contract world is finally analyzed. All these elements then yield the objectively assessed status quo of the agency.
2. THE CONCEPT
The knowledge gained from the analysis will now be worked out in several processes into a comprehensive overall concept. The first thing to do is to define meaningful target scenarios, i.e. the target state of the agency. A sensible mix of various optimizations is used, such as the optimization of individual processes to increase efficiency. Among other things, automation helps to relieve employees and make them available for other tasks. But aspects such as workplace ergonomics also have an impact on efficiency and are considered accordingly.
At the end of the conception phase, you get a first overview of the expected savings potential. The concept will now be discussed with the client and finally a step-by-step plan will be drawn up for the realization - because Rome was not built in one day either.
3. INTEGRATION
The third step is now from theory to practice. The concept is integrated into the agency in daily working life. This integration takes place as part of a successive transformation process. You cannot turn a house upside down if you want to modernize it. You have to renovate it piece by piece to finally get a modern, energy efficient and sustainable building. The example should symbolize how we realize the implementation with you in your agency so that it succeeds. Every company has technology-savvy people who see the benefits of innovation and are prepared to implement it. Under the guidance of the management, they should begin the digitization integration process and familiarize themselves with the new hardware and software. These so-called integrators can show the improvements to the other employees and inspire them for the concept. It is important that in the course of the transformation process all employees - including the management - "live" the new concept, because only then the optimizations can be successful. Often such restructuring fails because of the reluctance of the employees, since humans are so used to their habits. Especially in terms of "automation" and "efficiency" many fear the loss of their jobs. Out of this fear they generate unnecessary work steps in the hope to make themselves irreplaceable. In individual conversations, these employees must be relieved of the fear of change and one has to explain to them the benefits of the new approach. Training that enhances safety in dealing with innovation is, in our view, essential to the integration process. Therefore, a realistic timeframe for the integration phase - depending on the size of the company - can be defined as nine to twelve months.
YOUR POTENTIAL
Certainly the question is justified, how much saving potential the digitization and the associated changes really offers. Since these are individual solutions, a flat-rate answer is obviously not possible. Based on our experience, we would like to show you a calculation based on a realistic example. Our model agency is owner-managed, in addition, 2 customer advisors/sales representatives, 2 office employees and 1 apprentice are employed. The working method is conventional so far. By introducing modern, digital processes, a time saving of up to 2 hours per employee per day can be achieved!
6 employees with 2 hours of time saved per day mean:
- 10 hours of time per employee per week
- 60 hours of time saving for the entire agency per week
- 240 hours in total time savings per month