Check out this #Youtube video sponsored by cogneesol, that covers the complete information on how insurance outsourcing is playing an important role in the insurance industry in terms to boost the productivity of the insurance entrepreneurs and help them to manage their all core and non core tasks effectively.
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Check out this #Youtube video sponsored by cogneesol, that covers the complete information on how insurance outsourcing is playing an important role in the insurance industry in terms to boost the productivity of the insurance entrepreneurs and help them to manage their all core and non core tasks effectively.
insurance, insurance back office, insurance outsource, insurance outsourcing, outsource insurance, insurance bpo, Insurance backoffice services
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The increasing workload of insurance agency functions in today's world has imposed a heavy burden upon businesses nowadays. Insurance agency owners are always looking to increase efficiency while maintaining a low resource input. Many business tactics help in achieving it, but one often overlooked strategy is to outsource insurance agency management services. If you're running a large-scale insurance business or a small scale one, outsourcing can help take your profits higher.
Outsourcing isn't just something business should look to unless circumstances force them to and there are many reasons why. Let us have a look at a few.
Top Reasons to Outsource Insurance Agency Management
1. Minimize Costs & Free Up In-House Staff
There are many highly skilled workers around the globe that will work for cheaper than local resources, especially if you're in the US. This freed up money can be allotted to a different location, thereby getting you more for less. Furthermore, outsourcing insurance agency management frees your in-house staff that can be focused on other core aspects of business allowing for a more accelerated growth.
2. Hire the Best Experts
There is high competition among the outsourcing firms with each of them going head to head to provide a client with the best services for the lowest cost. As there are a lot of outsourcing service providers, it is important to be careful when picking one as you might end up picking the wrong one. Ascertain which component of your organization needs to be outsourced and have a clear picture of what you're looking for in a provider. Do your research regarding provider reliability and reputation and reach out to all your connections when choosing a provider. Do it right and you'll be able to take advantage of dedicated professionals that will boost your business' efficiency.
3. Growth Prospect for both Large and Small Businesses
It is not only the large insurance businesses that can benefit from outsourcing. Small businesses can also take advantage of the affordable, skilled professionals to help their businesses grow. There's is a wide range of expert, experienced individuals out there waiting to be hired for a low cost. This comes with the added advantage of spending less on payroll taxes and employee benefits, lower space needs and access to competent and reliable professionals.
4. Take Advantage of Time Zones
Imagine a scenario where your employees didn't need rest and could work something like 20 hours a day. That would do wonders for productivity, wouldn't it? Well, a similar scenario can be created by taking advantage of time zones. There is a plethora of offshore providers that can be delegated tasks while you're sleeping. This lets your business functions to continue for a longer period of time daily, negating a lot of the time restrictions of working regularly. Outsourcing insurance agency administration is a wonderful idea, look into off-shore solutions. Research well and you can benefit greatly.
5. Shift Focus8) to Core Business
In-house staff is often too tied up in standardized, menial tasks such as claims management or policy administration, which can be outsourced to allow for said staff to be freed up and focused on core business. Other tasks such as insurance data entry which are too intricate for instance can be delegated to third party providers to free up in-house resources. Allow your internal staff to maximize their efforts towards the heart of your business.
6. Maximize Profits
You're going to be seeing much better results in terms of profits if you outsource. Why? Your productivity will go up, your customers will be much more satisfied, and the quality of your services will go up as the efficiency of your business' functioning goes up. Being able to take advantage of preexisting infrastructure and manpower provided by the outsource provider means you won't have to invest into developing these aspects domestically, saving you money.
Even though outsourcing insurance agency administration is so advantageous, it can backfire if done incorrectly. Choose the insurance BPO providers wisely with proper research and make sure all your paperwork is legitimate. Maintain a proper line of communication with the provider so that you can overlook the work. Establish legal control over potentially confidential documents so that security is not compromised. If everything is done right, you're sure to see your business blooming :D.
There is not an iota of doubt that insurance wholesalers play a very crucial role in the growth of the insurance industry. Indeed they are generally considered to be the foundation and one of the strongest pillars of this sector. To understand this better, it is necessary to understand in detail what makes them so important and what differentiates them from retailers that are the front-line face of this business. Retailers have a one to one relationship with existing and potential policy holders but wholesalers offer deals in bulk.
Hence, if any high or exponential growth has to take place a major contribution to it is brought in by the wholesalers. It is therefore only natural that wholesalers have a right to demand and get the best services from insurance companies.
What is expected by wholesalers as support for their efforts is streamlined and optimized insurance back office services that will make their work that much easier and enable them meet and exceed commitments made to retailers and other players in this field. It will help them establish credibility with clients thereby pushing up their market share.
All this can only be possible when insurance companies decide to outsource their back office work to specialized agencies that have long years of experience in offering high quality assistance to insurance companies. The concept really took roots in the mid-1990 when businesses hit hard by recession and strict statutory monitoring by Governments and regulatory bodies were looking for ways and means to cut costs while retaining their competitive edge. Non-core and back office services were parceled out to companies and this saw a spurt in profitability primarily due to differentials in wage and cost of services between countries.
As a wholesaler, what then will you look for to ensure successful insurance back office support? Here a few tips to help you on your way –
Forms Processing –
You will have to deal with numerous forms in the course of your business ranging from application forms and claims forms to medical forms and other reports. Processing them in-house will be a tedious and time consuming affair not to speak of huge investments in hardware and software. Once this is outsourced by insurance companies, your output too is increased due to the speeding up of all processes and you will by default be able to meet all your targets and objectives.
Data Processing –
Similar is the case with data processing. Insurance wholesalers have to deal with customers in bulk and hence should have quick and easy access to all data pertaining to them if they are to offer a high level of customer service. This is only possible if data entry processing is outsourced to agencies that have the required systems in place to facilitate fast retrieval of any client information as required by you.
Claims Processing –
There cannot be any compromise on this issue since your integrity is at stake here. People trust you and agree to take out insurance policies on the implicit faith that in the event of any unfortunate and untoward incident, the claims of their nominees will be settled without any problems. It is therefore prudent to make sure that the insurance companies you deal with have outsourced this aspect to companies that can help settle claims without delay, regardless of the duration that the policy has been active or the complexities of individual cases.
Commission Processing –
While it is true that your business is customer centric, there is also the question of your remuneration that has to be addressed. Being a wholesaler, you'll be dealing with a whole array of schemes, each having a different quantum of commission payable. It requires huge and accurate processing by sophisticated systems to calculate and arrive at commission payable within the stipulated time frames – weekly, fortnightly, monthly. This is a vital cog in insurance back office support which almost all successful insurance companies outsource so that you get your due rewards on time.
These are some of the tips which as a wholesaler you'll do well to follow if you have to maximize your operational strategies and efficiency. While retailers have the leeway of dealing with clients and bringing in business at a personalized individual level, you have the onerous responsibility of simultaneously catering to multiple policy holders. Any slip-up will have disastrous consequences on your image and reputation, all the more reason why you need the full backing of optimized insurance back office support.
Let's face it – Insurance Back Office Outsourcing today runs parallel in importance to the core activities of any insurance firm. The take off in this field had been slow to start with but over the last couple of decades there has been an exponential growth in the outsourcing business.
It has now reached a level where the very survival of insurance companies in terms of profitability and retaining the competitive edge rests largely on the extent of back office functions being outsourced.
Knowing how back-office insurance outsourcing can strengthen your insurance firm is therefore crucial and can be broken up into a number of segments. These are –
:) Knowing what functions to outsource that will optimize the process
:) Knowing how to choose a reliable outsourcing partner
:) Knowing how to ensure a seamless outsourcing process
It has to be kept in mind that there are pitfalls in painting the whole industry with a single brush stroke and it is preferable that you adapt the possibilities given here to your specific business environment and goals.
Benefits from outsourcing –
- The singular biggest advantage that you'll derive from outsourcing is the quality time that can be got to focus on core activities instead of getting tied down to routine mundane and repetitive tasks that do not require any executive discretionary powers. This will give you the leeway to add value to client services and get fresh business for quick growth and development. New launches, creating brand awareness of new products and schemes and crafting exclusive business strategies will add to your market share and growth. Don't get bogged down with data processing and commission payment to agents when outsourcing agencies can offer top of the line services in these fields.
- Cost savings is a huge advantage of outsourcing insurance back-office services. You don't have to invest in high end software and hardware for data processing or to maintain stringent data security systems. The onus for this is on the outsourcing agencies that have been in line with the latest technological advancements especially in installing data management tools and multi-tier architecture high speed mainframes. Use this savings to devise new schemes at rates that will give you a distinct advantage over the rest in the field.
Back-office functions to outsource –
- Almost all back-office functions in the industry sector are being outsourced today but don't go by generalizations. Weigh your options carefully and decide on you'd want to retain with yourself. However, data processing, forms processing, claims management and commission management should almost inevitably be outsourced as running these activities in-house will act as a drag on precious resources such as manpower, investments and crucially, expenditure for retaining high worth floor space to house these departments.
- If you are in the life insurance business ensure that you compulsorily outsource closed blocks that is, maintenance of insurance policies that have had their schemes discontinued long back but where the policies are still in vogue. Servicing of these defunct policies will act as a stumbling block for growth and development of your insurance business.
- Your objective should be to concentrate solely on core activities and that is devising new schemes and selling them to customers. Once a policy is sold, all related work such as verification, validation, processing and maintenance becomes a back-office function and should be outsourced. Do not be bogged down with routine and administrative tasks that do not test your skill sets.
Choose a dependable outsourcing partner -
- Why should this be important for you? Because the very success of your insurance back office outsourcing depends on this. Select a partner that specializes on insurance back-office activities instead of one that has a finger in every form of business outsourcing pie. Having an outsourcing agency work for you that has its business goals and objectives in sync with yours will help establish a close rapport and result in a successful and fruitful partnership.
- Evaluate the track record and experience of the outsourced company. Market reputation for delivering high quality and consistent results coupled with keeping strictly within stipulated time frames should be the benchmarks you should aim for before arriving at a decision in this regard. The credentials and financial stability to sustain a long term relationship and evaluating the ability to handle any scale of business that you might choose to outsource should be high on your agenda for choosing an outsourcing company.
Ensure a seamless outsourcing process –
- A degree of serious introspection is required as well as some background preparation before moving forward with the process. Have a top tier steering committee with executives drawn from different departments to search for a suitable partner. A report must be submitted after a lot of due diligence so that no surprises crop up after a contract is signed and work is allotted.
- Have a business plan in place that includes projections over the next 5 to 7 years of increases in business, expected changes in business scenarios due to fluctuating global trends and other industry related issues and factor them into the contract.
Have these... :) 8)
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