Webinar
Distribution Management Maturity – Where are You and Where do you Need to Be?
Industry forces are reshaping distribution management, from shifting customer expectations to driving reach and scale in a multi-channel world. For decades, agents and brokers have been the channel of choice for P&C and L&A insurers. While they remain important, the channel landscape is rapidly expanding and changing, driven by a number of factors, but especially customers and partner ecosystems. These factors together are pressuring distribution management operations to change and leverage technology to achieve a new level of capability and maturity.
What we have found is that there are 5 distinct archetypes into which carriers fall for distribution management maturity. These include:
- Current State Chaos – Legacy systems and spreadsheets with manual processes require heroic efforts. Distribution strategy is largely disconnected from the overall business strategy.
- Developing Operational Efficiency – Some business processes are automated, but the business is still embroiled in triaging issues, making time consuming changes. Leadership is only focused on traditional agency/broker channel given technical limitations.
- Operational Efficiency Achieved – Critical business processes are automated with a focus on continuous improvement. Incremental progress is being made to tie distribution strategy to operational priorities such as expanding into new channels.
- Anticipating Customer Needs – Automated reporting and business processes allow users to proactively service distributors. Leadership is starting to tie measurable outcomes to the distribution strategies implemented, incentivizing channels based on target markets.
- Predictive Analytics and AI – All critical business processes are driven off event-based triggers, and real-time integrations; there is clear definition and integration of customer and distributor data for data-driven decision making. Distribution strategy is informed and tuned according to what the data is saying, enabling nimble operations.
Channels are expanding, shifting and, in some cases, evaporating. The combination of technology and customer expectations is directly impacting insurance by altering the traditional distribution channel of agents and brokers – who, yes, are still relevant – to a multi-channel world optimized around distribution, digital and data to achieve a new level of maturity to compete in this new era of insurance. Where are you now and where do you want to be on that maturity curve?
In this webinar, our expert panel will discuss in more detail the distribution management maturity curve and how to accelerate where you are today to where you want to be. You’ll also hear first-hand from Craig Welsh on Westfield Insurance’s journey down the maturity curve and the insights they have learned along the way.
Speakers
Denise Garth – CSO, Majesco
Craig Welsh – Chief Distribution Officer, Westfield Insurance
Brad Denning – Advisory Services Principal, PwC