When things don't go according to plan
What just happened? What is going to happen next? Disasters and pandemics don’t operate on schedules, and they don’t telegraph their intentions. Instead, pandemics and disasters punch us right in the mouth, and as Mike Tyson once said:
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
So now what? How do you adjust your business plans and determine which tactics will help your insurance business grow, stay focused in times of incredible uncertainty, and ensure you are prepared for whatever may come next? Consider business process outsourcing (BPO). Working with an external partner for insurance BPO services will help your team work more smoothly, reduce internal inefficiencies, and open your team’s agenda to focus on value-driven work. Whenever a business looks outside its organizational framework to identify opportunities, leaders often met internal resistance. It is natural that change can be intimidating, so we have some tried and real guidance to help you overcome bias and objections.
Employee Buy-In
Your employees might be alarmed by a decision to work with a BPO partner. Employees might worry that their clients’ level of service will be compromised or worry about their long-term job security.
It’s important to remind your team that insurance BPO services aren’t the same as traditional outsourcing. By outsourcing workflows and processes, you and your team will be able to extend your capabilities with a dedicated partner. Business process outsourcing impacts your team’s day-to-day by freeing them up to focus on selling, servicing large accounts, and strategically building your business.
Integration into Processes
When you choose to begin outsourcing insurance services, you want to make sure that there’s no interruption to the level of service your customers receive or your existing workflows. Begin by auditing your internal processes, determining where inefficiencies are happening, and identifying areas where a BPO partner can help.
A good BPO partner will work directly with your operations team to ensure a seamless transition, whether you’re working to move over processing capabilities or looking to transfer a full book of small accounts completely. An exceptional partner for insurance BPO services will go even further and will have specialized process and workflow experts who work with you and your team to ensure that all policy checking, certificate issuing, account management, and renewals are handled in a way that makes sense for your individual business needs.
Value
Ensuring that your dollars are spent wisely is crucial in any business, and insurance is no exception. Cancellations, policy changes, and claims payouts can be costly. Business process outsourcing helps free up your internal team for important revenue-generating work and can help reduce inefficiency and reduce time spent internally on administrative tasks.
A competitive BPO partner will work hard to ensure that you’re not just paying an hourly invoice, but that the dollars you spend are always working for you. When selecting a BPO partner, look out for hourly minimums, full-time equivalent requirements, or other fees that don’t work toward delivering your business value. There is nothing worse than getting ‘nickeled & dimed’ for every little thing. Look for more scalable, sustainable solutions that develop custom plans tailored to your needs.
Cultural Fit
Knowing how insurance BPO services fit in with your company is not only important from a logistical and process perspective, but also a cultural one. You’ve cultivated a certain level of service and collaboration across your internal team. Outsourcing insurance services to an external partner can be a challenge when you consider the potential to disrupt the culture you’ve worked so hard to create – but it shouldn’t and doesn’t need to be like that.
A insurance BPO partner will take the time to understand your company culture, branding, and service expectations and use them learning as guiding principles to inform your outsourcing agreement. They will ensure that all communications, whether digital, verbal or printed mail, are branded to your company standards, so your customers don’t experience any confusion or detect any changes to the service they’re accustomed too.
At Patra, we’re dedicated to creating growth and efficiency for each of our partners to maximize their potential. With a global team working under a unified vision, Patra is an industry leader for insurance BPO services. Working with over 450 offices nationwide, Patra brings the best of breed workflows and business practices to your business. You can focus on what is important – your relationship with your clients. We offer a full suite of insurance processing services and proudly work with brokers, wholesalers, MGAs, and carriers of all sizes to power insurance business growth.
