ID 20 WINNERS — Q&A
Dashboards Q&A from page 8
PART 3:
Keying in digital solutions
Perspectives asked the ID 20 award-winners for their
thoughts on technology and its impact on their business today.
Wickersham: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we
use technology more than any event since email. In January,
most of us thought of video conferencing as FaceTime or
Skype and today, everyone is comfortable with using Zoom or
Microsoft Teams as a primary way to communicate with clients,
prospects and business associates daily.
We have learned as an industry that straight-throughprocessing
presents a two-edged sword because it has made
life much easier and at the same time has allowed for insurance
companies to communicate directly with our customers without
needing agents or BGAs for most of the process. Technology
changes that were announced at the beginning of the year have
now moved ahead at a pace that would have taken years. This
will help accelerate change in the coming months and years
as we become more mobile and independent in the way we
conduct our businesses.
Facing a virtual world
Pate: Our traditional way of working with face-to-face client
meetings and industry events has transitioned into a new virtual
world that allows us to all stay connected and continue to move
forward as an industry. For CLTC, technology has allowed us to
expand the delivery methods of our designation training.
Given the current environment, we see the need to offer
different delivery methods to best meet the needs of the market.
We are now using in-person training delivered live, online with
an instructor, as well as virtual classrooms with Zoom webinar
technology, allowing for education at one’s own pace.
Haney: You can get to know your audience in significant ways
before you ever meet face-to-face due to the technology.
We can now be more equipped to deliver personalized value,
and have engaging virtual conversations to spark interest and
quickly raise our brand awareness to new heights not previously
possible. It is offering us an easier and more convenient delivery
solution to the consumer.
Reaching above and beyond
Orestis: Technology and the internet provide the ability to
amplify communications and educate through websites, social
media and email. It makes sharing published articles and
papers easier, as well as training and support agent/advisor
distribution partners.
Shelow: Since face-to-face meetings have ceased for the time
being, this has greatly impacted the way our BGA partners
work with advisors and producers. Communication around
underwriting and product changes due to the pandemic has
been critical during this time and has required our BGAs to
utilize technology to have virtual meetings for communication.
There has been a large amount of creativity with technology;
we have held virtual conferences with virtual breakout
rooms and interactive
features. We have seen
great proactivity in BGA,
advisor and producer
communications as well as
an increased proficiency
in electronic
processing of
our business
using technology.
Verbos:
Technology
is great if
we’re open
to adopting
it as a tool
to improve
our
processes.
10 Perspectives Q3 2020