Insurance Corp. of Hannover Improves Market Flexibility, Offers Internet Services with CSC’s BPO Operations
Client: Insurance Corp. of Hannover
Challenge: Extend Internet-based services to agents and simplify the accounting and reporting process for 20 specialized programs
Solution: CSC’s BPO services for policy administration, agency accounting and statistical reporting, tailored to individual agents
Results: Extended automated underwriting to agents over the Internet, gained full support for the launch of new programs and offloaded cumbersome bureau reporting process
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Itasca, Ill.-based Insurance Corporation of Hannover manages more than 20 programs for a variety of specialized insurance markets – cell phones, temporary staffing companies, fine art collections, hole-in-one golf prizes, small Bobcat front-end loaders and continuous mining rigs worth upwards of $5 million.
Administering a wide range of insurance programs for agents across the United States poses a challenge to systems and back-office processes. Insurance Corporation of Hannover is part of one of the world’s largest reinsurers, Hannover Re. But since it is one of the few Hannover Re entities writing primary policies, the subsidiary has relied on third-party outsourcers to manage its policies and claims since 1998.
Extending Web-Based Services to Agents
Looking to launch new Web-based services to its agents, Insurance Corporation of Hannover talked to CSC in 2004 about transferring its policy administration, agency accounting and statistical reporting functions to CSC’s business process outsourcing (BPO) operations.
“We want the ability to be able to react to changes in the market,” explained Stephen Fitzpatrick, senior vice president of Insurance Corporation of Hannover. “That’s why we chose the BPO model. BPO lets us expand when the market is hard and contract when the market is soft – without having to continually fund a large, fixed overhead component of our business.”
The company retained control over underwriting and continued to outsource claims to another provider, but it consolidated its many programs on a single Web-based platform, CSC’s POINT IN.
“By partnering with a large BPO provider like CSC, we’re able to take advantage of more up-to-date technology and applications,” Fitzpatrick said. “CSC is a recognized leader in BPO and does business on the same basis with many other insurance companies, so CSC is really able to bring economies of scale to the table. The costs are lower than it would be if we tried to duplicate it ourselves.”
Multiple Services for Variety of Agents and General Agents
CSC’s BPO personnel have taken over the management of 20 programs and worked with Insurance Corporation of Hannover to tailor CSC’s services to each program.
“We needed an outsourcing provider flexible enough to deal with the three different methodologies for our agents,” Fitzpatrick said. “We have some agents using the POINT system to quote and issue business. Other agents, who want to use their own systems, send CSC an electronic upload. And other agents send in a traditional policy that CSC keys into the system.”
CSC billing personnel reconcile those payments and ensure the accuracy of bureau reports, eliminating cumbersome manual processes that Fitzpatrick described as “band-aided together.”
Breathing Life into Livestock Mortality with Web Services
Two Insurance Corporation of Hannover programs for temporary staffing companies and livestock mortality were fully automated to allow agents to rate, quote and issue policies over the Internet.
The livestock mortality program, which covers quarter horses, hunters and jumpers and a few exotic species of livestock such as such as ostriches and alpacas, required an extra degree of flexibility from CSC’s systems.
"Insuring livestock is almost like running a life and health insurance business," said Michele Holland, project manager for CSC. “You need to be able to assess the health risks of various breeds of horses as well as capture information about their location and use. We were able to meet their needs with POINT IN, even though it was designed to be a P&C system.”
CSC modified POINT IN’s framework and hierarchies so that units of coverage became animals, locations became barns or farms, and sub-locations became animal names. Temporary coverage options were added for operations, special surgeries and international travel to horse shows and events. Since horses in many cases have several owners, the system tracks individual horses across multiple policies.
“By streamlining the labor-intensive underwriting process and automating the thought process of the respective underwriters, we have gained valuable time and efficiency in underwriting risks,” said Greg Whaley, manager of Insurance Corporation of Hannover’s Livestock Mortality Program.
