White Paper August Preparing for Profitable. Growth. Virtually ( 2 )

Transcription

1 White Paper August 2010 Preparing for Profitable Growth Virtually ( 2 )

2 Preparing for Profitable Growth Virtually New Model The Crash of 2008 provided valuable lessons about the need to effectively manage risk. The resulting market conditions presented insurers new challenges and opportunities that often exceeded the capacity of their organizations. To succeed, insurers must take advantage of the potential for growth without undertaking excessive risk. Market conditions presented insurers new challenges and opportunities that often exceeded the capacity of their organizations. This paper proposes the virtual insurance company concept as a model for balancing risk with growth and explains how it can be successfully applied in insurance companies. Flexible Plan The insurance marketplace is positioned for growth. The traditional response to growth expectations is to build internal systems and increase staffing levels. Such an approach will result in increased risk for the insurer. For example, costs for head count and infrastructure can increase faster than revenue growth. Those fixed costs increase organizational inertia and can result in missed market opportunities. Balancing growth with risk requires a more flexible growth plan. Organizations can prepare for growth by: Outsourcing current functions to external partners to increase performance Establishing new relationships with external business partners who can provide immediate scalability at a low risk Pursuing smart market opportunities that align with the expanded capabilities of your external partners Outsourcing strategically to transform the business The concept of a virtual corporation has been successfully implemented by firms in numerous industries. The benefits include: Cost-effective, market-based solutions for growth Moving from a fixed-cost structure to a variable-cost investment structure to reduce financial risk Re-allocating capital to core competencies and growth drivers, allowing a change in focus from managing business to growing business ( 2 )

3 The Virtual Company Lessons from Outside the Insurance Industry The concept of the virtual company has been evolving for years. In 1992, William Davidow and Michael Malone published a seminal book, The Virtual Corporation, which described how companies responded to customer demand for virtual products that adapt quickly to changing needs. Companies were adapting their products by taking a sophisticated information network that gathers data on markets and customer needs, combining it with the newest design methods and then operating this system with an integrated network that includes not only highly skilled employees of the company, but also suppliers, distributors, retailers, and even customers. The authors cited numerous examples from the manufacturing industry, which employed the concepts of the virtual corporation to implement lean manufacturing techniques and just-in-time inventory management. The virtual corporation model is now prevalent among world-class manufacturers. The virtual company concept has spread far beyond manufacturing. Two years after Davidow and Malone published their book, Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com and began selling books via the Internet. Amazon.com has grown to sell myriad products, but they remain committed to the virtual model. Today, their Customer Communities, allow them to capture intelligence about the changing interests of millions of customers. At the other end of the distribution channel, independent sellers can upload inventory information for customers to view and purchase. Amazon collects the payment and remits to the seller. Sellers can also use Amazon s system to design and implement their own customized Web store to sell branded products. Companies that develop software solutions using the Amazon platform can enroll as Solution Providers and promote their services. The virtual company concept is used extensively within the retail supply chain by means of a method called Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI). Under VMI, inventory information is communicated from the distributor to the manufacturer, who replenishes the inventory. This method reduces inventory costs for the manufacturer, reduces stock-outs for the distributor and reduces supply-chain administrative costs. ( 3 )

4 DST Systems has applied the virtual company concept for the investment management marketplace since Their record-keeping, business process management and distribution products were designed to promote data consistency and support a smooth flow of information within the investment management value chain. One of their products, DST FAN Mail, is considered a standard data format to provide shareholder information to intermediaries. These companies have embraced major attributes of a virtual corporation: Virtual products that can adapt quickly to changing customer needs Information systems that enable a smooth flow of information Integration of participants in the value chain across multiple organizations Growth strategies for insurance carriers vary greatly depending on assessments of internal strengths and external opportunities. Insurance Carrier Growth Strategies and the Virtual Model Growth strategies for insurance carriers vary greatly depending on assessments of internal strengths and external opportunities. As noted in the vertical axis in the chart below, the strategies will, to varying degrees, transform the business model. Strategies with a low level of business transformation will retain the status quo with regard to organizational structure and the overall concept of the business. Conversely, strategies with a high level of business transformation will lead to re-thinking the fundamentals of the business, including the definition of the customer and the value provided to the customer. As noted in the horizontal axis in the chart below, the growth strategies will also, to varying degrees, enable virtualization of the business by opening the value chain business functions to external partners. A strategy with a low level of virtualization will limit the scope and depth of business processes that are opened to external partners to only those that are welldefined and controlled. A strategy with a high level of virtualization will view any value-chain business function as potentially open to partners. Business Transformation High Low Low Incremental New Product Lift and Drop Degree of Virtualization Clean Sheet Strategy Block Acquisition Strategy High ( 4 )

5 There are four growth strategies Lift and Drop, Incremental New Product, Clean Sheet, and Block Acquisition. Lift and Drop With this strategy, insurers move back office systems and functions to lower cost sources and use the cost savings to fund higher-value investments. The business transformation and virtualization impacts are low because the outsourcer uses the insurer s systems and processes. Only the staffing changes. The following depicts the value chain business functions potentially impacted by this strategy: The business Contract transformation and virtualization impacts Broker/Dealer Marketing Product Development are low because Actuary the outsourcer uses the insurer s systems Call Center Applications Finance / Accounting and processes. Document Management Compliance Infrastructure Data Services An insurer that pursues this strategy will typically own a stable book of business that runs on a solid legacy system. The business processes that surround the legacy system are commonly inefficient, but well documented. There may be a low ROI for a project to improve the system and the business processes. Therefore, the only way to increase profitability is to reduce labor costs. An insurer in this situation could engage the services of an offshore business process outsource firm. The offshore outsource would train its staff on the system and the processes and gradually transition the work offshore. This strategy is less sustainable in the long term because it perpetuates reliance on inflexible systems. At se 2, we view this approach as the first stage of a larger transformative strategy that creates long term value. ( 5 )

6 Incremental New Product With this strategy, insurers identify potential new market opportunities, and engage a partner with the systems and processes already in place to support it. The approach allows an insurer to transform the business model by quickly taking advantage of changes in the marketplace. The degree of virtualization is low, however, because the depth of the insurer s existing value chain is not significantly opened to external partners. The partners may participate in multiple business functions, but the preponderance of work associated with those functions is retained by the existing organization. insurers identify potential new market opportunities, and The following depicts the impact on business functions resulting from this strategy: Contract engage a partner with the systems and processes already in place to support it. Broker/Dealer Call Center Marketing Actuary Applications Product Development Finance / Accounting Document Management Compliance Infrastructure Data Services An se 2 client employing this approach was using our services for specific Variable Annuity (VA) products. They identified a market opportunity to develop a new product focused on a specific customer need and a unique distribution approach. The client designed the product and provided the specifications to se 2. The product was completely implemented on the se 2 platform less than three months after completion of the product design. The client was able to quickly and inexpensively take advantage of a new market opportunity that they might otherwise have missed. ( 6 )

7 Block Acquisition With this strategy, insurers can grow by acquiring existing blocks of business from other carriers. This strategy has become more attractive as some struggling insurers seek to divest blocks of business in order to return to profitability. The business transformation impact of this approach is low because it does not significantly change the business model. However, the virtualization impact is high because it opens the breadth and depth of the value chain business functions to external partners. The following depicts the business functions potentially impacted by this strategy. In some cases, the insurer will retain the call center function with this approach: Contract Broker/Dealer Marketing Product Development Call Center Actuary Applications Finance / Accounting Document Management Compliance Infrastructure Data Services An se 2 client, a large insurance carrier offering a broad range of products including mutual funds, annuities and life insurance, used this strategy. They acquired a large block of variable-annuity contracts. After considerable analysis, the client determined it was not feasible to integrate this block with the existing service architecture. They contracted with se 2 to administer the new block of business. se 2 converted the contracts to an administrative platform and supported it with a mix of onshore and offshore resources. se 2 provided data feeds that integrated with the information flow from internal systems which provided a comprehensive view of all products regardless of how they were administered. ( 7 )

8 Clean Sheet The strategy allows companies to create a fully virtual company. They begin with a clean sheet of paper and define a strategic mix of products. They acquire blocks of business to correspond to that strategic mix. In contrast with the Product Acquisition Strategy, they do not develop an entire organization. Instead, they maintain a very small corporate staff and outsource to the greatest possible extent. The following depicts the business functions potentially impacted by this strategy: (Please note that certain analytical activities of functions such as Finance, Actuary, infrastructure and Compliance can be impacted. The insurer retains decision-making in these functions, but will outsource the data analysis activities.) they maintain a Contract very small corporate staff and outsource to the greatest possible extent. Broker/Dealer Call Center Marketing Actuary Applications Product Development Finance / Accounting Document Management Compliance Infrastructure Data Services An se 2 client employing this approach is a subsidiary of a global investment firm. The investment firm undertook a program under which they acquired blocks of annuity, variable life, and whole life business from multiple carriers and created the subsidiary firm to manage the business. To mitigate risks and ensure optimal solutions, the client contracted with multiple business process outsourcers, including se 2, to process these blocks of business. The client defined standards for reporting, and all outsourcers produced data feeds according to those standards to provide seamless business intelligence capabilities for all blocks of business. ( 8 )

9 Driving Toward the Model The virtual company model is no longer adopted exclusively by business futurists. It has been successfully implemented in a variety of industries, allowing companies to quickly respond to growth opportunities while simultaneously managing risks. The model is not synonymous with outsourcing, however, outsourcing may be an approach by which the model may be employed most successfully. Our clients have moved beyond BPO s traditional model and have begun outsourcing more complex work resulting in greater business value. For example, a study by Accenture noted that companies that consolidated processing platforms via a Third Party Administrator (TPA) reported business benefits 17 percentage points higher than those using platform replacement. Organizations that pursue business transformation via a platform replacement project must also factor in the capital outlay and, many times, a high failure rate of internal projects. Moreover, research by Accenture, validated by se 2, demonstrates that TPA/outsourcing initiatives typically produce an ROI of 40 percent or more. Considering all of this, one might ask, Why would anyone want to pursue an internally focused transformation effort? Traditionally, business process outsourcing has been positioned as a solution for predictable, repeatable activities. This provides at least the appearance of greater control over the outsourcer, but provides lower business value. Our clients have moved beyond BPO s traditional model and have begun outsourcing more complex work resulting in greater business value. As depicted in the chart below, commonly outsourced functions such as administrative support are relatively simple but provide limited business value; primarily cost savings. At the high end of business value and complexity are business intelligence capabilities associated with actuarial, finance, and compliance. The pricing models vary depending on their position on the chart. High Business Intelligence Business Value Added Admin. Support Low Low Complexity High ( 9 )

10 Administrative support functions are typically expressed in terms of costper-contract or full-time equivalent (FTE) staffing costs. As the functions increase in complexity and value, other pricing models should be considered to reflect the higher level of value associated with these functions. For example, partnership pricing models can be based on incentives such as retention, business growth, and impact on reserve requirements. Beyond the decisions related to selecting which functions to outsource and defining costs, adopting the virtual model is challenging. Keys to a successful transition include: By selecting external partners who already have the most efficient systems and processes, you can take advantage of growth opportunities in the marketplace while managing risks appropriately. Envision the virtual model within the context of your overall growth strategy Select partners with whom you can collaborate over the long term Assign your best leaders to provide management and oversight Define clear processes for decision-making and issue resolution Ensure transparency in day-to-day management Standardize the flow of information between you and your partners Carefully communicate the benefits of the virtual model within your organization to ensure understanding and buy-in By selecting external partners who already have the most efficient systems and processes, you can take advantage of growth opportunities in the marketplace while managing risks appropriately. Take the next step by arranging an exploratory meeting with our industry experts. ( 10 )