Zywave rides the wave of the future

Technology tools strengthen agent/client relationship by offering better data management resources and a stronger line of communication

By Len Strazewski

Zywave executives (from left): William R. Haack, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and James R. Mueller, President and Chief Operating Officer.

Too much work. Too few resources. Way too much information to manage properly. Agents, brokers and their clients have all this in common, but when the stress gets too much for clients, they look to their agents for help.

The trend isn’t new says William Haack, chairman and chief executive officer of Zywave, Inc., a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based technology service firm that provides online services and data tools for agents and brokers.

As CEO of a large, independent agency until last year, he’s seen the waves of demand build for more than a decade. He’s seen the connection between producer and client expand from an insurance sales and renewal relationship, to a more demanding service partnership that requires better data tools, more sophisticated management, and a stronger line of communication.

Zywave originally was a sister company of agency Frank F. Haack & Associates, Inc., in Milwaukee, a large agency with a balanced book of property and casualty insurance and employee benefits services. Before being acquired last September by Hilb Rogal & Hobbs (HRH)—the nation’s eighth largest insurance and risk management broker—Frank F. Haack & Associates had posted $22 million in revenue in 2003, derived from property/casualty and employee benefits.

In the early 1990s, however, the agency developed a competitive edge with new data management tools, beginning with a report-generation program that helped clients and prospective clients review their health care benefits utilization and choose alternative plan designs for cost savings.

That tool, which would later be called Decision Master Warehouse®, caught on quickly with clients; and, in-house, producers began using another value-added application, the Broker Briefcase, to manage their client communications, proposals and presentations.

In 1995, William Haack created the new company to market the data tools to agents and brokers and develop new marketing and data management tools for producers. “Our philosophy has always been that the agent and broker must develop a competitive edge in the marketplace, not only to acquire new business, but also to retain existing clients.

“Agents and brokers must also improve their own efficiency and use of technology to provide the level of service that their clients are coming to expect. If they don’t provide greater value-added service, someone else will,” Haack says.

President and Chief Operating Officer Jim Mueller says the company sees the trend as an opportunity for itself and its agency and brokerage partners, if they are growth-oriented and forward-looking in their willingness to learn and adopt new techniques that match client needs.

“Our goal is to help the broker execute more efficiently and to bring a greater level of value-added to their client relationships. However, that also means that we need to help the broker change his or her behavior by learning and adopting new services and technology,” he says.

Zywave was not part of the acquisition by HRH and remains an independent company. The company now lists 400 agency and brokerage partners, including 42 of the 100 largest brokerages, representing about 9,000 producers, Mueller says. The company has 70 employees.

The roster of Zywave products includes:

• BrokerageBuilder, an agency management system for employee benefits, updated recently and designed to help producers manage their client and prospect database as well as create professional, visual proposals, renewals, and requests for proposal (RFPs) to carriers. The product also allows producers to create “stewardship” reports, pipeline reports and track commissions.

• Broker Briefcase®, an online document creation and management system that helps agents and brokers market products and services through customizable marketing and communication tools, for both property/casualty and employee benefits products.

• Decision Master Warehouse, now a Web-based system that generates health data analyses for clients, capturing medical utilization trends, plan costs, and related health plan information. The reports identify moneysaving opportunities and prospective plan design options.

• HRconnection™, an online human resource communication system that allows clients to communicate more effectively with employees, communicate employee benefits and manage information related to a wide-range of insured and noninsured benefits, such as vacation time.

• MyWave™, a branded client portal that allows agents to directly offer Zywave services to their clients through a Web-based connection customized with the agency logo and brand information. The MyWave portal is the cornerstone of delivery for other Web-based services.

• RALLE™, Risk Analysis Loss and Liability Examiner, a risk management tool that allows clients to manage insurance costs related to workers compensation, auto, property, and general liability.

• ZywaveRx™, preferred pharmacy discounts from two national Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).

James M. Emling is Executive Vice President and Technology Director.

Along with the property & casualty editions, HRconnection is one of the company’s fastest growing products, according to Executive Vice President and Technology Director Jim Emling. Human resource executives and employee benefit managers have become a key client base for Zywave, which also manages an information-sharing message board with 130,000 human resource and risk management participants.

Unlike the tools that are designed to help brokers market products, HRConnection assists human resource and employee benefit clients directly, helping them manage day-to-day functions that are beginning to overwhelm these professionals, Emling says.

The product allows client companies to create an employee intranet or Internet site hosted by Zywave, to provide 24-hour access to employee benefits information and provide self-service for enrollment and benefits scheduling. The client can also use the site for job postings, important forms, company information and other pertinent information for employees.

For agent and broker partners, HRConnection provides an opportunity to expand both the range of services they offer to clients and the range of client executives with which they interact, Emling says.

The company has also expanded its offerings for corporate risk managers with RALLE, providing safety program information and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) logs analysis for better workers compensation management.

Brower Insurance in Dayton, Ohio, has been a Zywave partner since 1999 and has used the full range of products, according to principal David Griffin. A full-service agency with 125 employees, the company has divisions providing employee benefits, retirement and human resource consulting services.

The firm has integrated Zywave products with all areas of service and also uses the BrokerageBuilder tools as part of the brokerage operations management, he says. MyWave access is linked to the firm’s Web site, http://www.browerinsurance.com.

Brandy Bates, the Brower Zywave specialist for property/casualty operations, says the products strengthen the communication with clients and help them manage their risks.

“We understand that many of our clients are overloaded with their range of tasks that can include risk management, employee benefits, safety, and administration. We are always looking for new ways to differentiate ourselves from other brokers, and anything we can do to relieve some of the client burden helps us stand out as their most valuable partner,” she says.

Elaine Johnson, a benefits consultant and Zywave specialist at Brower agrees. “There’s no question that our clients are being deluged with new responsibilities, rules, regulations, and government compliance. They are also managing a wider range of benefits, including health benefits and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that require communications.”

Brower does not charge its clients for Zywave services but includes the products as part of its value-added relationship, Griffin says.

David M. O’Brien is Executive Vice President-Sales and Marketing.

This month, Zywave launches an update to its MyWave and other Web-based products. The new version will include online collaboration technology that will allow producers and their clients to work simultaneously on forms and documents in a true information-sharing process, executives say.

Bob Phelan, chief executive officer of the Litchfield Insurance Group in Torrington, Connecticut, says he’s excited about the updates to the Zywave products. A recent client of the company, Phelan says the Zywave products seem to track the changing needs of agents.

“The agency business has been changing in recent years, becoming more competitive. Everyone has their own struggles and challenges, but agents have an overriding need to develop resources and services that differentiate themselves from their competition,” he says.

“Zywave has done a masterful job in creating a product and an interface that allows agents and brokers to collaborate with their clients in new ways. We are particularly excited about the new edition which will allow agents and brokers to collaborate digitally with their clients.”

Phelan says agents and brokers have generally lagged behind their clients in their adoption of new technology. Most corporations are already using online technology to interact with employees and vendors, while many agents are still paper-based.

“Digital collaboration is a mandate for agents,” he said.

However, Phelan says the Zywave technology isn’t perfect for his firm. It may actually be a little advanced for their needs so far.

“There are still applications that we haven’t learned and it may take some time before we really learn and understand everything the products can do. Right now, it may be a little advanced for us, but our clients are certainly interested.”

Phelan says Litchfield has about 15 clients interested in adopting one or more of the Zywave products. *

For more information:
Zywave, Inc.
Web site: www.zywave.com

The author
Len Strazewski is a Chicago-based freelance writer specializing in marketing, management and technology topics. In addition to contributing to Rough Notes, he has written on insurance for Business Insurance, the Chicago Tribune and Human Resource Executive, among other publications.