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Technology Catering to carrier appetites Helping agents find the right market the first time is RiskRadius's goal By Nancy Doucette Frictional costs. Everyone has them. With agents and brokers becoming more specialized, they occur when an opportunity arises that is outside the niches they typically serve. For carriers, frictional costs include those associated with declining submissions that don't match their risk appetites. Marilyn Quinlan has perspective from both vantage points. During her 35-year career in the property/casualty business, she has worked for carriers and brokers. For the past 15 years, she has been a producer. As a broker, she specializes in education, nonprofits, and technology accounts. "I know all the markets in those areas," she reports. "But what happens when the CEO of a large technology account contacts me about insuring the cupcake shop his mother-in-law will be opening soon? It takes a day-and-a-half to find a market for that account which is outside your bailiwick. "I've worked for small brokers as well as large brokers with complete marketing departments. It's difficult to find solutions quickly. No broker ever knows all the options for clients or prospects," she says. And that got Quinlan wondering: Why not build a database of the risk appetites for carriers? The carriers are very specific about what they will write—type of insurance and SIC code—and where they will write it. She shared her idea with her son Brendan (a broker at another firm), other acquaintances in the industry and some IT folks. They set out to build a system wherein carriers can upload their risk appetites and manage them in real time so agents and brokers can more easily research coverage options for clients and prospects. RiskRadius™ was born.
Let technology do the heavy lifting "We worked with nine carriers in developing the product—among them are CNA, Crum & Forster, Safety National, and Philadelphia." Quinlan says. "They have provided us their appetites as well as feedback. Additionally we have gotten appetites from another 50 or so carrier Web sites." The distinction in how the data was acquired is shown on the results page that an agent sees following a search. It matters because the data pulled from carrier Web sites may not be up to date. "RiskRadius isn't an aggregator," she emphasizes. "There is no quoting, no bidding. It focuses on market information only." RiskRadius is free to agents and brokers. Quinlan explains that carriers will pay to participate; a small regional carrier won't be charged the same as a large national insurer. She adds that charges will be based on how many lines of business a carrier chooses to list. Carriers are being offered a 90-day trial period so they can track results. Quinlan says the search process is straightforward and because RiskRadius is Web-based, producers can access it from anywhere there is Internet access. Once an agent has registered at riskradius.com, they can begin using the product. The keyword search makes it easy to pull up various SIC codes related to that keyword. (Although if the agent knows the SIC code, a search can be conducted starting with that number as well.) From there, the agent enters the state in which the account is located and the type of insurance desired. The search can be further refined by revenue, premium size or number of employees. Press "go" and the results page appears. Where appropriate, retail carriers are listed at the top of the list and wholesalers are at the bottom. If the account has operations in multiple states, RiskRadius can be prompted to display all the states that the selected carrier is licensed in. RiskRadius can also display the other types of insurance the selected carrier writes. Additionally, the results page includes a free-form information box which allows carriers to provide underwriting details, links to the carrier Web site or supplemental applications. "I can't believe no one has developed a product like this before now," Account Executive Jeff Holman says enthusiastically. He manages a book of real estate accounts for MOC Insurance Services in San Francisco. He says he appreciates that carriers can update their appetites in real time. "Appetites change and you may not be aware until you submit something and get a declination. That's a real time waster." He says workers comp is tough right now and RiskRadius has helped him locate markets he wouldn't have come up with for monoline workers comp. RiskRadius lets Holman specify the type of workers comp coverage he's interested in: excess, large deductible, loss sensitive or guaranteed cost. "You get a targeted search," he notes. Holman says he uses RiskRadius as part of his marketing process. "I have an idea of the carriers I want to go to but RiskRadius helps me see who else is out there. Sometimes I get a hit on a market I hadn't thought about." That said, he would like to see more carriers get on board. Fewer missed opportunities One of the carriers that saw the value of RiskRadius early on is CNA. Commercial Lines President Bob Lindemann says RiskRadius helps the carrier address a number of areas of concern. Like many carriers, CNA receives its share of submissions for risks that don't fit its appetite, and they tie up underwriters without generating any revenue. "While declinations do cost us something, I'm more concerned about missed opportunities … business that doesn't find its way to us because producers don't know we can write it," he says. RiskRadius can help producers have a better understanding of CNA's appetite. Additionally, Lindemann says carriers need to realize that producers are in their cars, visiting clients and prospects. They're mobile and so is their technology. This is especially true of the younger producers. "They want to be able to fire up their mobile device and get answers on demand. Their world is technology-enabled. So we're always on the lookout for anything that speaks to better use of technology and helps us better serve the younger generation of producers or underwriters. We want to be easy to do business with." From a maintenance perspective, Lindemann says CNA provides RiskRadius with the SIC codes for the classes of business it is interested in and what products it offers in those classes. "We may want to write umbrella but not comp or we may write the package but not the automobile," he explains. "Then we update them as we change." Quinlan notes that changes by carriers can be made and broadcast to brokers within seconds. Additionally, carriers can filter the desired broker audience. Some may want to broadcast their appetite to appointed brokers only while others may want to broadcast universally. She adds that RiskRadius will regularly remind carriers to post updated appetite information. Should carriers prefer, they can send the changes to RiskRadius and its staff will take care of the updating. Lindemann says the free-form comment field can be used to further filter CNA's appetite or help in differentiating itself by touting a specific coverage. Quinlan says one carrier used the 264-character field to provide contact information for its regional offices. Another provided links to its whitepapers on a particular category of business. She adds that the comment field also helps producers differentiate one carrier from another. Quinlan's long-range vision for RiskRadius is that "we'll have everything in there, including captives—we can database their appetite too—and carriers that deal specifically with wholesalers, but it's going to take agents and brokers going to their carriers and encouraging them to participate. "I would like to see the entire industry using RiskRadius," Quinlan concludes. "It will be our own internal 'Google search' to find the best markets and the best products that fit the customized needs of our clients." For more information: RiskRadius
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