The whole idea would have been ludicrous even three years ago. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, new and credible insurance brands are popping up with slick user experiences, instantaneous quotes, five-minute buy cycles, and DIY service options—all available on your phone—24 x 7 x 365. And what makes all this possible? Rapidly maturing cloud-native architecture, digitization, open APIs, and the mainstreaming of the greenfield initiative as a favored strategy are enablers.

If you could start over, knowing what you know today, what would your life look like? Where would you live? How would you spend your time and money, and with whom?

A key theme at LIMRA’s recent Group and Worksite Benefits Conference was how carriers could adapt to the disruption swirling about the insurance industry in the form of new entrants, market forces, customer expectations, products, and processes. What are the impacts on the benefits sector?

On-time and under-budget delivery of 27 A&H coverages within four LOBs in less than 11 months and great leaps in operational efficiency win accolades

Are you a benefits insurer planning to move down market? How will you win in the small case, small business market? Here are 5 questions to ask yourself and a checklist of 7 capabilities that you will very likely find you need.

Observations on legacy modernization trends for benefits insurers in Novarica’s new report

Since health care reform and the explosion of voluntary benefits, the group benefits market underwent dramatic disruption. That disruption hasn’t slowed since, and in many ways has only grown stronger. This has opened the door to a lot of opportunity that has yet to be taken advantage of.

A very similar, consistent theme emerged in sessions throughout LIMRA’s recent Enrollment Tech conference. Insurance companies want to be at a place where all communication is API driven, especially when it comes to enrollment communication with enrollment vendors. This message was very evident in the presentation by Prudential and ADP that kicked off the conference, in the presentation by Maxwell Healthcare and EIS Group, and in other sessions.

Your distribution engine powers sales, but the fuel you need for each market segment differs. The capabilities you need to support voluntary sales by brokers in the small case market versus those focused on the large case market vary greatly.  So the question for insurers planning a down market move is: will you find the distribution you need?

How to make your benefits products a good fit for small businesses

Looked at from a marketing lens, my personal truth is that I am a demographic of one. And anyone who can grasp that and understands my needs and preferences will score some serious points and wallet share. This type of mass personalization could be key to successful benefits insurance small case marketing on Main Street.

You have surely heard it said that small businesses are the growth engine for America.  Today, the phrase has a special ring to it for benefits insurers. The small business market is often viewed as an opportunity attractive to growth-minded insurers because the focus of the majority of carriers is on the larger, highly-competitive end of the market.