Greg Osborne, Vice President of Sales, Insurance Services, Exstream Software

“It is critical to extend the brand promise from advertisements and other marketing materials to your business documents, making every communication clear, consistent, and effective.”

Greg, it is great to have you with us. What was done right in integrating data and improving STP?

The two main themes in the insurance industry today are improving the customer experience and improving efficiencies through better workflow processes. In 2007 we saw the maturing of data integration solutions, which made it possible to read complex data and communicate it through middleware. Companies that made strides in this area understood the need to cover the entire insurance value chain – from quote and proposal to the payment of the claim – under a single platform to create one streamlined, automated path.

What would you advise as critical next steps for carriers?

It comes down to one thing: the customer experience. It is important to foster an enterprise-wide initiative that makes it easy for customers to do business with you. This involves several things, including streamlining the enrollment process, having attractive benefit choices that meet the needs of a diverse population, and simplifying the administration of these services. The challenge will be having the tools that provide the capability of delivering the experience the customer is looking for.

What about the more exciting advancements you see becoming available?

One of the exciting advancements we see is the ability to offer a common platform for managing the editing of all types of interactive documents across the enterprise. Interactive document capabilities provide customer-facing employees with the flexibility and autonomy needed to create point-of-need, customized documents for clients, while ensuring accuracy and costs are controlled through centralized production and fulfillment. This capability makes it possible for agents, brokers, customer service representatives, and others to complete personalized, targeted correspondence, proposals, contracts, and e-forms right from their desktop, which adds to a more positive customer experience.

Your one message Greg?

It is critical to extend the brand promise from advertisements and other marketing materials to your business documents, making every communication clear, consistent, and effective. Every communication with a customer drives behavior.