Dwane McFerrin of SMS

Dwane has earned a respected place in the industry and at SMS. It’s great to see him recognized for years of generously sharing his time, expertise and talent.

OMAHA, Neb. (PRWEB)
April 01, 2021

The Omaha Association of Health Underwriters (OAHU) has selected Dwane McFerrin, Senior Vice President, Medicare Solutions at Senior Market Sales® (SMS), as the recipient of its Underwriter of the Year Award recognizing distinguished service to the association and the industry.

McFerrin received the 2019-2020 award March 31, 2021, at the OAHU’s Annual Recognition and Continuing Education Event at the Champions Run Country Club in Omaha, Nebraska. (The 2020 event was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Wendi Peterson-Stott, OAHU’s President, said the award is given to individuals who contribute time and talent to further the health insurance industry, who exhibit the type of character representing the finest type of individual and who display a positive attitude and promote Omaha AHU accordingly. The OAHU is the Omaha chapter of The National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU), which represents more than 100,000 professional health insurance agents and brokers who provide insurance for millions of Americans.

McFerrin served as Chair for seven years on NAHU’s Medicare Working Group, served a two-year term on the Omaha AHU Board of Directors and currently serves on NAHU’s mental health task force and prescription drug task force. He helps facilitate SMS’ sponsorship of the Nebraska delegation dinner at the NAHU Cap Conference. Through his association with NAHU, he has helped the association advocate with important reforms that benefit agents and consumers, including reinstating the Medicare Open Enrollment Period (OEP), the creation of Special Election Periods (SEPs) after natural disasters and fighting off attempts to reduce compensation for agents.

He has more than 30 years of experience in executive-level positions in the insurance industry. In his role at SMS, he is responsible for the strategic direction of the Medicare product line, carrier relationships and a team of marketing consultants who support sales in excess of 540,000 new enrollments into Medicare-related products annually. McFerrin, who has earned a number of designations including CLU®, CFP®, RHU®, CLTC and LLIF certifications, has helped position SMS as a market leader selling Medicare Advantage and Part D in addition to Medicare Supplement.

McFerrin also is a frequent contributor to insurance industry publications and serves on carrier advisory boards.

“SMS takes pride in giving back to the industry,” McFerrin said. “Agents play a vital role in the economy, and SMS wants to make sure that the interests of agents and their clients are well represented. NAHU and OAHU are great partners to help us accomplish that goal.”

Jim Summers, Executive Vice President, Managing Director and President of SMS, said the award is well-deserved.

“Dwane has earned a respected place in the industry and at SMS,” Summers said. “It’s great to see him recognized for years of generously sharing his time, expertise and talent.”

About Senior Market Sales

Senior Market Sales® (SMS) is a full-service insurance marketing organization (IMO) dedicated to helping independent insurance agents leverage time, make more money and put their business in a position of distinction. Founded in 1982, SMS has grown into one of the industry’s foremost IMOs with more than 320 employees and 65,000 independent agents under contract. With products and agents in all 50 states, SMS offers the industry’s most complete IMO experience, supporting every facet of an agent’s business, from its comprehensive senior product portfolio to technology, services and marketing programs. In 2020, SMS joined the Alliant Insurance Services, Inc., family of companies.

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Loss Control 360 will help to transform Utica National’s risk management process and ultimately help to improve our customer experience – with a goal of helping to make businesses safer and reduce losses.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (PRWEB)
March 31, 2021

Utilant, an InsurTech leader providing the industry’s best-in-class Survey Management SaaS Product Suite for Loss Control and Premium Audit surveys, signed on the member companies of the Utica National Insurance Group to the Loss Control 360 platform to improve the performance of both their Risk Management and Underwriting departments.

Utica National Insurance Group provides personal and commercial insurance products and services and was looking for a solution that would deliver data efficiencies, risk rating, workflow improvements, customer correspondence, and integrate seamlessly with other core systems.

“Loss Control 360 will help to transform Utica National’s risk management process and ultimately help to improve our customer experience – with a goal of helping to make businesses safer and reduce losses,” said Bill Raab, MS-RMI, CPCU, ARM – Assistant Vice President and Director of Risk Management – Technical and Field Services at Utica National Insurance Group. “Loss Control 360’s core platform workflow, data mining and risk profiling capabilities combined with the Client Location Manager, Self-Survey and Guide Stream 360 modules will deliver solutions for our needs and those of our customers unlike any other product suite in the market.”

The Utilant Loss Control 360 platform integrates artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), data, and analytics into all aspects of loss control. The resulting insight into a risk allows Loss Control 360 to automatically suggest survey types to loss control personnel such as data-only surveys, self-surveys, guided surveys, and onsite surveys. Loss Control 360’s automation model triggers an intelligent workflow based on criteria such as risk score, loss control, and claims data to transform the basis for underwriting, preventing future loss, and driving deeper insight into the insurance carriers‘ business portfolio.

“Utilant’s InsurTech Product Suite harnesses the power of loss control data through AI and ML and marries it to 3rd party and public record data to provide synthesized intelligence for better underwriting decisions,’’ said Rob Mikulec, CRO at Utilant. “It’s our mission to stay a step ahead of emerging technologies that push the boundaries of what’s possible in loss control, providing unrivaled efficiency and insight to our customers.’’

About Utica National Insurance Group

Utica National Insurance Group is a nationally recognized group of insurers, providing personal and commercial insurance products and services, with the second-largest errors and omissions business in the United States. The member companies of Utica National sell their products through more than 2,500 independent insurance agents and employ over 1,200 people countrywide. The lead insurance company of the group, Utica Mutual Insurance Company, was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in New Hartford, New York, with eleven offices. For more information visit http://www.uticanational.com.

About Utilant and Loss Control 360

Utilant is an InsurTech leader providing the industry’s best-in-class Survey Management SaaS Product Suite for Loss Control and Premium Audit surveys. Utilant’s Loss Control 360 platform drives predictive risk insights with intelligent loss control solutions for Property & Casualty Insurance Carriers and Top Risk Engineering Companies. The Loss Control 360 platform leverages the world’s largest repository of survey data, coupled with a suite of work-flow tools designed to inform smarter underwriting decisions. A typical implementation provides positive ROI within the first year. For more information visit http://www.losscontrol360.com.

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‘Best placed’ carriers are set to accrue a disproportionate share of the benefits from the repricing of commercial lines, with consequences for their competitors around investment and the opportunity cost not investing.

TORONTO (PRWEB)
March 31, 2021

NMG Consulting recently completed its 2021 Study of the US Commercial Lines market, which canvasses more than 1,500 independent producers responsible for more than US$1bn in gross written premium. It analyzes the competitive performance of insurance carriers.

The repricing of the US commercial lines segment, particularly Liability lines, has global significance with 13 back-to-back quarters of rate increases since Q4 2017 (Marsh Global Insurance Market Index). Most market players expect prices will continue to rise into 2022 – combined with further tightening in coverage definitions and terms.

Rise faster than the tide

What does this mean for insurance carriers? “That margin expansion is a big opportunity,” says Mark Prichard, CEO of NMG Consulting. “With Covid-19 forcing insurers to adopt new servicing models, the rewards for the right decisions have rarely been so appealing – and the opportunity costs of the wrong decisions so stark.”

According to Karen Lau, a consultant with NMG in Toronto, the fruits of this margin expansion are likely to fall to those who outperform their peers on ‘servicing capability’. “Our analysis of Covid-19 performance highlighted that many insurers had done a good job with their support strategies – particularly premium leniency. But leniency was too widespread to be a competitive differentiator. What really matters is the ability to service – and engage – via virtual and digital channels.”

According to NMG’s research, independent producers are voting with their feet when choosing lead carriers – preferencing those offering higher servicing quality.

Service capability – capturing margins and protecting profitability.

NMG’s 2021 Study shows service capability is now increasingly separating the major players. “There are now five insurers who have a significant – and long-standing – ‘service advantage’,” says NMG’s Karen Lau. “By contrast, there are eight insurers we’ve identified who operate with a sustained gap to the servicing capability average. That puts pressure on underwriting quality and may steer these companies towards price-led strategies – with implication for margins and long-term profitability.”

Opportunities and implications

The recent hardening of prices is good news for the industry but doesn’t protect market players from the need to make big decisions. From a strategic point of view, Mark Prichard believes widening competitive gaps in this environment ‘raise the stakes’ and, crucially, increase the investment required to remain competitive.

“Carriers with an existing competitive advantage need to balance investments in future capability with the need to capture margin now. They need to win without getting complacent – because this market moves swiftly.”

Industry participants who are one capability lift away from the top table need to invest accordingly. For the laggards, the choices are harder. “They need a step-change in performance across multiple capability areas,” says Karan Sabharwal (Partner, Toronto). “And they need to start that change now.”

To access the full article, please visit: https://www.nmg-consulting.com/perspectives/increased-opportunity-meets-rising-opportunity-cost/

For more information regarding NMG’s Commercial Lines Study, please contact:

Karan Sabharwal, Partner (Toronto, Karan.Sabharwal@NMG-Group.com)

Karen Lau, Consultant (Toronto, Karen.Lau@NMG-Group.com)

About NMG Consulting

NMG Consulting is a leading multinational insurance, reinsurance and asset management consultancy. We provide insights and strategy consulting to financial institutions globally. NMG’s evidence-based consulting programs carry-out interviews with industry experts to analyze industry trends, competitive positioning and capabilities. Established programs exist in insurance and reinsurance (life and non-life markets) and asset management across North America, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Asia-Pacific, South Africa, and the Middle East.

Learn more at http://www.NMG-Consulting.com

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The insurance industry’s stubborn refusal to adapt digital technology into its operations is costing them millions of dollars in missed opportunities.

We need to improve insurance for the masses. We do this with advanced technology, which makes the products more accessible to the consumers, and increases the scope for the agents.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (PRWEB)
March 31, 2021

The insurance industry’s stubborn refusal to adapt digital technology into its operations puts the future of legacy companies in peril as its reliance on antiquated actuarial tables continues to deny policies to millions of people. That’s real money that these outdated companies are bleeding—millions, if not hundreds of millions—of dollars. “We need to improve insurance for the masses. We do this with advanced technology, which makes the products more accessible to the consumers, and increases the scope for the agents,” said Paul Ford, co-founder and CEO of Traffk, an insurance underwriting and distribution platform.

Analyzing more than 4,000 robust data points, Insurtech solutions can help a company rapidly design, develop and distribute bespoke insurance products. Risk management services including proprietary alternative data sets, streamlining portfolio management and digital risk experience monitoring can also help improve efficiency, profitability and growth for carriers, reinsurers, underwriters, agents and distributors while giving consumers new and in-demand products.

Typically, life insurance companies use 5 categories to determine what type of life insurance a person qualifies for, and if you have a pre-existing condition such as diabetes, high blood pressure or mental health issues, you might automatically be disqualified or only offered a very expensive policy.(1) With the use of the right insurance technology, potential policyholders don’t have to visit the doctor or answer the same questions over and over to get insurance. Robust data points are used to calculate risk and compile digital data from previous doctors’ appointments and medical records to create a wider spectrum of options for consumers so that if you have a pre-existing condition but have been managing it well and are otherwise healthy, you have options. The newer companies that embrace technology, offer fast results and that have an agent just a click away are leaving legacy insurance companies in the dust.

“Digital products, such as New Spectrum Life Insurance, are designed for everyday people with average health or pre-existing conditions so that their family has the monetary support they need,” said Brandon Potter, Product Director for Traffk. “The focus has to be in making the process fast and easy to empower agents and help consumers so that they no longer have to worry about increasing financial burdens for their families.”

Traditional policies are very limited, and it is very time consuming to qualify for one or to find out what your options are. According to a Munich RE report, 50% of consumers are more likely to purchase an offer that appears quickly—and the traditional way of qualifying for life insurance has too many barriers and takes too long. By the time consumers spend hours filling out applications and answering the same questions over and over, taking a medical exam, and then wait for weeks while the insurer checks and reviews background information including prescriptions and driving history, most consumers have lost interest.(2)

New Spectrum Life Insurance uses technology to reduce the wait time from weeks to minutes, the application process takes 20 minutes after which the consumer receives information about policies that are customized to fit his or her life and situation. This not only benefits the consumers, but with New Spectrum Life Insurance, agents are able to be more responsive, have more applicable products to offer their clients and are able to be more profitable for themselves in the end.

While many legacy life insurance companies were not able to quickly pivot to a work-from-home lifestyle for their agents, insurance technology gives agents the tools and processes they need to successfully work from any space.

“Lots of companies talk about giving consumers options and the ability to buy a product any way they want but then don’t follow through on that promise. New Spectrum Life Insurance does. It combines technology with personal knowledge to give consumers life insurance that is relative and useful to them and agents new opportunities to help more clients,” said Kevin McKenna, COO of Traffk.

About Traffk

Traffk is an innovative insurance underwriting and distribution platform designed to build and launch modern insurance products and brands that scale. With more than 25 years combined leadership in insurance and AI, Paul Ford and Glen Hibler co-founded Traffk as a solution to the problems of inefficient, assumption-based underwriting and slow processing in the insurance industry. Traffk’s goal from the start has been to comprehend the risks and modernize the insurance underwriting process by leveraging modern-day tools. Traffk enables risk bearers to leverage the underwriting process with its data-enrichment technology and integrates and analyzes data to glean insights pertinent to insurance. Traffk works with agents as partners, providing them with the digital tools to work with an efficient sales process and engage consumers with a fast, accurate process for insurance policies, changing the insurance landscape for the better, forever. Visit http://www.traffk.com and http://www.newspectrumlife.com.

1.    Severino, Carly, “Life insurance with pre-existing conditions.” | 11 February 2021; Bankrate, bankrate.com/insurance/life-insurance/pre-existing-conditions.

2.    Forberg, Sigrid, “Why Is Buying Life Insurance So Difficult?” | 18 March 2021; MoneyWise, moneywise.com/a/why-is-buying-life-insurance-so-difficult.

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Canada Life and Flybits collaborate on personalized insurance experiences

“Together, we’ve built an incredible platform that will undoubtedly further our commitment to supporting our customers’ health and well-being.”

TORONTO (PRWEB)
March 31, 2021

Flybits, the leading digital experience platform for financial services, has announced the successful launch of data-driven, contextual personalization on Canada Life’s GroupNet app. In 2020, Canada Life launched personalized offers with the objective of delivering high-impact experiences to its customers through their app.

“When we teamed up with Flybits, we were looking for a new and innovative way to connect and service our customers as we continue our digitalization journey,” says Ryan Weiss, Vice-President of Product and Experience at Canada Life. “Together, we’ve built an incredible platform that will undoubtedly further our commitment to supporting our customers’ health and well-being.”

Since its launch, Canada Life has deployed dozens of such experiences including the Best Doctors program, credit counseling, and several initiatives to promote health and wellness. Through these notifications, customers can learn more about their benefits and save time and money. For instance, they can receive reminders to use their wellness account, sign up for direct deposit, download their benefits card to their mobile device, and more.

“Canada Life has taken a bold step in its digital transformation efforts, offering their customers data-driven digital experiences that few organizations in their industry are providing today,” says Brian Jamieson, Chief Operating Officer at Flybits. “It’s exciting to be part of their journey as one of the first insurance companies in the world to offer this degree of customer engagement at scale.”

In the coming year, Canada Life will initiate additional, contextually-aware experiences that will continue to support their customers’ well-being.

Media Contacts

Jannine Krish

Director of Marketing, Flybits

Telephone: +1 416 666 3707

Email: jannine.krish@flybits.com

About Flybits

Flybits is the leading customer experience platform for the financial services sector, delivering personalization at scale. With the most advanced capabilities in the market, its enterprise-level solution brings relevant content, products, offers, and information to a bank’s digital channels based on what each individual customer needs in the moments that matter. With Flybits, banks are able to design, launch, and measure data-driven consumer experiences that deliver the right information to the right customer at the right time, while preserving their privacy.

For more information, visit http://www.flybits.com.

About The Canada Life Assurance Company

Canada Life is a leading insurance, wealth management and benefits provider focused on improving the financial, physical and mental well-being of Canadians. For more than 170 years, individuals, families and business owners across Canada have trusted us to provide sound guidance and deliver on the promises we’ve made.

On January 1, 2020, Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life became one company – Canada Life, and today, we proudly serve more than 12 million customer relationships from coast to coast to coast.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

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“I’m confident her leadership and experience will help us further develop our operational structure and position our teams for success.”

MEDIA, Pa. (PRWEB)
March 30, 2021

Title Alliance, Ltd., an employee-owned family of full-service title insurance and escrow agencies, is proud to announce Yvonne Bushallow as Director of Eastern Operations. As Director of Eastern Operations, she will be responsible for managing the operational needs of the joint ventures and evaluating recruitment and training needs of her division.

Yvonne joins Title Alliance having more than 20 years of experience in the title industry. Yvonne’s career began as a Branch Manager at a bank before becoming an Analyst for a management company where she worked as part of project review teams on budget, finance, design, and engineering functions for major agencies. Since then, she has held many positions including Director of Operations and Vice President of National Title Operations and Minority Owner for a large title company. Since 2010, she served as the Vice President of Default Title Operations where she focused on growing the division and overseeing the national title operations production center for abstracting, examining title, curative, and settlements/closings in more than 38 states.

“We are thrilled to have Yvonne join our Title Alliance family and play an important role in ensuring our teams are setup to provide an exceptional closing experience for all parties involved,” said Patti DeGennaro, Chief Implementation Officer at Title Alliance. “I’m confident her leadership and experience will help us further develop our operational structure and position our teams for success.”

Yvonne has licensed and assisted in building seven single state title companies into national title agencies and has her title license in more than 30 states.

Prospect candidates looking for a new opportunity in the Pennsylvania area (and beyond) can visit Title Alliance Careers for current job openings. One of the pillars of the Title Alliance philosophy is creating opportunities for personal and professional growth-one ALLIANCE at a time. As a result, while qualifications are important in the hiring process, personality and values are a higher priority.

About Title Alliance:

Title Alliance’s roots date back to 1948 when their first agency, which is still in existence today, was formed in Media, Pennsylvania. Since 1983, the company has been forming successful single and multi-state title joint ventures with lenders, realtors, and builders. Title Alliance partners to establish in-house title and settlement operations, dramatically enhancing their customer service and increasing their profit. Title Alliance’s family of companies is currently in 11 states with 60 total offices. More information at http://www.titlealliance.com.

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“Fiducient Advisors represents the shared vision and culture of all of our partners and colleagues,” said Mike Goss, managing partner at the combined firm.

CHICAGO (PRWEB)
March 29, 2021

DiMeo Schneider & Associates, L.L.C., an NFP company, today announced they will rebrand as Fiducient Advisors. The new brand, which includes the same leadership and ownership structure, represents the combination of DiMeo Schneider & Associates, L.L.C. (DiMeo Schneider) and Fiduciary Investment Advisors LLC (FIA), which joined forces in April 2020.

“Foremost, our new name emphasizes the important role we play as a trusted fiduciary committed to helping clients prosper,” said Bob DiMeo, CEO of the combined firm. “It also speaks to the success of our integration and how we are operating as a fully unified firm.”

Advising on more than $225 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2020, across endowments and foundations, retirement plans, private clients and financial institutions, Fiducient Advisors’ culture and client service model centers on four key tenets: discipline, strategy, empathy and principles.

“The Fiducient Advisors brand reflects the combined and expanded expertise of DiMeo Schneider and FIA,” said Doug Hammond, chairman and CEO of NFP. “The integration of these two organizations over the past year has exceeded expectations. Fiducient Advisors is well positioned, in both size and expertise, to deliver value to current and future clients.”

“Fiducient Advisors represents the shared vision and culture of all of our partners and colleagues,” said Mike Goss, managing partner at the combined firm. “The firm is built upon our clients’ stories and missions, as well as acknowledgement that as fiduciary advisors, we create tailored solutions through a disciplined and strategic approach, accompanied by aligned investment advice.”

About Fiducient Advisors

Founded in 1995, Fiducient Advisors is dedicated to investment consulting. We create highly tailored strategies following a disciplined approach we have honed for more than 25 years. With seven offices across the nation, we are a trusted fiduciary to clients throughout the country. The firm offers no proprietary investment products, nor accepts commissions. At the heart of each client relationship is a deep dedication to putting our clients’ needs first.

Visit FiducientAdvisors.com to see how we can help you prosper.

About NFP

NFP is a leading insurance broker and consultant providing specialized property and casualty, corporate benefits, retirement, and individual solutions through its licensed subsidiaries and affiliates. NFP enables client success through the expertise of over 5,800 global employees, investments in innovative technologies, and enduring relationships with highly rated insurers, vendors, and financial institutions. NFP is the 5th largest benefits broker by global revenue, 5th best place to work in insurance and 6th largest US-based privately owned broker (Business Insurance); 9th commercial lines agency by P&C commercial lines revenue and 10th largest property and casualty agency (Insurance Journal); and 12th largest global insurance broker (Best’s Review).

Visit NFP.com to discover how NFP empowers clients to meet their goals.

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