A weekly list of interesting news items that we were not able to write full articles on, but nonetheless, thought our readers would be interested in knowing about …
Clearsurance Launches $10K contest
In conducting our latest Agency Interview with Clearsurance, the MA-based insurance review and rating platform, we learned that this week the company is launching a new contest for user-submitted stories about individual insurance experiences.
Anyone who has ever had to file an insurance claim knows that there is always a story leading up to the claim. They also know that whether the outcome of that story was a bad one or a good one is largely determined by how the claim was handled.
Clearsurance is asking people to submit their stories of the times when their insurance company came through for them, or not. In other words, did your insurance company have your back?
After reviewing submitted stories, ten winners will be awarded up to $1,000 each in reimbursement towards their household auto, home or renter’s insurance expenses.
Clearsurance also will select two winners—one for Auto and one for Property (home and renters)—in each of five categories:
Best Overall,
Most Compelling and Helpful,
Service above and beyond Expectations (for an insurance carrier),
I Can’t Believe That Actually Happened! (this claim even shocked the adjuster), and
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.
If you remember, the”first-of-its-kind crowdsourced review” platform launched late last year with $2 million in funding and with the goal of bringing a standard rating metric for the insurance industry.
Explaining the premise behind Clearsurance during its official launch, Co-Founder and CEO Michael Crowe noted, “No one wants to spend time thinking about their insurance policies, but everyone wants to have confidence in their choices. Clearsurance can help insurance shoppers the same way Yelp and TripAdvisor advise restaurant and travel consumers: Improve the overall customer experience through better transparency and crowd-sourced insights and ratings.”
Clearsurance is asking people to submit their stories of the times when their insurance company came through for them, or not. In other words, did your insurance company have your back?
For contest rules, please visit this link. Contest submissions open on April 2, 2017, and users can submit stories through June 30, 2017. The company will announce ten winners in mid-July 2017.
And the most innovative is … John Hancock
John Hancock announced this week that it has received the “Most Innovative Insurer” award from the Insurance Nexus USA Conference in Chicago. Based in London, Insurance Nexus dubs itself a “central hub for insurance executives”. The Insurance Innovation Awards looks to recognize those companies that Insurance Nexus sees as the most innovative on the “carrier, vendor and technology sides of the insurance industry”.
“Innovation is the new lifeblood of the insurance industry, and these awards are designed to give due recognition to the industry’s most innovative players,” said Marsha Irving, Head of Innovation, Insurance Nexus. “We congratulate John Hancock for this recognition and their groundbreaking life insurance solutions.”
This year, John Hancock was recognized as the most innovative for its work on such products such as its John Hancock Vitality. According to the company John Hancock Vitality is a new kind of life insurance. the product offers savings and rewards for healthy life style choices. Perks include $600 in savings on healthy food purchases, the ability to earn an Apple Watch Series 2 by engaging in regular exercise, as well as a complimentary Fitbit® to all new policyholders.
<em><strong>A screenshot of the John Hancock Vitality website<strong><em>
In commenting on the award, Michael Doughty, President, John Hancock Insurance said, “It’s an honor to be recognized for our efforts to provide innovative solutions that deliver greater value and are designed to meet the changing needs of today’s consumer. Whether offering innovative products like John Hancock Vitality, which integrates life insurance with a fun and inspiring wellness program, or improving the customer experience through LifeTrack, John Hancock is constantly looking to evolve the life insurance experience.”
MassMutual Southern and Northern New England Merge With CFG
MassMutual’s Southern New England and Northern New England agencies have merged with the Commonwealth Financial Group, a comprehensive financial planning firm and a general agency of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. With this merger, the company now has just under 200 advisors serving over 95,000 clients representing over $6 billion in assets.
CFG also has expanded is outreach from metropolitan Boston throughout Greater New England and now has corporate offices now include Boston, MA, Hingham, MA, Hyannis, MA, Warwick, RI, Bedford, NH, and Burlington, VT.
“We are positioned to make a positive difference in even more clients lives through our expansion,” said Commonwealth Financial Group CEO Richard St. Jean. “Our team of financial professionals is prepared to deliver the very best financial planning resources to business owners, professionals, executives, and their families.”
We fundamentally believe that every client deserves the very best that the financial services industry has to offer and no one person can effectively deliver on that,” St. Jean said. “We offer a unique, team approach that creates greater efficiency for clients to meet their financial objectives.”
A Sneak Peek From Boston Software
The original Massachusetts insurtech start-up Boston Software gave a sneak peak on its progress in moving WinRater to the web.
In his latest update, Co-Founder Charlie Walsh had this to say:
We’re making very solid progress on our big 2017 challenge – i.e., retiring WinRater and moving all comparative rating functionality to our SinglePoint Web platform.
This is an enormous project for a relatively small shop like ours. It requires us to think in broad, comprehensive, creative ways while being disciplined and organized and methodical.
We’ve assembled a broad-based team of in-house and outsourced experts to help us develop the optimal, Web-based, quote-to-issue workflow. Using the “agile” design methodology, we have started to roll out iterations of the software in a healthy three-week rhythm.
Below are images of the Quote Dashboard and Vehicle Screen to give you a sense of the new look and feel of SinglePoint Rating:
Quote Dashboard Screenshot:
<em>Source Boston Software<em>
Vehicle Screen Screenshot:
<em>Source Boston Software<em>
As I have mentioned in the past, the overall workflow and user interface will be very familiar to agents and carriers who have used WinRater over the years. We’re taking the best of WinRater and making it better, easier, and more accessible on the SinglePoint platform.
I will continue to provide you with more information about the project, including milestones, time frames, pilot-testing with agents, and roll-out plans.
The Needham-based company also revamped their website earlier this year, here is a screenshot of the new homepage:
In conducting our latest Agency Interview with Clearsurance, the MA-based insurance review and rating platform, we learned that this week the company is launching a new contest for user-submitted stories about individual insurance experiences.
