Customer experience

Marsh & McLennan Agency (MMA), a subsidiary of insurance broker Marsh Inc., has set forth a strategy to build a preeminent property/casualty and employee benefits organization to serve the needs of the middle market. And, the firm is acting on it. Just in the month of November, MMA announced three acquisitions: Seitlin Insurance, an insurance brokerage firms South Florida, Gallagher & Associates Inc. a property/casualty insurance agency specializing in public school districts, and the employee benefits division of Kaeding, Ernst & Company a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based employee benefits, life insurance, and financial planning consulting firm. Terms of all three transactions were not disclosed.

Roughly two-thirds of life and annuity producers surveyed by Deloitte (http://www.deloitte.com) expect to change carriers within the next 12 months. Twenty-nine percent plan to add carriers and one-third expect to both add and drop carriers. Sales support, speed of underwriting and policy issue, and carrier brand are the top factors influencing these decisions. Forty percent are not satisfied with the support they currently receive. And, with more than 80 percent of a producer’s total compensation coming from two favored carriers, there is room for improved producer loyalty and sales through better support, said Rebecca Amoroso, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and insurance leader.

The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA) recently honored Caliper Corporation's Founder and CEO Dr. Herb Greenberg, for his role over a five-decade period in improving the performance of its state associations and member agencies. In particular, Greenberg was noted for his development of the Caliper Profile, a proprietary personality assessment.

Insurance executives downplay their service delivery and mobile capabilities so far, which is promising.

Accenture survey says industry needs to embrace analytics and better tailor products and services to customers’ needs.

Unpredictability, layers of complexity, yet-to-be-seen risks all play forward into challenges and opportunities for insurers’ social media strategies.

The carrier is looking to fill 100 positions in its Dallas office by February of next year.

Poor Communication Feeds Life Insurance Sales Gap

Insurance Networking News, the independent authority on the latest technology to support insurers' business strategies, kicked off its annual 2011 Vanguards in Insurance (VIP) awards program, in which carriers vote for their industry's top technology providers and these providers in turn nominate the most visionary insurance carriers.

As consumers’ and agents’ service demands increase, insurers will need to improve their websites and portals.