Comments on: Insuratech Podcast Episode 31: Steve Snell on the ROI of Insurance Web Sites

By: Insurance Technology ROI, Part 2 - Association and Affinity Web Sites | insuratech

Fri, 29 May 2009 13:23:32 +0000

[...] added the following content as a comment on the previous podcast post with Steve Snell, but thought it might be better suited for a post all it’s own. These thoughts are in [...]

By: Mark Williams

Mark Williams — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:23:59 +0000

Spot on comments. Look forward to more. Topic for me is the tension between legacy and new technologies and methodologies. We are working on big ticket upgrade to the back end stuff right now and the challenges of moving fast and smart are huge. This is high risk stuff in a risk adverse business. I live smack between the business(s) and the IT teams, pretty interesting and glad to say some progress in our world but long way to go still to bridge the gap.

By: Mike Wise

Mike Wise — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:01:56 +0000

By coincidence, I just did an ROI exercise for a client. Here’s what I came up with relative to overhauling a site and converting from PDF download to an e-app for term life:

Tangible Revenue gains, so NEW revenue, that should come from the following sources as compared to the site in its current state:

Higher conversion rates from existing traffic flow with existing product set. This factor alone could fund a significant initiative.
New traffic, and possible enrollments, from new viral marketing components
Perhaps even higher conversion rates with the ‘new traffic’
Increased persistency rates due to automation
New revenue from automated cross-sell and up-sell processes

Tangible Bottom-line cost reductions:

Straight-through paperless processing (HUGE cost savings)
Automating the provision of ID cards and policy information – e-Issue (BIG cost savings)
Possible member self-service automation

There are also several significant intangible ROI possibilities. And as always, there are also significant positive ROI things that will become apparent post-launch.
One definite intangible – collecting prospect/new client contact information, esp email.

By: Steve Snell

Steve Snell — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:18:09 +0000

Only a handful of folks “get it” the way Mark Seghers does. He’s right on about the overall lack of customer-centricity, and so much more.

Expanding a bit on Mark’s thoughts, I also believe much of the problem lies in the business’s mostly poor understanding of technology, integration, security, business process automation, project management, resource prioritization, etc. I believe business leaders would be well-served by rolling up their sleeves and getting into the trenches with their IT colleagues so they can better understand this mission-critical support component. That’s what makes Mark so good at what he does — he’s lived on both sides of the business/IT fence, so he has perspective that few others do.

By: Mark Seghers

Mark Seghers — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:38:05 +0000

I worked with Steve at AMS, where Steve was VP of Marketing and I was VP of E-business. Steve remains one of my favorite people to work with, and I always welcome the opportunity! A great visionary and powerful business leader.
Although prior to my AMS days I was in IT, I always fought for Business to control and prioritize technology. When I came to AMS, I asked that E-business report to the business, and have a dotted line to the CEO. This became very important while Steve and I fought together for the successful design and execution of eAMS- a very new and controversial technology.
The need for technology to serve the business becomes more and more important every year as technology gets closer and closer to – and becomes more and more dependent on- the customer and his/her needs. The company that meets those needs succeeds. Pure and simple.
With any technology, it’s important to understand and be driven by 1) who are your customer groups and 2) what do they want. Seems simple, but in my years leading and consulting in technology for Insurance, I am continually shocked over how seldom the customer is considered except possibly anecdotally.
Another important point- while technology should be run by the needs of the business, IT is often the owner of PROCESS, for logical reasons (for years their methodologies and deliverables and project management disciplines have driven change, and that does not necessarily need to stop just simply because Marketing knows the customer best). IT needs to build and enforce a practical, accountable signoff process that elicits and requires business AND CUSTOMER input and signoffs. NOW you have a process and a resulting technology that EVERYONE can buy into and support… most importantly the customer.

By: John Pogas

John Pogas — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:51:37 +0000

You are both dead on about having the web technology be driven by marketing and not IT. Look at the incredible success realized by Gieco, Progressive and Esurance. Their technology is driven by marketing, not IT. IT, at the end of the day, is the entity providing a service. Marketing is the entity directing how the service will be used. Think about it – who has a better understanding of the customer? Marketing or IT?

By: Online Insurance Technology and Return on Investment | Spinfield: Web marketing trends today, tomorrow, and beyond...

Tue, 26 May 2009 17:26:22 +0000

[...] This podcast was originally posted on my blog, InsuraTech. Read my post about the podcast here. [...]

By: Steve Snell

Steve Snell — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:35:45 +0000

Of all we talked about during this Podcast, the most important point I’d like to drive home is that (health) insurance company leaders mistakenly believe that their “products” are simply packages of copays, deductibles, and coinsurance. They’re wrong. They also naively believe that they must offer the lowest price on the street in order to win. Again, they’re wrong. There are many, many other ways to win – subjects for future Podcasts? Perhaps.