ReMark Americas
Direct Marketing Firm Helps Insurers Drive Growth with Microsoft-based Software
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Company Overview
Since 1984, ReMark has helped many of the world’s leading banks and life insurance companies build long-term customer loyalty and maximize revenue by assisting them with the direct marketing of insurance products.
Business Challenge
But the North American life insurance market is undergoing a shift in distribution strategies. The past decade has seen a move toward independent distribution, whereby brokers who are not tied to any one financial institution are authorized to give objective financial advice to their clients. This marks a move away from tied agents, who are only authorized to give financial advice and recommend products from one particular firm. Industry consolidation is also on the rise, resulting from an industry-wide push for cost efficiency and a greater share of broker business. As merger activity slows and cost efficiencies are realized, insurance companies are now focusing on ways to increase revenues through growth.
However, the decline of the tied agent model has made recruiting new brokers – and their policyholders - difficult for insurance firms. Older, experienced brokers with large customer bases are now primarily targeting new high net-worth clients or focusing on estate planning. This often leaves a large portion of an insurer’s customer base untapped and under-served.
In a recent survey conducted by ReMark through NewLink Group, a leading consulting company, 46 per cent of policyholders considered themselves “orphans”, receiving no contact from their financial broker. A much higher percentage reported receiving only sporadic contact from their broker. With so many existing policyholders feeling underserved, ReMark saw an opportunity to grow revenue for its clients by creating marketing campaigns geared specifically to them.
“We wanted to be able to lead a shift away from older models of distribution that were having limited success to something entirely new. After developing a structured marketing strategy based on enhanced customer relationship management and retention programs, we looked for a solution that would allow us to deliver,” says Brad Smith, President, ReMark Americas.”
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Solution
In 2001, ReMark approached Transact One, a Toronto-based IT service provider and Microsoft Certified Partner that specializes in sales and marketing technology for the insurance industry, to build a platform to support its new business strategy. ReMark and Transact One created a joint distribution solution based upon Transact One’s Microsoft® Insurance Value Chain partner software, BlueSun. The solution was developed using Microsoft Visual Studio® 2003 development system, taking advantage of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and SQL Server™ 2005.
“We have always been happy with the price and performance of Microsoft’s developer technology – in this case it enables us to deliver leading-edge solutions to our customers like ReMark. The support Microsoft provided us has also been invaluable,” says Simon Tomlinson, Chief Technology Officer, Transact One.
ReMark is now using the solution to better integrate brokers with their policyholder marketing programs. The Microsoft .NET platform helps to provide a secure Web interface that integrates with an insurance company’s broker advisor centre, enabling them to access details of a marketing program well before it launches. The technology also enables brokers to opt-out particular clients, view all marketing program results for their policyholder base in real time and receive new business leads through increased policyholder interaction.
“The solution is based on .NET technology and we continue to upgrade the product using the latest releases of .NET and Visual Studio. We have recently upgraded to Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0 because as the features in the technologies improve, our productivity improves as well, which has allowed us to refine the process,” explains Tomlinson.
ReMark is also using BlueSun technology to help manage its clients’ marketing programs. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 allows ReMark to take a complete insurance provider’s policyholder base from multiple mainframe systems and merge it into one relational marketing database.
“This helps us do all the analytical work – we can determine who is eligible for programs, develop the offer structure, and locate internal resources necessary to execute the program and forecast results. Moreover, it provides a real-time view of activities from multiple outsourced vendors, enabling us to manage these complex partnerships much more seamlessly,” says Smith.
Business Benefits
Transact-One’s Blue Sun technology, based on Microsoft software, enables ReMark to put multi-tiered client marketing campaign systems in place for its clients and deliver on them quickly and efficiently. Today, ReMark’s policyholder-marketing programs consistently generate response rates that are 5 per cent better when compared to industry averages.
Simplified Data Extraction
Many of ReMark’s clients store their critical policyholder information in aging legacy systems, making it difficult for staff to extract and use the data. By taking advantage of SQL Server 2005, Blue Sun technology has provided ReMark with seamless access to client systems and helped it to develop ReMark’s proprietary process of managing data feeds with insurers.
“Using Microsoft-based technology makes it easier for us to extract data and deliver marketing programs based on that information. We can also conduct post-campaign analysis, and future modeling has been simplified, as the reporting from all of our insurer communication channels and systems has been combined,” says Smith.
Real-Time Insight
One of ReMark’s customers, Transamerica Life Canada, recognized that independent brokers don’t always have the time to focus on their existing clients given the focus on securing new high-net worth customers. As well, monitoring outbound telemarketing programs requires a real-time view of results in order to be effective. To help its 2,000 brokers better meet the needs of its customers, Transamerica decided to employ a direct sales and marketing strategy. However, the company wanted to ensure brokers had some control over the direct campaigns and were personally involved as the marketing programs were implemented.
The ReMark campaign helped Transamerica to determine which of its policy-holders were eligible for additional offers, and how those offers should be structured. During the course of the campaign, independent brokers used BlueSun technology to maintain real-time control over policyholder marketing activities. Brokers viewed real-time campaign updates through a web-based advisor centre, tracking which clients were targeted, when direct mailings would be distributed, any calls that had come into the customer service centre, and scripts of customer questions and answers. The vast majority of brokers viewed this campaign as a benefit - less than one percent of brokers chose not to offer it to their clients.
"The Microsoft-based BlueSun technology was a vital component of our recent campaigns. We were able to generate CDN$2 million in first year premiums through one six-week campaign. In addition, we were able to drive leads and other product opportunities back to our independent brokers,” says Doug Paul, Senior Vice President, Sales and Distribution, Transamerica Life Canada.
Greater Revenue and Retention for Customers
The ReMark program has given Transamerica another way to generate revenue while at the same time offering added value to brokers and their clients. Following the success of the ReMark programs, Transamerica is developing a strategy called Cooperative Marketing that supports independent brokers through integrated, multi-channel marketing. To date, the Transamerica programs represent the broadest use of BlueSun technology, providing it with full broker integration and post-campaign analysis. “Microsoft-based BlueSun represents state-of-the-art technology for the design, execution, real-time analysis and refinement of product and channel marketing for insurers. The technology has helped us deliver on our strategy and offer results to our clients,” says Smith.
Microsoft Solutions for the Financial Services Industry
Microsoft .NET is software for connecting information, people, systems, and devices through Web services. .NET gives financial institutions the agility to develop deeper customer and supplier relationships, empower employees to make better and faster decisions, and take advantage of market changes.
For more information about Microsoft solutions for the financial services industry, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/industry/financialservices/default.mspx
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com
For more information about Transact One products and services, call (905) 333-3353 or visit the Web site at: www.transact-one.com
For more information about ReMark Americas products and services, call (416) 920-0912 or visit the Web site at: www.remarkamericas.com
