Insurance sector · Agencies
Process re-engineering, organizational design, governance and performance indicator systems for principals and partners of insurance agencies who intend to combine growth and profitability in a solid operating model that is sustainable over time.
Typical scenarios
Four moments when an agency's organization is called upon to evolve.
Combining two or more agencies brings together different partners, offices, procedures and systems, which must be brought into a single organization while safeguarding the portfolio and the skills of the people involved.
Intervention: process harmonization, a new organizational structure, shared governance among the partners.
An increase in clients, staff and sometimes offices can make practices designed for a smaller scale inadequate: people and offices tend to follow their own habits, and management oversight weakens.
Intervention: common process standards, coordination roles, indicators comparable across staff, lines of business and offices.
The departure of the principal or the arrival of new partners calls for clear delegations of authority and an organization able to function without depending on a single person.
Intervention: responsibility matrices (RACI), a system of delegations, documented governance.
Administrative workloads, rework and compliance obligations handled through inefficient processes take time away from client relationships and advice.
Intervention: lean processes, a service model designed to give time back to client relationships and, once processes have been redesigned, an assessment of digital solutions conducted independently of vendors.
Scope
Across the entire client journey: welcome and needs analysis, policy issuance, renewals, collections and claims assistance. Once processes have been redesigned, an assessment of what is worth digitalizing, conducted independently of vendors.
A carefully designed client experience at every touchpoint, from the welcome in the agency to digital channels, with service and relationship levels tailored to the needs of each client segment.
Organization chart, roles, responsibilities and delegations for partners, staff and back-office personnel, including in agencies with several offices.
Shared decision-making rules that safeguard the agency's continuity, including through generational succession.
Indicators broken down by office, line of business and staff member and gathered in a dashboard, to support data-driven decisions.
Processes, organization, governance and indicators brought together in a documented operating model, designed to make the agency less dependent on individual people and better prepared to grow.
Experience
I have analyzed and optimized the processes of some of the largest agencies in the network of a leading insurance company, across several Italian regions. In those agencies I also worked on governance, organizational structure and performance indicators and, in some cases, on process digitalization. From that work, carried out inside the agencies, I bring direct knowledge of what I consider the most significant issues an agency faces: above all in its back-office and claims assistance processes, and then in its decision-making mechanisms.
I also supported the same company's commercial management in reviewing the governance and internal processes of its distribution model. Combined with my work inside the agencies, this experience allowed me to observe, from both perspectives, the relationship between an agency and the insurer whose mandate it holds. At the end of reorganization and process review projects for banking and insurance groups I advised as a consultant, I provided training and coaching to the heads of the departments involved.
In 14 days, an analysis of the agency's organization and processes that identifies critical issues and priorities and concludes with a 90-day roadmap.
Integration after a combination of agencies, back-office reorganization, customer experience and service models by client segment, indicator systems.
An advisory role alongside the principal and partners, with a monthly meeting on indicators, priorities and plan progress.
One or two days a week alongside the principal, directly overseeing the agreed objectives.
A preliminary 30-minute conversation, with no obligation, to identify where processes and organization are stuck. I reply within 1 business day.