client quote:

“The fact that we had the hands-on involvement of the partners of SourcePoint on a daily basis, and their thought leadership and direction, added tremendous value.”

Insurers are Highly Experienced at Outsourcing – They Just Don’t Realize It

Capital Markets Reward Insurers Who Have Clear Focus and Efficient Deployment of Resources

SourcePoint Partners conducted an invitation only executive workshop on May 15, 2003 in Atlanta, GA on the subject of  “Outsourcing in the Insurance Industry” and focused on contact center and business process outsourcing (BPO). An interesting theme that emerged during the day was that many insurers are highly experienced at outsourcing a core element of their business – they just don’t realize it. The success of broker and independent agency models validates the ability of insurers to strategically and successfully outsource key functions of their business, such as sales. Yet many insurers remain leery of outsourcing and do not embrace it as a possible solution for other areas of their business.

In general the capital markets are rewarding insurers who have a clear focus and efficient deployment of resources, and strategic outsourcing can play a significant role in achieving these goals. For this and other reasons, smart carriers are including outsourcing in their business strategy mix. Participants in the workshop included key executives from major and specialty insurance carriers as well as venture capital organizations.  The workshop focused on key aspects of outsourcing for insurers, with sessions on strategic aspects as well as execution.  The topics inlcuded,

• Insurance outsourcing: State of the Market

• Strategic outsourcing

• Capital Markets and Claims outsourcing

• Legal side of outsourcing

• Outsourcing business models

• Sourcing strategy roadmap

• On-shore, Near-shore and Off-shore: Where do I go?

• Industry case study: ACE INA

SourcePoint Partners has created an Executive Summary highlighting the key messages from each of the sessions.  Download the summary here.

If you  would like to discuss having a private workshop at your facility, please e-mail us at workshops@sourcepointpartners.com.

Speakers

Mary Winston, Vice President, ACE Insurance. Mary is head of data management and co-team leader of ACE's sourcing team for the Consumer Solutions Group of ACE. She will share some of ACE's experiences in assessing and developing outsourcing relationships.

John Waller, Partner, Cochran Caronia. John J. Waller is a founding principal in Cochran, Caronia & Co., an investment banking firm focused on the insurance industry. Prior to the formation of Cochran, Caronia & Co., Mr. Waller was an associate director at Coopers and Lybrand Securities, LLC where he primarily focused on the insurance industry having served as the lead advisor on numerous financings, divestitures and acquisitions for public, private and mutual property & casualty and life insurance companies ranging in size from $5 million to over $1 billion.

Patrick Hatfield, Partner, Lord Bissell & Brook. Pat focuses on the financial services sector including domestic and global outsourcing, software licensing and development, as well as e-business related legal issues such as e-sign. Pat is a frequent speaker at conferences on the legal ramifications of these topics.

Umesh Jain, Partner, SourcePoint Partners. Umesh is an authority in the areas of contact centers, CRM and domestic and global outsourcing. Over the last 10 years he has helped some of the leading Fortune 100 and large enterprises in these areas including American Express, ACE Insurance, Paymentech, CheckFree Corporation, FedEx, among others. He brings experience in setting up outsourcing services through partners in the U.S., Latin America, India, Philippines and the U.K. He is a frequent conference speaker and teaches at the University of Miami.

Leslie Jones, Partner, SourcePoint Partners. Leslie is a highly experienced strategy expert whose clients include major insurers, financial institutions and technology firms. Most recently at marchFIRST she was Strategy Partner in charge of the Southeast region and previously at Accenture she was Senior Manager, Strategy Formulation focused on the financial services industry.

Lisa Peddy, Partner, SourcePoint Partners. Lisa's background includes experience in outsourcing, business development, M&A and finance, focused on insurance and the financial services industries. Previously Lisa was co-founder and Executive Vice President of Consumer Financial Network (CFN). Prior to CFN she was an executive participating in the successful turnaround of the Insurance Services division of Equifax, Inc. which was spun out into a separate company, Choicepoint, Inc.