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How (Not) to Describe a Startup

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Who's ready to sign up for "a suite of legacy planning solutions for high-net-worth individuals that offers wealth accumulation, asset diversification, wealth distribution, business continuity and exclusive access to 'proprietary investment advisory service'?"

If you're like me, your eyes glazed over during that long list of similar-sounding services that followed "individuals." Why not just end the description there and come back later to whatever is relevant? [The company is real, but I see no need to name it and embarrass it.]

Maybe you're excited about "a radical new solution: a modular, trainable, award-winning, ready-to-use Artificial Intelligence construction kit."

Or, like me, maybe you're wondering what that construction kit constructs. And why do we need so many modifiers?

Perhaps you thrill to hear about a startup that will "identify, develop and adopt emerging technologies...that are fast, reliable and right for our customers."

But maybe you'd be happier if the writer left the thesaurus in the desk drawer and chose a single word each time, rather than three. Something like: "We work with emerging technologies to help our customers operate faster." By the way, what's with specifying that you're going to do something right for your customers? Might you ever admit to doing something wrong for them?

As you might imagine, we took company descriptions seriously during my days at Wall Street Journal, where I developed my curmudgeonly feelings long ago. Let me suggest some traps to avoid, based on my experiences there.

We needed to describe every company immediately after naming it, but article ledes rarely exceeded 25 words, so you couldn't have a long description if you hoped to communicate anything other than the company name and description in the first sentence. Besides, long descriptions are unreadable, and you try to engage people with the lede, not scare them away. (A friend once got punchy late in the day and filed a short item that began, "Playboy Enterprises Inc., the purveyor of fun and frolic...." Fortunately, I read even the short items as they passed through me on the national desk, and I fixed the description, or my 17-year career at the WSJ might have been a two-year career.)

My thinking on company descriptions evolved when I became the No. 2 person in the Chicago bureau in the early 1980s. We covered a host of food companies, and it didn't help readers much to just describe Esmark as a "food conglomerate," especially when that was the same identifier used with Consolidated Foods (such a helpful name). I began to have reporters list a few of the products from each company—e.g., Sara Lee desserts for Consolidated Foods—to help readers get a feel for it.

In the end, I evolved a two- or three-step process that could help all of us understand startups faster and stop scratching our heads after reading a news item: 

  • Have a super-short description—maybe two to seven words—that you use in first reference.
  • Develop a clause that you can use at the start the second paragraph. So, the lede would be begin, "Esmark, a food conglomerate, said...." The second paragraph would start, "Esmark, which makes x, y and z...." This clause, while longer, still has to be simple. You'll lose people if you have a bunch of ideas embedded in it, nested inside each other with commas, or use it to provide a list of complicated ideas, as in my example on legacy-planning solutions.
  • Go ahead and produce a full paragraph on what you do and put it at the bottom. (At least at the WSJ, we had readers trained to skip there once they had ingested all the news they wanted and needed a bit of background.) But skip the jargon. Use short sentences. And give us a for-instance: "Our company/product lets customer X do something (very specific) that he/she/it couldn't do before, producing Y benefit."

While you're thinking about descriptions, I'll ask you to indulge me in four smaller ways:

  • Cut way back on the word "new." You can't create an old product or technology, so why do you keep telling us you've created a new one? "New" only makes sense if you could put "old" into the sentence and have it still read right.
  • Cut way, way back on "proactive." Verbs are actions, so you don't need to tell us that you're "actively" working with clients or whatever. Yet "active" turned out not to sound strong enough to corporate writers, and they tacked "pro-" on the front, even though the prefix's meaning overlaps so much with "active." Business writers wanted us to know that they are actively, actively taking action. Please don't. "Proactive" only makes sense if you're drawing a sharp contrast to something reactive.
  • Don't ever describe something as a "value-add." If it isn't adding value, why are you doing it? If there's actual value, then why not take four or five words and specify what that is?
  • Stop with the word globs. For reasons that have never made sense to me, business writers often take a bunch of ideas and smash them together as modifiers for a noun, forcing readers to untangle the word globs to understand who is doing what to whom when and why. Just a couple of prepositions here and there and the occasional verb would let the ideas flow in their natural sequence and be much easier to read. A simple example: A startup described the "business insurance application process." Isn't it easier to grasp "the process of applying for business insurance"? It is for me.

There, I feel much better now after the venting. I hope you do, too. If you know someone who could benefit from this advice on writing (and there are a lot of them out there), please pass this commentary along. Thanks.

Paul Carroll
Editor-in-Chief 

Paul Carroll

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Paul Carroll

Paul Carroll is the editor-in-chief of Insurance Thought Leadership.

He is also co-author of A Brief History of a Perfect Future: Inventing the Future We Can Proudly Leave Our Kids by 2050 and Billion Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn From the Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last 25 Years and the author of a best-seller on IBM, published in 1993.

Carroll spent 17 years at the Wall Street Journal as an editor and reporter; he was nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize. He later was a finalist for a National Magazine Award.

Digital Solution for Income Protection

New technologies mean disability income protection claims managers can enhance and expand the support and services they offer.

New technologies mean disability income protection (IP) claims managers can enhance and expand the support and services they offer. Digital solutions can also be used to improve the claims experience. TrackActive is a company that has developed an artificial intelligence-driven engagement platform that provides early, cost-effective and scalable interventions for rehabilitation and prevention of musculoskeletal conditions and other chronic disease. To find out more, I spoke with TrackActive co-founder and CEO Michael Levens. RC: What drew you to the disability insurance business? ML: We launched a product called TrackActive Pro. It links up patients with musculoskeletal conditions to clinics and physiotherapists. People using our service to support insurance claims suggested we go direct to insurers. They said it would reduce the friction they felt in making and processing their claims – the form filling and episodic, continuing interactions with the insurer. So, we developed a fully digital sister product called TrackActive Me. RC: Have you encountered any challenges so far? ML: Disability carriers don’t own the physiotherapist or the health professional; they just buy services from them. So how we get our product into the insurance value chain is very important. Insurers already have excellent claims management processes. However, these rely heavily on paper, which means we have to show that our digital offering can add value or even improve upon them. RC: What are the benefits of TrackActive Me to the IP insurer and for the claimant? ML: Engaging health professionals comes with a cost, and it’s continuing each time a claimant sits with one to process a claim. The quality and impact of the digitized version of our service compares very favorably; it’s as effective as going to see a health professional, and the prescribed exercises can be accessed on demand. The idea of a physiotherapist in your pocket that allows for remote monitoring is a stepping stone toward self-management. If things are working less than optimally, the user can easily opt in to seeing a health professional in person, via TrackActive Pro. Blending service and product like this is important. See also: Putting Digital Health to Work   RC: Must insurers think and act differently to use a digital tool? ML: Yes, it can be difficult for insurers to visualize a digital version of an analogue process. For a start, TrackActive Me is very self-managed. While we have taken down an implementation barrier by making it simple for claimants to get and to use, we have removed some control of the process, too. Insurers can give the tool to their claimants, or a health professional can bring them on board after they have gone through their primary treatment. RC: What is your message to IP insurers who are thinking about digital alternatives? ML: It’s easy, really. We want to engage with companies willing to see that new digital process are not only capable but will enhance their offering. Companies that want to join the dots between the digital and the analogue. Those that have an open mind to technology and want to look at ways the current model can be enhanced. The ideal working approach is collaboration to help the technologies of startups mature in ways that fit best with the needs of IP insurers, before plugging them into existing systems by using open application programming interfaces. Technology will reduce the amount of manual work involved in assessing an IP claim. There are long-term benefits for insurers, as well, in the rich customer data that will be generated. Analysis of the data will provide predictive intelligence to help deliver better value and service to new claimants. It will help to anticipate claims and give focus to providing effective interventions. Ultimately, IP claims solutions delivered using AI or other digital means will save process costs that can then be passed on to customers in the form of reduced premiums. Meanwhile, a more frictionless and transparent solution to managing customers’ recovery in claim stages will significantly add to customers’ satisfaction.

Industry Demands an Open Ecosystem

We increasingly depend on ecosystems, and we need greater interoperability to overcome inefficiencies and redundancies.

Can you imagine a world where the open ecosystem dream is a reality? A world where our collective insurance platforms talk to each other? A world where the industry moves faster and better by working together? Oasis and Simplitium, along with a host of others, including SpatialKey, are on this path. While the dream feels idealistic, it is possible. Making data more portable between platforms—interoperability—is not something novel. It’s just fundamental and increasingly vital for long-term survival whether you’re a re/insurer, broker, MGA or solutions provider. We all have a stake in this conversation, and a responsibility to move our industry forward. Industry demand for an open ecosystem is overwhelming. We increasingly depend on ecosystems, and we need greater interoperability to overcome inefficiencies and redundancies. Matthew Jones of Simplitium provides three key stepping stones we must embrace for greater interoperability:
  1. Avoid a monolithic "one system does all" approach
  2. Minimize the number of catastrophe risk modeling platforms, while maximizing choice in models across multiple vendors
  3. Design systems so that the possibility of change is embedded
Leading organizations are already heading down this path. Lloyd’s recently announced that after losing £1 billion in 2018 it's looking to drive efficiencies, and one way is through “an ecosystem of products and services that all market participants have access to.” One size does not fit all—and a monolithic approach has proven unsuccessful time after time. Rapid innovation in risk management requires systems that are flexible, scalable, designed for change—and built in close collaboration with those who serve the industry. See also: The Insurance Lead Ecosystem   Interoperability drives efficiency Across our industry, we need to find ways to drive efficiency gains by making data more portable between core systems. If premium is scarce, then finding ways to eliminate waste in the system is not just how you save money, but rather how you make it. Consider this: How much time do analysts spend keying information into different systems of record? Or, underwriters for that matter. Now, think about how much that costs your business. According to McKinsey, underwriters spend 30% to 40% of their time on administrative tasks like rekeying data or manually executing analyses. It’s inefficient and redundant and increases the risk of error, yet it’s a standard in our industry across every insurance workflow. This creates a massive amount of waste. Now, imagine if analysts could pass exposure data seamlessly from system to system —with just the push of a button. We work with clients to perform these types of integrations all the time at SpatialKey. Core systems must talk to each other so that insurers can reap efficiency gains while leveraging the best that each chosen provider has to offer. Modern technologies and well-designed solution architectures allow us to integrate disparate value-driving systems easily—and the only thing in our way is us! The market is advocating cooperation for the greater good. There will be more commercial opportunity and innovation generated through “coopetition” than by trying to knock each other out of the market. Solutions providers must find ways to differentiate that aren’t in opposition to the industry they serve. Interoperability is “perfectly possible” You may think it’s not possible—that the type of interoperability I’m advocating for requires too much change. To quote Dickie Whitaker of Oasis: “Don’t think it’s impossible, because it is perfectly possible.” He goes on to say at a climate change conference last year: “What’s important in solving these big problems is not to be beholden to our existing culture. Our existing view. Our existing experience. We’ve got to look to others that may be able to reframe the problem in a way that actually gives us insight into solving [it].” So, if you’re not leveraging or supporting creative partnerships and ecosystems, perhaps it’s time to consider that they present a “perfectly possible” path to interoperability. See also: Building Ecosystems Requires Guts   Let’s make the open ecosystem dream a reality We’re in an era where your solutions are only as powerful as your connections. Interoperability is the name of the new game. We must make systems do a better job of talking to each other. Doing so is a step change for the industry. And, while an open ecosystem may appear to be a dream, it’s already well on its way to reality. Like we’re seeing with Lloyd’s and elsewhere, purposeful change happens when the status quo is no longer sustainable. It’s time to reach out to your partners and tell them what you need to be successful. Discuss your requirements for interoperability. Drive change that inspires innovation. Edward de Bono, an authority on creative and “lateral” thinking, said, “The system will always be defended by those countless people who have enough intellect to defend but not quite enough to innovate.” Will you defend the status quo or innovate the future? The choice is yours.

Bret Stone

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Bret Stone

Bret Stone is president at SpatialKey. He’s passionate about solving insurers' analytic challenges and driving innovation to market through well-designed analytics, workflow and expert content. Before joining SpatialKey in 2012, he held analytic and product management roles at RMS, Willis Re and Allstate.

A New Approach to Marketing

A BizBio--an image alongside a name--can be used to convey the credentials of an insurance executive or firm.

When the biography of a businessperson becomes a BizBio, when brains and Braun combine to create a pointillist portrait whose style evokes the ink drawings popularized by the Wall Street Journal, that is when nameplates cease to be vanity plates. That is when insurers become household names. Consider, then, the power of a BizBio: an image alongside a person’s name. Consider, for example, the power of the name and image of the American Express charge card. Consider the card’s expression of a charge to keep, of a gladiator who leads the charge on behalf of honor, integrity, strength and security. Consider the value of a BizBio for an insurance executive. See also: Integrity First: Digital Marketing Manifesto   Think of the invaluable quality of values, of knowing that people have a keepsake that celebrates the best leaders in a variety of industries, including technology, transportation and trade; and insurance, too. To be among the likes of Steve Jobs and Howard Schultz, to be in the company of men and women whose influence is historic, to be a person whose legacy influences popular culture and popularizes insurance, to be that person is a goal all insurers should strive to achieve. A BizBio confirms what many executives crave but few manage to convey: credibility. The credibility of a leader whose word elicits trust. The credibility of a leader whose work speaks for itself. The credibility of a leader whose legacy speaks to his life’s work. A BizBio encapsulates these points. It proves the point that excellence matters, that an executive sets an example for workers to equal and critics to extol. The example insurers need to make is one of connection: to connect with policyholders on a personal level. The connection between the contents of a BizBio and the content of a leader’s character: That connection depends on transforming insurance from an abstract concept to an accessible idea; that transformation depends on an insurer’s talent for translation, the felicity by which he turns numbers into words. Put another way, an insurer who works to ensure people understand him is an insurer who develops an understanding with his clients. He connects with people by listening to them. He listens to their concerns. He tries to address their concerns, even if he cannot assuage all their concerns. He communicates clearly—and often. See also: Marketing: A Plethora of Plagiarized Copy   An insurer who connects with policyholders is a leader. Whether he has a BizBio is less important than what he learns by reading a BizBio. If what he reads makes him a better leader—and a better listener—the benefits will accrue to his company, his clients and his industry. He will, in the end, have what it takes to have his own BizBio.

Key Difference in Leaders vs. Managers

Today, there is ambiguity in the role of leadership. Many people who need to be leaders are actually serving in a management role.

About 35 years ago in a political science class, Dr. Campbell stated, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, that “plagiarism is copying from one source, research is copying from more than one source.” By the good doctor’s terms, this is the best-researched article I’ve ever written. It has also been the easiest – because most of the work was done by people better-educated, wiser, more experienced and more respected than me. Robert Frost said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference.” My observation is that this world contains many managers but few leaders. I believe that leaders select “the road less traveled” and that managers walk the well-worn path. Both roles are necessary. The problem is that the individuals involved try to walk both paths and get lost in the woods! In times of abundance, you need managers to create and maintain processes – to inventory the excess. Count what you have. Control the status quo! Managers say, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” “Let’s not reinvent the wheel.” “We’ve always done it this way.” Managers are about efficiency – “doing things right,” as Peter Drucker said. Management is about HOW. Leadership is about WHY. In times of competition, war, discovery and conquest, we need leaders to grow people and create systems. Leaders identify a current reality and define a future ideal. They then mobilize, organize and energize their followers to build a bridge between these two points and then to cross that bridge. Leaders believe, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” “The buck stops here.” “I have a dream.” “If you start to take Vienna, take Vienna.” “Let’s roll.” Leaders are about effectiveness – “doing the right things,” as Peter Drucker said. See also: Play With Dolls, and Be a Better Leader   Today, there is much ambiguity in the role of leadership. Many people positioned as leaders are actually serving in a management role. Most of these people have what it takes to lead – unfortunately, they have been kidnapped by the status quo, the comfort zone, the urgent or the organization to accept the safer role of management. In my opinion, the role of a leader is easy to define but a challenge to create. The leader is:
  • A Dream Catcher – the leader must have a vision of sufficient grandeur to attract and motivate followers and (s)he must have the commitment to that vision and a discipline to pursue it.
  • An Organizational Architecture – the leader must build a foundation that will define and support the organizational infrastructure and operations. Every member of the organization should be able to view this foundation and infrastructure and determine if they fit. This foundation includes the vision, the values, the mission and the standards of the organization.
  • An Environmental Engineer – the leader must remove toxins from inside the organization and protect the organization from poison in the environment in which it exists.
  • A Coach – the leader must find or develop the people to build the infrastructure, design its systems and operate the processes. Coaches condition, develop, reward and discipline the team, write the game plan and scout the competition. Coaches know their team in the context of the game – when to substitute, when to kick a butt and when to pat it. They control the pace of the game and influence its outcome.
Leadership applied has been defined as follows:
  • Max DePree said, “The first role of the leader is to define reality.”
  • Henry Kissinger said “the task of the leader is to get people from where they are to where they have not been.”
  • Peter Drucker suggests that “the one absolute of a leader is followers.”
Let me be so presumptuous as to offer a reason for the ambiguity existing in the role of leaders today - FOLLOWERS HAVE CHANGED! Yesterday’s world and its organizations were built by the generation that won World War II. (“To the victors go the spoils.”) These leaders were trained in the military for war. Command and control was their mantra, and it worked. They were built to lead or to follow as needed. Leaders in tomorrow’s world are the children of the WWII generation. We were the hippies. We challenged the system. We rebelled against command and control. We are more diverse in demographics (women, people of color, cultures, etc.). We believe in collaboration and consensus building. We were built to manage. As leaders of today (and tomorrow), our successors and we must realize the role we are in and meet the expectations and requirements of that role. If we are to lead an organization, our role is to DEFINE AND DEFEND THE VISION. WE MUST ADDRESS THE ORGANIZATIONAL WHY. THIS IS NOT ABOUT CONSENSUS. IT’S ABOUT OUR FOUNDATION AND FOCUS. When the WHY is defined, it must be made operational by processes, teams and managers. This is the time to seek collaboration and consensus. This is the HOW. (“There is more than one way to skin a cat.”) Diversity in leadership creates chaos. Diversity in teams that operate processes creates order by consensus and involvement. If you as leader or your organization as a group is struggling, you must remove any ambiguity – you must clarify the rules and roles. As leaders, establish the vision, values, mission and standards – THE WHY! Let the managers and their teams design and develop processes – THE HOW. See also: Don’t Lie to Yourself About the Future   Diversity in team building and creation of processes is important. It’s necessary to discuss, debate, dissent, define, etc. Once all voices have been heard and the group decides the best processes to achieve the mission, individuals as a group must COMMIT. In process design and development, diversity is great. In our purpose, we must be uniform in our focus and commitment and disciplined in our followthrough. Let these world leaders close this article for me! Winston Churchill, in describing meetings during World War II, said that groupthink leads to “…weak and faltering decisions, or rather indecisions. When you take the most gallant soldier, the most intrepid airman or the most audacious sailor, put them at a table together, what do you get? The sum total of their fears.” Margaret Thatcher said, “Consensus is the absence of leadership.” Lead on! Let’s roll.

Mike Manes

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Mike Manes

Mike Manes was branded by Jack Burke as a “Cajun Philosopher.” He self-defines as a storyteller – “a guy with some brain tissue and much more scar tissue.” His organizational and life mantra is Carpe Mañana.

4 Reasons to Join Agency Networks

While it’s easy to get stuck in the routine of working IN the business, it’s critical for independent agents to also work ON the business.

Agency associations have been around for years, providing advocacy and resources for independent agencies around the country. Also known as agency networks, clusters or aggregators, these organizations play an integral role in the insurance ecosystem, building connections between agencies, carriers and partners to help both grow business and better serve the needs of customers. While many independent agencies have opted not to join these networks, sometimes deterred by the cost of membership, these organizations can provide valuable return on investment. At a recent event, I spoke with a network executive who said his agencies are seeing a nine-to-one ROI for independent agents. This ROI is impressive and further evidence of why agents should consider participating in these groups. The resources and access to carrier and vendor relationships deliver measurable value for independent agencies of every size. At the same time, carriers and vendors are also investing in network relationships. Investment in new programs like Vertafore’s, specifically aimed at championing the independent agent by working with industry associations, clearly underscore the value of these networks as part of the insurance industry. This kind of purposeful investment, putting the right people and the full support of the company behind it, is a strong endorsement of the association model. See also: 3 Ways to Boost Agency Productivity   Another hurdle for independent agents is that they’re simply too busy running the agency to investigate new opportunities. But as buyers’ expectations for price, convenience, service and product availability have grown, many independent agents have found themselves struggling to keep pace. They’re so busy scrambling with their heads down to keep up with their current business, they hardly have opportunities to look up and see what’s happening in the market around them. But as competition gets tougher and customers gain more flexibility of options, independent agents can’t afford to keep their heads down. Network membership can help here, too, introducing agents to resources, technology and services that can help them work more efficiently and identify new business opportunities to develop. If you’re on the fence about agency networks or skeptical of their value, here are four reasons you need to make joining one a priority this year:
  1. Access to new carriers and products through aggregation. For small agencies, it can be tough to get appointments with carriers if you can’t support the volume of business they require. Trying to meet the quotas or milestones to keep multiple appointments can be difficult, and some carriers won’t work with agencies if they’re under a certain size. This can lock small agencies out of writing new business or securing new products their customers are demanding. Joining a network lets the independent agencies band together to hold those appointments and feed the appetite of the carrier at a much higher level.
  2. Buying power with vendors. The industry is being driven by technology integration, not only as a means of serving customers’ expectations for a modern, tech-savvy experience, but also for efficiency and workflow productivity for the day-to-day operations at an agency. But those software and solutions can be expensive, especially for the small-volume licenses that small independent agencies would need. Vendors are eager to work with agency networks to offer more value and partnership. The vendors benefit from the access to new customers and agencies can take advantage of the latest solutions that may have been out of their reach if not for the collective power of the group.
  3. Networking opportunities. Keeping yourself glued to the agency 365 days a year can be a mistake. Even when you’re busy serving clients, it’s also isolating you from market trends and developments that your counterparts are eyeing as opportunities. Agency networks offer networking opportunities to meet with and learn from your colleagues, to build relationships that can help solve mutual challenges or share creative solutions or strategies. Whether it’s an annual conference, a workshop group or even just a meet-and-greet, being involved in your industry community can open doors of opportunity through shared wisdom and resources.
  4. Thought leadership and access to expertise. The network itself can be a source of knowledge, resources and expertise on relevant issues like how to run and grow your agency, how to make inroads into a new, niche market or how to manage mergers and acquisitions. Just like it aggregates carrier access and vendor relationships, the agency network can be a tremendous source for aggregated knowledge, providing thought leadership and counsel that can help member agencies grow business and access new markets and opportunities.
When looking for an agency network to join, choose one based on what it can offer to meet your needs. Don’t just consider what it will cost but, more importantly, what you will gain. Ask to talk to other members or vendors as a reference to get a broader perspective. The right network or association will be in a leadership position in the industry to provide information, resources and expertise to help you grow your business. It should work diligently on behalf of its members to build partnerships with carriers, vendors and tech services. See also: Expanding Into Small Commercial   While it’s easy to get stuck in the day-to-day routine of working IN your business, it’s critical for independent agents to also make it a priority to work ON your business. The biggest risk to agency success is inertia—simply staying in the same spot. With the rapid pace of technology development, market evolution and shifting consumer expectations, you can’t afford to get left behind. Getting involved in agency associations and networks is a smart investment that can help your business stay ahead of the trends to grow and thriv

Rick Fox

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Rick Fox

Rick Fox is the vice president of agency associations and networks at Vertafore, where he serves as a liaison for agency associations, clusters and aggregators to ensure they and their members have the right technologies, systems and policies in place to drive success.

Benefit Advisers Must Actually Advise

Benefit advisers need to dial down the reseller role in healthcare and concentrate on imparting guidance to tackle core issues.

Sales is the name of the game, no matter the industry, but some professions should focus more on providing sound advice and less on promoting new and trendy products. Many benefit brokers fall into that latter category, and I say this as someone who has been in the insurance industry for 25 years. It used to be that group insurance brokers were more transactional. Get a good product at a fair price, provide some service, and your client is generally happy. Today, that same broker must create compliance initiatives, administer COBRA, FMLA, enrollment services, ERISA advice and some human resource functions. This new responsibility requires expertise beyond what's needed to get an insurance brokers license, yet, like most entrepreneurs, we adapt. We must, however, get back to basics. As group benefits brokers, we must turn our attention to the core mission of our profession today. That mission is strategic consultation and education for our clients, addressing the cost of providing healthcare in this country. It is, by far, the biggest driver of the increase in the cost of, and inability to afford, group health insurance. Certainly, maintaining an awareness of professional trends has its benefits, and often a new offering can make a big difference for clients, but advisers need to dial down the reseller role and concentrate on imparting guidance to address core issues. Next to payroll, the largest expense for most businesses is the cost of group health insurance. Yet many benefits advisers continue to go down the same old path by providing information on the same, tired, cost-shifting plans – this despite the fact that these plans's premiums are rising faster than the cost of living. See also: Benefits Advisers: It’s About to Get Real   Benefit brokers need to begin educating clients on what is really driving premiums. One significant lesson that should be learned upfront is that joining a large insurance purchasing group is rarely the solution for small to medium-sized businesses, because savings are short-term for most. The dominant problem facing health insurance prices is the cost of providing care. It won’t cost less for a small firm with a staff of 10 for an MRI or maternity stay simply because it is in a pool of 5,000 employees. Although these multi-employer plans may show short-term savings, unless there is a marked improvement in the risk pool, as with every other group collective purchasing arrangement for healthcare, it fails. And, oftentimes these plans are dangerous self-insured arrangements where the employer, and sometimes even the broker, has little knowledge of the potential risk. The need, from my standpoint, is for businesses to embrace measures that can result in less prohibitive healthcare costs, beginning with the use of telemedicine programs not owned by insurance companies. An eye-opening statistic from the American Medical Association indicates that over 70% of all emergency room, urgent care and primary care visits could be handled via telemedicine. This is a cost-effective alternative that will reduce the employers claims cost by a weighted average of $240 to $300 per visit. Offering telemedicine as a benefit not only decreases claims and keeps overall costs down, but the employees are less likely to miss work due to a medical appointment. An independent second opinion program is another avenue to trim costs, yet a mere 19% of health care consumers get second opinions. This is head-shaking as a study conducted in 2014 by the Houston Veteran Medical Center and the Baylor College of Medicine estimated that 12 million people in this country are misdiagnosed annually. The study went on to show a change in diagnosis by nearly 15%, as a result of a second opinion and as high as 26%. The course of treatment is changed an astonishing 70% of the time. An independent medical second opinion program can provide simplified access to high-profile medical centers/teaching hospitals, specialists, etc. in collaboration with a patient’s attending physician team, often for little to no cost. Result: Employees are less likely to miss work due to a misdiagnosis or follow-up appointments. Consider, also, that the third leading cause of death in the U.S. is medical errors. Offering employees a choice as to how they purchase prescription medications is another cost-efficient employer healthcare program. It fosters consumerism by deploying a comparative prescription drug environment and can lower cost for the consumer and the employer, sometimes substantially. Numerous online prescription drug programs can help members identify discounts, coupons and subsidies available for their high-tier prescriptions. Current and emerging technologies aggregate these programs so immediate access to potentially less expensive prescriptions drugs are identified and easily obtained by the patient. Also, some of these programs will have deductible and copayment assistance programs designed to keep people compliant with their medication regiments. Another easy way to reduce costs. Employers need to weigh the worth of group health insurance against self-funding; if choosing the latter, always offer a reference-based pricing option. This plan recognizes that insurance company payments to hospitals can be as much as 300% to 600% more than what Medicare would pay. Reference-based pricing plans might pay the hospital just 50% over Medicare. If an employer or local market isn’t ready for this aggressive approach, there is a solid opportunity to educate about reference-based pricing. See also: Reinventing Sales: Shifting Channels  Those of us in the insurance and benefits industry have the responsibility to shed light on strategies that address the real drivers of cost rather than simply regurgitating what we are told are current industry trends.

Michael McKenna

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Michael McKenna

Michael McKenna is founder and CEO of Comprehensive Benefit Administrators (CBA), recognized as one of the largest and most progressive organizations of its kind in the country.

Product Managers Needed for Analysis?

Some data science teams have matured beyond offering advice and are making products. Do they need a data science product manager?

I mentioned, in a debrief from the Data Leaders Summit, the rise of the product manager role within data science teams. This surprised me. I’ve become used to hearing about the need for more data engineers or analysts to complement data scientists. But the focus on product managers and product development life-cycles was a new one. This was not an isolated incident from only a speaker or two. Many leaders confirmed that they had product manager roles. What is going on? In this post, I will share a combination of my initial thoughts and resources I have discovered. I hope to help  you decide whether product managers are needed in your team. What Is a Data Science Product Manager? Let’s define what is meant by this new job title. Some data science teams have matured beyond offering advice. Their output was no longer decision support analysis, providing models or insight to influence leaders. Increasingly, these teams were making products. These could be deployable models (for decisions, optimization, categorization) or even entire automated processes. Developing and deploying these into live business operation requires some additional skills. It is to meet that need that product manager roles have evolved. Taken from the historical role of product managers in operational or marketing teams, these roles own a life cycle, from initial innovation (e.g. insight generation sessions) through design and development into deployment. See also: 5 Key Effects From AI and Data Science This article, from the IoT for All blog, helps bring the role to life. It is not prescriptive (as frankly the role is still evolving) but highlights some of the key skills needed. The references to facilitation and communication skills reminded me of the need for softer skills. Those matter across so many data science or analytics roles. But the product manager skillset also reminded me of how I used to define analytics business partners. One key difference is the judgment and knowledge needed to manage a production line and pilots. How Do You Develop Data Science Products? How do product managers and others develop data science products? A number of skills are needed, and the most appropriate development methodology will vary by business. But product managers sound some common themes. I've heard speakers draw on influences from analytics, systems thinking, agile working and design thinking and stress the role of product development workflow. In this article from Harvard Business Review, Emily Glassberg Sands shares a high-level view of how to build great data products. Is This an Opportunity for Other Product Managers? Given the emphasis on product management skills, does this role represent an opportunity for product managers working outside any data or analytics field. My experience with crossovers is mixed, but the data science product manager may be a different case. The mastery of product development and management skills appears to be key. See also: The Entrepreneur as Leader and Manager   This interesting blog post from Cohort Plus reads as if aimed at product managers in the technology space but is still a useful introduction for others in such a role. If you are a product manager and interested in making the move into a data science team, this introduction should help (apologies, but posts from Medium will not display snippets). Do You Need a Data Science Product Manager? It would be great to have comments or feedback from both those who see the value of a product manager in these teams and those who think it’s a fad. I’m sure more roles will evolve as these teams mature. Customer Insight Leader blog will keep a weather eye on ones that matter.

Paul Laughlin

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Paul Laughlin

Paul Laughlin is the founder of Laughlin Consultancy, which helps companies generate sustainable value from their customer insight. This includes growing their bottom line, improving customer retention and demonstrating to regulators that they treat customers fairly.

How to 'Detangle' Your IT Issues

Trying to detangle the spider-web information systems that exist in organizations today is a lot like bargaining with a four-year-old.

If you have ever experienced detangling a four-year-old’s hair, you know it is a mess! The amount of fighting and screaming along with negotiations (I will give you ice cream), sometimes threats (no iPad for you) that go into that process can be unbelievable. The situation is not so different a scenario when we try to detangle the spider-web systems that exist in organizations today. Business folks fight with IT, have back-door negotiations with leadership about priorities and engage in countless back-and-forth exchanges of business requirements. Sound familiar? How can organizations cope in a “detangle” situation? Here are three recommendations: 

1. Comb through your systems one small section at a time. If you have tried to comb through a large section of tangled hair, what happens? You get stuck, or your comb breaks. If you comb a small section at a time, you could effectively detangle. Take one part of your process, application, module, etc. and determine ways to streamline the operation. “Eat the elephant one bite at a time” to ensure you won’t get stuck in your innovation and transformation efforts or end up in a mental asylum. 

See also: Creating Win-Win-Win Scenarios   

2. Use a detangle spray. I love detangle spray! Taking a small section of the hair and applying the detangle spray makes the combing faster. Here is where I would recommend organizations look at outside help. Is there a service like virtual transformation office that can expedite your transformation or innovation efforts? Transformational consultants are of a different breed. They cut through the BS; if they don’t, you don’t have the right one working for your organization. These folks bring outside technology, industry-level perspectives and agile processes to act as a “detangler” in your initiatives. For most organizations, operational needs tend to outweigh innovation efforts. An external perspective can ensure organizations are looking beyond the operations and focusing on innovation. 

3. Chop it off. Chopping off the hair was my final resort with my toddler’s hair. I went to the barber and had her hair cut. Why? It was just too painful to continue to maintain. With your spider-web systems, you will come at a point where you have to say good-bye--good-bye to your green screen friends, VB screens from the early 2000s and old funky .asp apps. Are there startups that you can bring to your organization to provide new tech that can eliminate multiple legacy applications? At Benekiva, we pride ourselves on eliminating four to nine systems leveraged by claims staff to process one claim. How many systems are your teams using to complete a task or work unit? You may not be ready to chop everything off, but you can do it gradually. Change takes time. 

See also: Culture Side of Digital Transformation   

Disrupting is the name of the game for all organizations. Even if you are a giant company, you have to keep up or you risk going bald, at which point no amount of combing, spraying or chopping will help.

Bobbie Shrivastav

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Bobbie Shrivastav

Bobbie Shrivastav is founder and managing principal of Solvrays.

Previously, she was co-founder and CEO of Docsmore, where she introduced an interactive, workflow-driven document management solution to optimize operations. She then co-founded Benekiva, where, as COO, she spearheaded initiatives to improve efficiency and customer engagement in life insurance.

She co-hosts the Insurance Sync podcast with Laurel Jordan, where they explore industry trends and innovations. She is co-author of the book series "Momentum: Makers and Builders" with Renu Ann Joseph.

Drugged Driving Kills; Why Can't We Stop?

While Americans know that driving after smoking or ingesting marijuana is dangerous, one-fourth of them admit to doing so.

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DriversEd.com has released a new study on the awareness and prevalence of marijuana-impaired driving, finding that while an overwhelming number of Americans have an understanding that driving after smoking or ingesting marijuana is dangerous, one-fourth of them have admitted to doing so themselves. According to DriversEd.com’s 2019 Cannabis and Cars Report, 58% of Americans believe that legalized recreational marijuana use leads to increased danger on roads, and 91% of Americans believe marijuana can impair a driver’s ability. Even so, 20% of drivers admit to driving after smoking marijuana, and 6% admit to driving after ingesting it. This may come as no surprise, as 34 states, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have approved a comprehensive, publicly available medical marijuana/cannabis program as of March 2019. Marijuana is more out in the open than it ever has been before, but its accessibility is preceding development of proper oversight. Without correct traffic safety measures in place, the prevalence of drugged driving is growing, as drivers likely believe they won’t get caught, aren’t noticeably driving dangerously or don’t consider marijuana’s side effects to be risky enough to stay out of the driver’s seat. See also: Pledge to Put Your #phonedown   According to the Brain Injury Society, significant cognitive impairment begins the moment marijuana is consumed. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana's psychological effects. It interferes with the natural communication of cannabinoids between neurons in the brain, especially in the cerebral cortex—which plays a huge role in how memory, thinking and consciousness are affected. A 2018 Governors Highway Safety Association study, Drug-Impaired Driving: Marijuana and Opioids Raise Critical Issues for States, found that, in 2016, 44% of fatally injured drivers with known results tested positive for drugs, up from 28% just 10 years prior. More than half of these drivers had marijuana, opioids or a combination of the two in their system. The best way to reduce drugged driving, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), is the use of standardized field sobriety testing (SFST), the foundation of impaired driving detection and enforcement for 800,000 law enforcement officials across the country. Some states, however, do not require SFST training for officers assigned to patrol functions. As MADD says: Myths and misinformation are part of the problem. Get the facts—and share them with your loved ones, especially young adults. Why? More than one-third of teens mistakenly believe they drive better under the influence of marijuana. The 2019 Cars and Cannabis survey was conducted online using Survey Monkey. One thousand and sixty-three participants were polled, spanning the U.S., with the U.S. driving population represented by the 997 respondents who, before completing the survey, answered that they have a driver’s license. The demographics of those polled represented a broad range of household income, geographic location, age and gender. This article was originally published on DriversEd.com.

Andrea Leptinsky

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Andrea Leptinsky

Andrea Leptinsky is a 15-year news veteran with experience in community journalism, automotive reporting and traffic safety marketing. She started as managing editor at DriversEd.com in 2017.