Meet Allianz's Frank Sapio

After a career in the Air Force, Sapio accidentally bumped into his new calling.

Sapio finds that one of the biggest changes the insurance industry has seen over the last 10 years has been the sheer speed at which business is operating. (Photo: Allianz)

Like many who find their way into the insurance industry, Frank Sapio had a very successful career in another arena. He spent several years in the Air Force, starting in medical administration and eventually ending up as an air traffic controller. While he appreciated his time in the service, it wasn’t necessarily conducive to raising a young family, so he looked for other opportunities. He considered continuing as an air traffic controller and then fate backed into his life…literally.

“I got into insurance when someone backed into my car,” he shares. “I spoke to the adjuster about what his job was like, it sounded interesting and the rest is history.” Today, Sapio has been in the insurance industry for more than 30 years and is now head of claims in North America at Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty.

Managing priorities in a COVID world

Sapio says that Allianz’s top priority is to support their business partners and retain the best business possible. This means investing in upgrading leadership skills through programs such as their #lead program offered through their Leadership Academy, which provides 14 hours of self-directed training, 16 hours of facilitated training and role play, and other learning opportunities for managers.

In addition, they are upgrading their teams’ technical skills, although this will be a little more challenging in a remote environment. “eLearning is fine up to a point,” finds Sapio, “but the courses that really stand out are the ones that are highly interactive. With virtual learning, it’s too easy to get distracted. In a classroom environment that doesn’t happen as much.”

When the coronavirus descended on businesses around the globe, Allianz was already in a strong position with 30% of its workforce working virtually full-time and others teleworking multiple days a week. “We were in the middle of several large IT projects that would have been easier to launch in an office environment,” says Sapio. The biggest challenge involves onboarding new people, especially those without insurance experience. “It’s harder for them because they can’t watch a person’s body language and learn from each other as easily,” explains Sapio. “Some people also live in small spaces and that doesn’t make it easy to work from home.”

Allianz has a very robust training program that has been somewhat scaled back, leading the company to focus on more experienced hires and slowing down its efforts to bring new talent into the industry. However, Sapio believes the company has found they can work remotely and do it well. Going forward, some businesses will look at their real estate footprints and make decisions to scale back on real estate that has been sitting empty for a while. “The trainee program will go back to a physical office, but if you’re experienced and have proven that you can work from home in this environment, we won’t bring you back [into the office].”

Sapio maintains that one of the biggest changes the industry has seen over the last 10 years has been the sheer speed of business. “The norm is the expectation of an instant response to any query using any type of communication. Amazon is a great model with lots of lessons to learn from in terms of providing that level of customer service in a price-efficient manner.”

While the industry has been known for its many legacy systems, carriers are learning how to utilize technology to better serve their various audiences, and that bodes well for everyone.

Patricia L. Harman (pharman@alm.com) is the editor-in-chief of Claims Magazine.

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