Software company exemplifies insurance innovation
The deadline for the 2022 NU PropertyCasualty360 Luminaries program is now May 31, 2022. Complete your nominations today!
From data aggregation and analytics to the use of blockchains to redefine transactions and administrative functions, insurance professionals have experienced a wealth of changes in recent years that have considerably altered how they do business.
The new NU PropertyCasualty360 Luminaries award program, formally called PropertyCasualty360 Insurance Innovators, recognizes such insurance-industry innovation.
The deadline to complete nominations in the program’s five categories is now May 31, 2022.
Streamlining processes
In 2021, Fetch was one of the Technology Innovation honorees in the PropertyCasualty360 Insurance Innovators recognition program.
The brainchild of CEO Trace Meek, Fetch was born from his desire to streamline insurance-agency procedures — first in his own agency and eventually throughout insurance sector. Specifically, Meek developed a software program that dramatically improves the process of researching underwriting guidelines.
When Meek founded the company, his vision for doing so really came down to redefining the “structured versus unstructured” way of providing underwriting services to the industry.
“Managing underwriting guidelines was very unstructured, and the goal was to streamline it for our agents,” Meek says. “We were hoping to, and I think we’ve succeeded, simplify the process and save everyone involved — from the homebuyer, the agent, and the carrier — an incredible amount of time.”
At its core, Fetch’s software program utilizes 38 billion combinations of variables to allow underwriters the ability to research specific risk profiles to obtain underwriting information in under 30 seconds. The program further eliminates the need to maintain custom spreadsheets of underwriting data or binders filled with carriers’ latest guidelines.
Getting rid of hard-copy data has saved an estimated 1,400 reams of paper, Meek says.
Most importantly, he explains, “the speed and comprehensiveness of Fetch allows all quotes to be based on underwriting information rather than solely on premium, without underwriting consideration.”
In addition, subscribers are provided with access to Fetch Envoy, which provides the “latest and greatest” changes in guidelines that previously would have required a user to search for on a carrier’s site.
“I am always working on streamlining and simplifying our office by improving internal processes and procedures,” Meet says. “If something takes 10 steps to complete, we work to make it in five steps.”
One of Fetch’s most surprising impacts on the industry since the introduction of its software, is that carriers understand Fetch’s program and are eager to be a part of it.
“In the beginning, it was just our team managing the data; now, we’ve got carriers taking a more active role,” Meek says. “The carriers see the benefits with Fetch just as much as the agent does. Carriers can see only the risks they want to write coming through to them.”
It was Fetch’s business innovation that has also earned the company accolades aplenty from all corners of the industry. As Meek explains, nothing like Fetch existed in the market.
“It took someone with knowledge of the industry and someone who understands the frustrations agents and agency owners experience, to fix it,” Meek says. “I took something that was a time-wasting frustration and built the solution.”
Do you know an insurance innovator worthy of honoring/?
Nominations are open in the following five categories:
- Technology Innovation— Honorees in this category are pace-setters who push the industry forward in terms of digitalization and modernization.
- Customer Experience Innovation— Honorees in this category illustrate ingenuity and humanity in their efforts to make insurance less unapproachable to the average consumer while fostering processes that are more streamlined and accessible.
- Innovation in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion— Successful businesses and individuals recognize that monolithic thinking, representation and action fail to foster true success. Honorees in this category are inventive and accomplished in both words and deeds when it comes to pushing DEI initiatives and placing DEI at the center of their business and culture.
- Risk Management Innovation — Honorees in this category find fresh and inventive ways to address insurer and insured risks while fostering advanced thinking and action when it comes to risk-related communication and mitigation.
- Environmental Stewardship — Honorees in this category recognize the growing danger of climate-change driven catastrophes and are doing more than monitoring this risk and the resulting claims. They strive to be proactive and find global-warming solutions that place the insurance industry at the forefront of the battle to protect the planet and its inhabitants.
How 2022 honorees will be selected
Honorees will be selected based on their scores in the following areas, with 0 being the lowest and 5 being the highest in each area, for a total of 25 possible points:
- How well has the nominee stated and achieved goals with regards to the nomination category/? (0-5 points)
- How impactful has the nominee been? (0-5 points)
- How measurable is this impact, either in quantitative or qualitative results? (0-5 points)
- How dedicated has the nominee been to furthering modernization and humanization in the P&C insurance business? (0-5 points)
- What level of commitment has the nominee shown to the highest ethical standards as well as dedication to service and excellence? (0-5 points)
Honorees will receive…
- Recognition in the October 2022 issue of NU Property & Casualty magazine as well as online at PropertyCasualty360.com.
- A formal press release along with social media and public relations guidance around promoting this honor.
- The opportunity to purchase a badge for their website and business communications as well as more visible print and digital recognition within our publications.
Complete your nomination in by May 31, 2022!
If you have questions about the NU PropertyCasualty360 Luminaries program, message Executive Editor Elana Ashanti Jefferson at ejefferson@alm.com.
Maura Keller is a freelance writer and editor based in Minneapolis, Minn.
See also:
- PropertyCasualty360 2021 Technology Innovation Honorees (Part 1 of 4)
- PropertyCasualty360 2021 Customer Experience Innovation Honorees (Part 2 of 4)
- PropertyCasualty360 2021 Risk Management Innovation Honorees (Part 3 of 4)
- PropertyCasualty360 2021 DEI, Environmental Stewardship Honorees (Part 4 of 4)