Finance Monthly Game Changers Awards 2017

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FINANCEMONTHLY
GAME CHANGER AWARDS 2017
Can you tell us a bit about iPipeline’s product SolutionBuilder,
how it came about and the services that it provides?
The life insurance industry, and most notably the protection
world, has changed considerably in recent years. However,
life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection
continue to be a core consumer need.
When you consider that a high proportion of consumers are
unaware of the importance of life and income protection,
the phrase “life insurance is sold and not bought” rings true.
With fewer advisers selling protection cover it’s no surprise
that we are struggling to grow the protection market and fill
in the protection gap.
Added to this are increasing complex products that make
the delivery of advice more complex – and this is set against
a backdrop of more multifaceted consumer life stages and
needs. There is also the question of whether the client will be
rated or not.
Developing simple to use software to address these needs is
where we excel. An example of this is SolutionBuilder® – our
new protection research, quote and apply solution.
SolutionBuilder provides advisers with a faster and more
efficient way of reviewing simple and complex protection
needs in one place in one seamless process, helping meet
client’s real needs and actual budget.
Advisers can compare a client’s protection needs across
multiple product sets including Life, Critical Illness, Business
Protection, Whole of Life and Income Protection Insurance.
Multi-benefit and single-benefit products can be viewed on
a single screen and the various options easily compared side
by side. An additional time saver for the adviser and the client
is the ability to view indicative premiums in an instant from a
single set of inputs – the client knows the cost upfront and
there is no need to run multiple quotes to view alternatives.
Integrated with SolutionBuilder is XRAE – our indicative pre-
sales underwriting solution. Advisers can see upfront whether
their client is likely to be rated, leaving no surprises for either
party as to whether the premium is accurate, or likely to
increase once underwriting desks have been contacted.
What have been SolutionBuilder’s biggest achievements thus
far? In what ways has it helped to increase protection sales
in the UK?
The solution has exceeded all expectations. It has reduced
the time taken to deliver the highest quality of advice,
whilst improving sales because it enables true consumer
engagement in solutions that really meet their needs.
Users of SolutionBuilder have seen a 10% increase in
productivity and a 20% rise in benefits per client – including a
doubling of Income Protection. This demonstrates the ability
to not only increase profitability but to close the protection
gap, meaning more clients are better protected. In addition,
it has also driven a 45% reduction in the time taken to model
and quote solutions, and 30% improvement in straight-
through processing – helping keep the costs of advice down.
96% of advisers from one firm stated that SolutionBuilder saves
them time.
PAUL YATES
Paul Yates joined iPipeline as
Product Strategy Director in
the UK in 2015. Paul has 20 plus
years of experience in the life
insurance industry. His primary
focus at iPipeline is to deliver
new technology solutions that
help galvanise and grow the UK
protection market. With a £2.4tn
plus protection gap, there is much
to do in an industry that is way
behind most others in engaging
and selling to consumers.
CONTACT
Paul Yates
Product Strategy Director
iPipeline
Tel: 0345 408 4022
Email:
Website:
PAUL YATES
Product Strategy Director of iPipeline
ABOUT IPIPELINE
iPipeline is a fast-growing provider
of cloud-based software solutions
headquartered in Pennsylvania;
additional offices are located
across the United States, Canada,
and the United Kingdom. Founded
in 1995, iPipeline works with all
parties across the insurance
industry from Product Providers,
to Intermediaries and Customers
themselves in our Direct-to-
Consumer offerings. We play a key
part in connecting the process from
the beginning all the way through
to completion, achieved through
the smart deployment of our
products which cover Life, Annuity,
Health, Income Protection, Critical
Illness, Accident, Equity Release,
Pensions, Investments.
Much of the results have been attributed to the improved ability
of the adviser to model client scenarios live during a client
conversation, and then proceed to quote and acceptance
– 73% of advisers stated that they use SolutionBuilder in front
of a client.
What further goals are you currently working towards with
SolutionBuilder and do you have a particular vision for the
future of its services?
SolutionBuilder is now available to the entire market. Following
fantastic adviser feedback we have rapidly added to the
content, bringing on new protection products (Business
Protection and Whole of Life) and enabling pre-sale
underwriting, all to drive an even better user experience and
even greater benefits.
We want to ensure every consumer who needs protection is
offered advice. As such, we need to deliver agile ‘nudge’ and
modelling capability that enables the protection conversation
to be had by all. This has led us to develop LifeGenie – a spinoff
from SolutionBuilder – which can be deployed anywhere in a
customer engagement journey.
What excites you most about 2017? What lies on the horizon for
you and SolutionBuilder?
I tell you what is exciting – the ability to generate more
protection conversations about consumers’ need for
protection. Forward thinking brokers, IFAs and networks are
very focused on meeting the enormous unmet need. We’re
thereforeworkingwith a number of these to helpwith increasing
their protection sales, this is where LifeGenie enables advisers
to produce a bespoke protection cost whilst researching their
clients’ mortgage needs. No additional data is required and
the cost appears immediately. Advisers are therefore able to
nudge the client into looking at protecting for the unexpected.
What motivates you most about your role as a Product Strategy
Director?
There is much talk about fintech helping to revolutionise our
industry. Technology is an enabler, but it needs to be married
together with great advice firms. It is in this way we have
already started a paradigm shift in the protection market.
There continues to be many opportunities to make significant
improvements in how we do things and make them relevant
to consumers. Being able to make a difference, not only to
enable the life industry to join other industries in the technology
space but also to help grow the protection market and fill the
protection gap.
The foundation of our success is our ability to innovate and deliver
in an agile way. We have spent the last couple of years changing
the way we work and engage – putting in the right ‘groundworks’
to help establish a business that is as proactive as our clients.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
We are only as good as our customers – we seek out and work
with the most forward thinking distribution firms – who like us, are
focused on growing the protection market. This is how we identify,
develop and deliver new solutions that make a real difference.
An Interview With Paul Yates