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February 28, 2018
Industry Research Leads the Way to Innovation
“Our purpose is to find ways that make life easier for MSF staff, enhance the ease of doing business for MSF business partners, and create a ‘wow’ factor in the customer experience for policyholders,” says Theresa Bonin, lead analyst for Industry Research.
“Any time an organization experiences a major change, there’s a great opportunity to pull up and take a look at how we’re doing business and why we’re doing things the way that we are. MSF wants to be a differentiator in the marketplace and putting a new system in place, like the new Policy and Billing system, creates the perfect opportunity to be innovative” says Bonin.
The words ‘best practices’, ‘industry best practices’, and ‘industry research’ have been resonating around the PBRI project office for a while. Bonin clarifies this effort: “what we’re doing is “Industry Research”. In essence, it means that we get to understand what other carriers are doing and introduce what makes sense for MSF. Our research helps MSF to choose and adopt more widely accepted business processes that are a best fit for the organization. Using the platform created by the new policy and billing system, improved business processes are a leverage to enhance MSF’s customer experience, at the same time making life easier for MSF staff.”
Currently there are 10 key focus areas that have been identified for industry research but Bonin is calling for more “No one knows the customer better than the front line staff. If you have ever wondered why you are doing something, keep hearing customers complain about a certain process, or have an idea on how to do something more efficiently and effectively – please don’t be shy…come share your thoughts.”
Simply put, the way that this process works is as follows:
- A Research Request is registered.
- A set of questions is established.
- Industry research is conducted by talking to industry contacts, review what other workers’ compensation carriers (peer and national) are doing in the marketplace, Agency Partner Council members (APC), and industry analysts.
- Information and feedback is collected and analyzed.
- Recommendations, based on ‘best fit’ to MSF and the new policy billing system, are presented to the PBRI Executive Sponsors. ‘Best fit’ is a balancing act between doing business more efficiently, more effectively, and ensuring regulatory compliance.
- When a recommendation is accepted, it is moved to the implementation team to build out the guidelines and procedures to operationalize the recommendation.
