We’re very excited to announce today that Bluewolf has joined the Salesforce FullForce program with our solution, Producer360, for insurance providers. Powered by Salesforce Sales Cloud, Producer360 is the first Fullforce certified solution to combine integrated analytics, mobile, and the power of the Salesforce1 Platform to enhance carrier productivity and collaboration across complex producer networks.

Insurance companies have entered a new customer-driven marketplace. Bluewolf Producer360 is a solution for insurance group carriers to increase producer revenue and customer retention and is an extension of our financial services solution offerings.

I sat down with Brock Hubbard, Bluewolf’s Financial Services Practice Director, to get his point of view on the key benefits of this solution, and its impact on the insurance industry.

BG: So first of all, Brock, can you give a quick overview of Producer360? Who is it for, and what does it help organizations accomplish?

BH: Producer360 is a Salesforce solution specifically tailored for group insurance providers. Despite a great deal of technology and distribution disruption in the insurance industry, group insurance providers still heavily rely on independent producers — brokers, agents, and consultants — to position and sell their products to customers. One of the challenges that arises when depending on a diverse and independent producer network is that not all producer-carrier relationships are created equal. Certain producers will bring and close more business than others, and certain relationships are worth investing more time and energy in because of their potential reach to your target customer. What we have observed is that the profitability of these producers to the carrier is largely based on relationships. It’s really about helping insurance customers understand their relationships with different distributors. As a carrier, how do you determine how those brokers, independent agents and consultants are performing, and how do you ensure that you’re giving top tier attention to the producers that are providing the overall best revenue, and who have the best overall view of your organization?

Through a series of calculations on a rolling 365 day period, what we’ve done is given the ability to rank both the opportunities created and overall producer relationship by product line. With Producer360, carriers can easily identify which producer relationships are leading and which are lagging — to ultimately determine where to focus attention when quotes are received.

BG: What’s the benefit of this solution to the salesperson versus the regional manager or VP?

BH: Insurance is a very competitive and time constraining marketplace. If you’re delayed, you can quickly lose that relationship long term. In this milieu, it’s key to recognize which opportunities are well aligned with your business in order to respond in a timely manner. With Producer360, the information coming back from the system gives a complete picture of what’s the total versus what’s won. This way, you’re armed with intelligence that gives you an overview of what that relationship is, and what to prioritize.

For the regional sales manager, it provides them a holistic understanding of the relationship at the firm office and individual producer level and across products. With this understanding, managers can identify new opportunities to build deeper relationships and identify where there may be gaps in coverage in certain regions.

BG: One of key trends that we share with with our clients is a focus on customer engagement, and the need for a “customer obsessed” approach to achieve lasting business outcomes. How is Producer360 in line with that belief?

BH: The primary consumers in this use-case are producers. Ultimately, this solution allows for a better understanding of those relationships, and how profitable each relationships is. Policy renewal notifications provide the ability to get ahead of renewals, thereby creating meaningful touchpoints between producer and sales executives to drive both producer and carrier revenue.

BG: In your eyes, what are the top three features and benefits of Producer360?

BH: Producer and quote scoring, renewal notifications, and single-view clarity. These are the features that drive business outcomes and ROI, and are the most sought-after for many of the insurance customers we work with.

BG: What is your opinion on the state of the insurance industry, where will companies focus their efforts over the the next five years?

BH: At the moment, the state of the insurance industry is in fluctuation; it’s very much a transaction-mindset business. Most environments still depend on old legacy transactions systems that provide little customer touchpoint capabilities. However, customers — producers and consumers — are more informed than ever. They want to collaborate with service providers, they want real-time information, and they want everything cheaper and faster. For groups to offer more premium, they need to focus on relationships. That means gaining a better understanding of producers and clients to better tailor their interactions, and augmenting systems with client information. We’re anticipating a big shift in the insurance industry, where providers are tailoring their responses from reactive to proactive.

To learn more about Bluewolf’s Producer360 solution, contact us to connect with one of our financial services experts. Download our Producer360 datasheet to discover how to optimize producer management and focus on your most profitable producer relationships.