Partnership isn’t a word that’s typically used in the insurance industry. Companies providing products and services to property and casualty insurers are usually referred to as vendors, not partners. Some may see using the words vendor or partner as a subtle difference. At MassPrinting, we believe these two words are significantly different. We have committed to a partnership driven business model as one of four primary drivers to differentiation and success.
This not so subtle transition to partnerships is partly due to and happening in alignment with the emergence of insurtech. Technology partnerships have formed where multiple companies come together to form one solution for carriers, each contributing what they do best. All parties involved take ownership over that final product or service because the piece they’re contributing to it is their core business. It’s very different from a traditional vendor relationship where there’s less accountability and investment. Partnerships don’t just deliver better products and services; the ongoing service and support is better too. Partners become stakeholders in the success of the carrier’s critical business operations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has very clearly illustrated the value of the partnership model. Partnerships helped many carriers transition to the remote working environments needed while under social distancing guidelines. Vendor relationships may not provide that kind of support because the investment isn’t there. This is not just monetary investment either. A partner is committed to the success of the client’s business, not their own. A partner is responsible and accountable to deliver to the carrier’s internal operations teams, and many times to agents and policyholders as well. The vendor often doesn’t extend their accountability beyond their own products, services or deliverables. Essentially, they are not a stakeholder in the success of the carrier’s business operations.
Over the past few months MassPrinting took on a number of critical, quick turn, document output projects for existing clients. Many of these were driven by COVID-19 changes and/or meeting insurance regulatory requirements. Given the environment, there was of course no advance notice. We willingly accepted all of these projects, realizing that our client partners needed us for the good of their business in a crucial moment. Vendor relationships, often bound by strict SLAs with little flexibility, don’t offer this type of service.
Another benefit to partnerships is distribution and leverage of functions. enabling the carrier to focus on their core competencies. Think of this scenario: COVID hits and you’re tasked with implementing a work from home model for your entire organization, moving many activities remote that are typically done together, in person. Add to that, figuring out how to handle all your document output remotely, including your internal print shop operations.
We’ve heard from a number of clients thankful that they weren’t put in that situation.
Partnerships are the future in the insurance industry. This is especially true where insurtech partnerships are stepping in to provide more efficient, reliable and secure solutions as an alternative to internal operations. The future of success is every company in the operational value chain focusing on their strengths and collaborating closely with other companies that have complementary technology and services. That partnership model drives the most value for insurance carriers, their investors, and most important, agents and policyholders.