Wealth & Finance Finance Awards 2015

Wealth & Finance Finance Awards 2015 42 Insight Insurance Consultancy Ltd. Best Insurance Consultancy - UK Insight Insurance Consultancy truly offers a unique service to corporate insurance buyers. Working closely with business leaders, CFOs and wider management teams, Insight offers an insurance consultancy experience devoid of an underly- ing goal of selling insurance products. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Colin Paterson took the time to speak with us and explain their ‘client-side’ consultancy service. Company: Insight Insurance Consultancy Name: Colin Paterson Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.insightins.co.uk Address: Insight Insurance Consultancy Ltd, 8 Albany Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3QB Telephone: +44 (0) 131 473 2380 As independent consultants we work with medium-sized and major corporate clients together with portfolio companies of Private equity houses and financial institutions to help them get best value from their insurance purchasing. We have hands on experience 15 different sectors acting as in–house insurance counsel, helping our Corporate clients when purchasing insurance to ensure that the Pricing, coverage and Broker service proposition they receive are at optimal “market best” levels Functioning as an in-house insurance counsel for mature corporate insurance buyers our clients often face the challenge of confronting the Insurance brokers business models, which frequently attempt to improve their own margins by cutting costs and reducing the availability of specialist resources and commoditising their service and product offerings at a time while corporate clients are in fact demanding more in terms or client-centric advice and bespoke service delivery. This inevitably creates a value gap between Broker service delivery and what the clients actually require /demand. Corporate clients want more than just insurance procurement, they want an advisory service, which at this point many Brokers are not structured, equipped or adequately resourced to deliver. As it presently stands now there is much material inefficiency within the insurance Broking industry’s structures and processes. The Corporate insurance service providers are struggling to catch up with the rapid pace set by businesses in the 21st century and they find their out-dated service offerings under increasing challenge / threat and many feel its lags behind the banking industry in terms of embracing change. Many of the established Brokers are making some attempts to and evolve their models, however they are encumbered by their size and their inability to bring about the required rapid improvements and efficiencies to their often one dimensional template service propositions, whilst their clients and the wider Financial community are increas- ingly demanding a more Professional and tailored advisory offering. Most firms within this industry have a variety of Regulatory responsibilities and inevitably compliance processes and procedures and as such many of the Brokers have become increasingly inward focussed and fail to fully comprehend their clients requirements and key drivers. Speaking from Insight’s perspective and experience the key to being successful, is for the Brokers to look at the all Insurance related matters from the clients perspective and be truly client centric, which sounds quite simple but entails more than just saying these words. It starts with the initial sales through to the services provided and ultimately to the day-to-day delivery. Whilst this is a very simple client service concept many Brokers / Providers struggle to follow through as they fail to perceive their services from the client’s viewpoint Many of our clients have the view that certain of the brokerage houses perceptions of what the clients want are based around what is good for themselves and their business models, not around what the client actually requires. From Insight’s experience over the last six years bridging this gap between Brokers offerings and CFO expectations and requirements, we have found that the perceptions of the one can be poles apart from the expectations of the other. The only way to rectify this mis match going forwards is for their to be a fundamental rethink from many of the Brokers on how they deliver their service proposition and perhaps act more as advisors rather than simply a procurer of Insurance on their clients behalf, whilst focussing on the areas in which they can true added value. Having identified the challenges facing many Corporate insurance buyers, the Insight approach is for us to use our Consultants skill sets and deep knowledge of the corporate insurance market whilst listening to the demands of our Corporate clients acting in a 100% Conflict free consultancy role. This means that we don’t have one-size fits all approach. We adapt our model to meet the needs of those we work with. Perhaps this is easier for us as a boutique, growing company, who are evolving rapidly as we continue to move swiftly and adapt to our varied and expanding Clients requirements. We don’t sell insurance or deliver regulated services and are therefore have flexibility to adapt our consultative approach and skill base around what our client want / require. We don’t try to serve two masters; we are solely focussed on our clients’ interests This frees us from the declared conflicts of interest, which are prevalent within the insurance industry where many providers’ take remuneration from both their clients and also the Insurers with whom they place business with. Maintaining a client-centric business model entails acquiring the correct type of team member. We are always looking for individuals with the technical knowledge and business acumen but importantly who haven’t been institutionalised by the corporate insurance industry; they must be willing to listen to the client from a consultancy perspective and understand that we at Insight don’t sell to our clients, we support and assist. We make certain at the end of every Project that we leave our clients in a more informed and knowledgeable place than when we found them and this is at the a core objective of each engagement. We measure our success by assisting our clients secure Market best pricing, coverage and Broker services and we know we have done a good job by receiving client feedback at the end of each project making certain that we are meeting their expectations and validating our services. These tes- timonials, from clients as well as the professional bodies with whom we work closely alongside are key to allowing us to not only regularly improve and refine our models but also are our main streams for creating new and repeat business via referral. Working within our specialist sectors allows for many opportunities; however the key constant is that we have a consultative approach and assist Corporate insur- ance buyers effectively challenge current market practices and thereafter secure best value. Yes there are niche nuances, which helps us refine and adapt the mod- el as needed, but our service delivery principles at their core remains consistent. Currently our main client base are UK corporations; however as time goes by and word spreads of the services we offer, we have had the chance to work with companies further afield. We have worked Globally on projects in the USA, Aus- tralia and Scandinavia, which has been gratifying, and as we look to the future we look to expand our footprint by opening offices in Europe where there are similar demands for our client-side conflict free consultancy model.