Addressing COLI/BOLI Market Saturation

The life insurance and annuity industry is rife with difficulties. From regulatory hurdles to economic realities, roadblocks to success are seemingly everywhere.

At Andesa, we’ve been serving the needs of leading carriers and their distributors for more than 30 years. Over that time, we’ve learned to identify the most prominent challenges facing the industry – and help our clients overcome them. This is Part 5 of a multipart series; check back soon for more.

In a perfect world, life insurance carriers’ executive benefits divisions would be able to reach their sales goals simply by distributing highly profitable, tried-and-true COLI and BOLI products though a small network of expert producers.

Unfortunately, the world of COLI/BOLI is far more complicated than that. There are only so many end clients who need traditional, (relatively) simple plans and policies. If the market isn’t saturated, it’s close. And that means that, in order to meet critical metrics, carriers must constantly innovate, developing products that appeal to increasingly niche demographics, particularly in the after-tax market.

Such innovation, in turn, also requires carriers to broaden their distribution base, as traditional COLI/BOLI brokerage shops often don’t possess the capacity (or the desire) to deal with such focused plan designs. That means working with a much deeper roster of producers – 8-10, perhaps, instead of the ideal 3-4 – while still providing a high level of personalized service and technical support.

How can Andesa help?

Increasing market saturation in the COLI/BOLI space means carriers offering new products through expanded distribution networks. To do so, they need technologically advanced, efficient administration, reporting and illustration systems capable of easing burdens on both the carrier and broker ends.

Andesa’s fully integrated systems provides all stakeholders with the tools they need to effectively market, administer and support all manner of COLI/BOLI products. In particular, these include:

Scheduled and ad hoc reporting: One of a broker’s top priorities is reporting policy valuations to clients. Andesa makes that almost effortless. Our reporting solutions – including the cloud-based DataMart, the ad hoc Flex Report Writer or the Policy Snapshot inquiry tool – integrate directly with administration and illustration systems, and allow brokers to access data 24/7/365. It’s easy for both large, experienced distributors and small brokerages, and all reporting data is served up directly from Andesa’s cloud servers – meaning zero calls to the carrier.

Pre-sale and in-force illustrations: Illustrations are just as simple with Andesa tools. Our ADASTAR^™ illustration system integrates directly with policy administration and plan administration systems, guaranteeing that illustration values equal policy values. Powerful as-of-date calculation features allow for policy reporting at any time, from any perspective.

Enrollment and new business processing: Our new Integrated New Business Portal is a web-based tool designed to increase efficiency and data accuracy in enrollment and new business processing. Using intelligent, rules-based forms, it ensures that brokers are able to quickly and easily submit 100 percent In Good Order electronic data – including e-signatures – to carriers, regardless of the number or complexity of applications.

End-user self service: With our Policy Self-Service Portal, routine policy maintenance is handled by the policy owner, improving efficiency at both the broker and carrier levels.

The days when carriers could rely on a small core of distributors and a few COLI/BOLI products to meet sales numbers are over. Today, the ability to distribute a wide variety of increasingly complex products through an ever-expanding network of brokerages is a necessity. Andesa tools make that a possibility, improving speed-to-market and allowing carriers to offer the best possible service and support to brokers with the minimum investment of time and resources.

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