The need to eliminate time-consuming, manual tasks

Morton Insurance & Risk Management is a brokerage that knows a thing or two about building relationships with clients. With a client-retention rate of 97%, the brokerage is dedicated to communicating proactively, addressing the total cost of risk for clients and gaining negotiating leverage to control insurance costs. Morton Insurance wanted to continue their exceptional client service and simplify insurance for clients. However, manual tasks made it harder to maintain and scale the brokerage. According to Allan Morton Jr., CIC, CRM, “We were forced to have really labor-intensive processes to maintain an amazing client experience.” These manual tasks included sifting through their document management system to find copies of old applications to send to clients and going back and forth with clients via email answering questions. Once an application had been updated, brokers still needed to secure client signatures, which proved to be a difficult activity if more than one person’s signature was required. The brokerage wasn’t satisfied with its current e-signature platform and was looking to make a change.

Ultimately, completing all these tasks manually was not only frustrating but also inefficient and it hindered the brokerage’s ability to efficiently interact with clients. “We go to very great lengths to service our clients; it’s an ongoing commitment of our brokerage,” Morton says. “However, we were spending too much time completing applications and pestering our clients for updated applications. From an E&O standpoint, getting fresh signatures on updated exposures was a significant loss control requirement for us.”

A digitized application process for increased efficiencies

Morton Insurance was on the hunt for a solution that would reduce the labor-intensive process for employees while allowing them to continue offering a superior client experience. Indio’s features caught the brokerage’s eye.

Indio’s platform provides access to thousands of digitized smart forms, which eliminates the need to find old applications. These smart forms auto-map common answers from the previous year’s applications so there’s no difficulty deciphering client information. Rather than a client having to go through page after page of an application to search for applicable sections, smart forms give brokers the ability to mark certain sections or questions of an application “required.” Brokers and clients can also go back and forth via comments on forms instead of through email for different questions. E-signatures are built within smart forms, so clients can sign off immediately at the end of the form — a feature that eliminates printing, signing, scanning and passing around forms for signatures.

“The fact that I can access virtually any application and pull in last year’s information into a renewal application, is a game-changer,” Morton says, “Having e-signatures was just the cherry on the top. When discussing Indio with my associates, we all agree that the platform saves us so much time.”

An online platform that reduces admin work and lets staff focus more on the client experience

Through the Indio platform, Morton Insurance personnel spend less time on administrative labor and can focus on what really matters: the client experience. The time frame for receiving applications has been significantly reduced, relieving brokers from shouldering the load. According to Morton, over half of the clients that he typically sends a reminder to no longer require one thanks to Indio.

Brokers can now go straight into the Indio platform — an online database that offers access to an expanding repository of more than 10,000 digitized insurance applications and forms. As Morton explains, that’s a strong foundation on which to build. Digitized smart forms have a significant advantage over paper and PDF applications. Rather than scanning, attaching and sending via email, smart forms can be updated in real time. And not only are they easily accessible to both the broker and client, they automatically auto-map or prefill common answers from applications that the client has already filled out.

For example, Morton would select a form from a carrier for executive risk (e.g., D&O, EPL, fiduciary, crime). This application would be sent to the wholesale broker to solicit terms. However, often the carrier that comes in with the best terms and pricing requires the information to be in their application. Instead of asking the client to fill out yet another form with similar information, smart forms easily auto-map that information into the carrier’s application to meet the requirement.

Before using Indio, brokers would get a phone call or an email from clients with questions about an application. This process of going back and forth answering questions could be slow and tedious, especially if the client had multiple questions and concerns. With Indio smart forms, questions can be asked directly within the form via comments. The number of people using the comment feature has allowed Morton Insurance to eliminate time-consuming email trading. Brokers are actually able to address questions while they’re still in the application, virtually in real time, which has streamlined the process. Morton says, “Client questions now hit my email box and I’m able to reply usually while the client is still completing the application. We also use in conjunction with the live chat on our website, so we’re answering questions back within a couple of minutes.”

In addition, Morton Insurance personnel previously had to strike through sections telling clients, “Don’t worry about this section. It doesn’t apply to you.” Indio’s smart forms give brokers the option to mark certain application sections or questions “required” and to hide others. Eliminating certain pages or questions from an application helps simplify the process and remove confusion.

These features have also increased proactive communication for Morton Insurance. “If I don’t like the way a carrier asks the question, I’ll put a line through and rephrase it. And if there’s a question that I know is habitually misunderstood, I’m able to make comments on it before clients even get the application. It’s shortening the application time frame and making it easier for people to complete applications,” Morton says.

Morton Insurance was already ahead of the times, using e-signatures with their clients instead of scanning and sending paper or PDF applications. However, the brokerage wasn’t happy with their e-signature provider. One of the main reasons that the brokerage chose Indio was the connected e-signature feature with the smart forms. Morton Insurance clients can now sign their applications as soon as they’re done filling out the forms. Best of all, other people can be tagged within the form when their signature is needed, which eliminates the need to send pages of forms via email and helps mitigate E&O exposure.

Insurance is complex, and that gets clients nervous if they don’t understand questions. Having clear instructions both from brokers and within the Indio platform helps put these fears at ease. All of this achieves a faster application turnaround time. “Everybody in my office is using Indio with their clients. I had a client who I sent an application to and within 12 minutes I had back the completed application with it signed. And this was a client who typically takes three to four weeks of back and forth communication to receive completed applications from. All of a sudden, I got this unsolicited email from them after they completed the application that just said “done.”

Morton Insurance personnel are no longer investing inordinate time in this administrative process. Instead, they can rely on Indio and easily interact with clients through the platform. Brokers can take care of different client issues, and clients can go through applications and renewals faster than ever before. According to Morton, “I’ve had numerous people that have come back and said, ‘I really like the Indio interface. I can easily go back into it if I get interrupted or have to come back to an application.’ It’s a solution that’s both a win for brokers and for clients.”