Sponsored: Arch Insurance Company

A True Insurtech Story: How Arch’s Accident and Health Business Unit Is Using Technology to Streamline the Quote-Bind-Issue Process

Arch Insurance is leveraging its experience in the technology-focused travel insurance industry to digitize its growing accident and health business.
By: | December 12, 2023

When Arch launched its RoamRight® Travel Insurance platform in 2012, a key focus was to streamline the digital experience, making it easy for clients and travel advisors to research, compare and purchase travel insurance. Since launching, RoamRight has developed many innovative technology tools that improve the customer experience and enable its agents to grow their sales and deliver best-in-class service to their clients.

In the years since its inception, the RoamRight brand has grown substantially, and the digital experience has much to do with the brand’s success. Now, Arch Insurance is looking to replicate the success RoamRight has had in the travel insurance space with its accident and health business. The company’s new Arch APEX platform makes the process of quoting and binding accident and health policies easy for brokers and agents so they can rapidly and efficiently grow their businesses.

“The purchase process for these accident and health products needs to be simple,” says Jim Villa, SVP of Accident & Health. “Creating a streamlined digital experience was paramount to our success. The Arch RoamRight business has all the right pieces: ecommerce, broker portal, digital fulfillment — you name it. It’s a great base of technology on which to build.”

From Quote to Policy in Five Minutes

Jim Villa, SVP of Accident & Health, Arch Insurance

Accident and health insurance products — which include employee accident, business travel accident, participant accident and individual supplemental health — are typically issued manually. In a traditional, analog underwriting model, quoting and binding an accident and health policy could take weeks. A broker needs to fill out an application, wait for an underwriter to create terms, and then seek paper signatures in some cases. The process can be cumbersome and time-consuming.

“The traditional quote, bind and issue process for these types of products can be inefficient,” said Tim Dodge, CMO of Accident & Health. “Historically, this has been a very paper-heavy, time-consuming, cumbersome process with emails, attachments, scanning and wet signatures. It’s a lot of high-touch processes for a policy whose average sale price is relatively low.”

Arch APEX changes this. It allows brokers to quickly generate quotes and bind coverage in real time and completely online. Once coverage is bound, they get instantaneous access to policy documents. This tool takes what could be a days-long, paper-based process and allows brokers to apply for and sell coverage within a matter of minutes — and it’s just as efficient for renewals. Arch is leveraging Arch APEX to help expand accident and health coverage to small and middle-market companies.

“We have taken that inefficient process and turned it into a five-minute experience. With this technology, we’re going to play well in the small to middle-market accident and health area,” said Jamie Landsman, VP of Accident & Health.

A Commitment to Growing A&H

Arch Insurance’s Arch APEX technology platform is transforming how brokers can serve their small and middle-market clients looking to purchase accident and health policies. Its system has taken a cumbersome underwriting process and digitized it, allowing brokers to quickly get quotes, bind coverage and initiate renewals. The platform allows brokers to manage a large accident and health client base without the stress of spending hours emailing and calling underwriters.

“We want to sell products that are unique, innovative and relevant at a competitive price,” Landsman said.

A dedicated specialty insurer, Arch Insurance brings a unique perspective to the accident and health space. The company understands that brokers, agents and insureds value efficiency and has combined its deep product knowledge with technical expertise to help brokers offer quick quotes to clients.

“Many accident and health departments exist inside a property and casualty company,” Landsman said. “They never really understand A&H because they’re always putting a P&C lens to it. Arch is a specialty company. Arch understands specialty insurance, and A&H is a specialty line.”

The Arch APEX platform may be new, but Arch has plenty of experience writing policies and binding coverage using digital platforms. Its RoamRight travel insurance brand has demonstrated success with this approach for the past 11 years.

“We’ve streamlined it down to make it as easy as it is to buy a travel insurance policy,” Landsman said. “And that’s the way insurance should be.”

To learn more, visit: https://www.archaccidenthealth.com/producers/arch-apex/.

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This article was produced by the R&I Brand Studio, a unit of the advertising department of Risk & Insurance, in collaboration with Arch Insurance Company. The editorial staff of Risk & Insurance had no role in its preparation.

Arch Insurance North America provides a wide range of property, casualty and specialty insurance for corporations, professional firms and financial institutions.

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