Ellipse are to publish a series of Key Service Indicators (KSIs) reporting the insurer's rolling 12 month performance to the end of each quarter in a bid to set standards and drive adviser productivity.
Ellipse said by having transparent standards, it hopes to improve the service provided to advisers across the sector, improving adviser productivity as a result.
It is the first group risk insurer to publish such standards in the market.
The insurer also said it was committing to publish the KSIs quarterly when scores are good and when they are bad. They also plan to report more KSIs in Q3.
The initial set of KSIs as at end Q1 were:
• 86% of offline quotes were issued by or within 3 days of the adviser agreed target date of which 63% were by the adviser agreed target date
• 90% of policy schedules were issued within 5 days of the policy start date
• 91% of individual medical assessments were completed without third party evidence. The average time taken from initial engagement with the online questionnaire to a decision letter being issued to the member was 2.6 days
• 92% of claims were paid within 5 working days of receiving all the required information
Tim Creamer, chief operating officer at Ellipse, said: "Our question to advisers is - are you thoughtful about working with insurers who are careless with your time?"
He continued: "By setting out these KSIs and publishing them on a regular basis, we hope to demonstrate how important reliable service is. We know that by improving service standards in this way we can free advisers to focus on consulting rather than wasting time chasing insurers".
As well as improving productivity for advisers, Ellipse also expects clients to benefit.
Creamer said: "Group risk products are like a utility for an employer. They must be comprehensive and easy to operate. If we are to encourage more employers to buy group risk benefits, our service must be reliable. This transparency and accountability, through publishing our KSIs, will drive us to maintain our standards."
He continued: "We have invested heavily in our systems to make it simpler and faster to setup and maintain a scheme, improving the service provided to our corporate clients and their people, and making it easier for advisers to do business with us.
"We now have the data to prove the impact of this investment in processes. However, this is more than just about us, we want to challenge other insurers to do the same, and together we can make a real difference to the service provided across the whole market, for everyone's benefit".
Further reading:
Group risk covers 1.25m more people - Swiss Re report
