CSIO Highlights Consumer Engagement and Emerging Trends at 2017 Members’ Meeting

(Toronto– April 18, 2017) The Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) held its 2017 Members’ Meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel in Toronto on April 13. The event celebrated the broker channel’s recent successes and recognized the accomplishments of several of its members.

Robert Geller of Facebook Canada delivered the keynote address Platform Strategy: Creating Exponential Value in a Connected World. Gellar emphasized the ways in which companies in many industries around the world are placing platforms such as Facebook at the centre of their customer engagement and marketing plans. By leveraging the vast amounts of data and connectivity tools provided by such platforms, companies can build their brand and drive engagement effectively in today’s digital world.

CSIO noted many steps the broker channel has made in embracing a digital- and mobile-first philosophy, chiefly through its CSIO Certification and Technology Leader award programs. CSIO Certification recognizes insurer and vendor members who have implemented CSIO’s Personal Lines eDocs, Commercial Lines eDocs, or eDelivery according to industry standards. Five companies were recognized for certification, bringing the total number of certified solutions to 36.

The CSIO Technology Leader program recognizes broker members who have implemented nine key solutions that embrace digital workflows and an enhanced customer experience. Over 70 brokerages have been recognized since the award’s introduction in 2015 – CSIO congratulates all recipients.

Last, CSIO appointed Traci Boland, Partner at Ontario West Insurance Brokers and President of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario to its Board of Directors, as well as Deborah Smith, Vice President, Business Solutions Delivery at Aviva Canada. Traci replaces John Belyea, Chief Operating Officer of McLean Hallmark Insurance Group Ltd., and Deborah assumes the position held by Ben Isotta-Riches, Chief Information Officer at Aviva Canada. CSIO welcomes Traci and Deborah, and wishes John and Ben well in their future endeavours.

“The broker channel has much to gain by embracing digital, and the strong attendance at this year’s meeting indicates a growing appreciation of that fact,” says Catherine Smola, President & CEO of CSIO. “Insurer, broker and vendor members across the country have made inspiring strides in the past year, and we look forward to supporting their efforts in 2017 and beyond.”

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About Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO)

CSIO is Canada’s industry association of property and casualty insurers, software providers and over 36,000 brokers. CSIO is committed to improving the consumer’s ease of doing business within the broker channel by overseeing the development, implementation and maintenance of technology standards and solutions such as eDocs, Telematics, eDelivery and eSignatures. In addition, CSIO operates the industry-owned mail network service, CSIOnet. CSIO maintains offices in Toronto and Montreal. For more information, visit csio.com.

For further information, please contact:

Sarina Visram, MBA | Director, Member Relations and Communications
110 Yonge Street, Suite 500 | Toronto, ON M5C 1T4
(416) 360-1773 x 2300 | 1 (800) 463-2746 x 2300
svisram@csio.com