Insurance on Demand web service now available on Economical Insurance site

Economical Insurance of Waterloo, Ont. has added the Insurance on Demand web service to its corporate website but the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) says it is opposed to company portals and company mobile apps.

IOD was originally announced in 2010 and allows users to manage their insurance online on brokers’ websites.

 The addition of IOD last June to the Economical Insurance corporate website “supports marketing efforts of our IOD brokers,” the company’s vice-president of sales and distribution, Scott Campbell, wrote in a statement to Canadian Underwriter.  “It also complements the efforts of the broker distribution channel by providing another avenue for consumers to become part of the channel and away from the direct writers.”

However, IBAO president Rick Orr says there needs to be “a collaborative industry approach” in order for brokers to compete with those selling insurance directly.

“We have to give credit to any insurer that recognizes they need to deliver a more innovative solution,” Orr wrote in an e-mail to Canadian Underwriter. “However we are disappointed that they chose to do that individually rather than collaborate on a broader solution.”

In a press release last week, Economical Insurance noted that consumers can enter their postal codes and find brokers from Economical’s site, and that IOD helps brokers generate new business leads.

“It means giving brokers the ability to reach and acquire customers who transact online as opposed to walking in or calling a broker’s office,” Campbell wrote. “Every quote that is started results in a lead to the broker.”

Campbell added that when consumer enter their information using IOD on the Economical website, the firm stores that information in a database.

“The broker, who is the sole manager of all the leads generated and sent to them, also has access to the information in this database,” Campbell wrote. “From there, the broker can complete quotes on behalf of the consumer, begin the new business submission process or also provide a quote for another carrier through their own quoting tool. The idea is that the lead and customer stay within the broker distribution channel.”