The following story is true. The name of the company and its location have been changed out of respect for our client. However, this scenario is not uncommon. We have seen far too many of our clients and prospective clients live through similar experiences. Therefore, we thought this would be an appropriate story to share with our readers.
The Widget Life Insurance Company is located on the East Coast. It had always been their policy to avoid outsourcing what they considered their core competency, underwriting. Their avoidance was based on the belief that outsourcing delays the handling of cases. Widget underwriting executives pride themselves on their underwriting decisions and the offers they provide to their agents. Outsourcing companies would not be able to quickly assimilate their philosophy and approach, or so they believed. Thus, they felt that sending work to another company would alienate their agents. It was also assumed outsourcing would lead to frequent appeals to their underwriters for second opinions.
Widget Life Insurance came to us because they received a huge influx of new business that required immediate handling. It was their plan to use BIUS, Inc. for a short time until they could adequately beef up their staffing. Patrick Ramotar, BIUS Inc. CEO, suggested that rather than immediately hire several new underwriters, they work with BIUS, Inc. for a period of six months to ensure this new volume of business would be sustained. Should their volume fall, the need to downsize would not be an issue. However, prior to initiating discussions with BIUS, Inc., the senior management of Widget had already made the decision to hire underwriters and support staff.