Kaenan Hertz

The agent-client relationship has been under pressure from technology for decades. First came mass advertising, then the telephone, the cell phone, email, the internet, social media and now the Internet of Things. InsurTech, then, is merely an indicator of changing consumer behaviors: They now have easy access to product and service reviews as well as price comparisons, particularly within the personal lines business. But this business model is also seeping into the small commercial market… Show more

The agent-client relationship has been under pressure from technology for decades. First came mass advertising, then the telephone, the cell phone, email, the internet, social media and now the Internet of Things. InsurTech, then, is merely an indicator of changing consumer behaviors: They now have easy access to product and service reviews as well as price comparisons, particularly within the personal lines business. But this business model is also seeping into the small commercial market, where even the big players like Berkshire Hathaway are starting to go direct.

What does this all mean for you? In the absence of any additional perceived value from an agent, the consumer is left with just two factors to assess: product and price. With the amount of information instantly available, loyalty becomes secondary, and the consumer is more likely to switch providers or purchase policies directly from carriers and InsurTechs.

But what if instead of disintermediating the agent distribution force, the InsurTech movement could actually enable agents and brokers to do their jobs better—and stay ahead of the curve in an increasingly competitive industry? Show less

An article where I am quoted about the rise of fitness trackers and wearables and their uses in improving health and insurance underwriting.

To successfully implement blockchain technology, insurance providers must find the right business use case, and then adapt the technology to address that use case.

Coverage of a presentation I gave to the Consulate General of Korea and leading Korean Financial Institutions. The focus was on how legacy institutions can learn from fintechs and apply their core strengths to enhance their offerings and their ability to meet their customer needs. Additionally, we discussed various models to investing and partnering with fintech companies.

What advice would you give someone in your industry to get business value from text analytics?

Successful companies today both listen to and understand what customers are saying and are taking action in response to customer feedback, incorporating the voice of the customer (VOC) into business strategies for sales, marketing, and customer service through text analytics.

This e-book was created to demonstrate the value of text analytics to a vast array of companies, customer… Show more

What advice would you give someone in your industry to get business value from text analytics?

Successful companies today both listen to and understand what customers are saying and are taking action in response to customer feedback, incorporating the voice of the customer (VOC) into business strategies for sales, marketing, and customer service through text analytics.

This e-book was created to demonstrate the value of text analytics to a vast array of companies, customer intelligence professionals, and marketers. We hope that the first-hand text analytics experiences and best practices chronicled in the book can help companies build tactical strategies around customer-related programs and deliver unparalleled customer intelligence and VOC insights to support customer experience management, regardless of where these companies are in their text analysis journey.
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For years, there has been a clear consensus in the insurance industry about the need for customer centricity. However, there is considerably less clarity regarding the best way to achieve this objective, let alone what customer centricity means. Is it an overarching enterprise strategy? Or a set of digital capabilities that make it easier for consumers to connect with insurers, research products, and conduct transactions? And does it affect only customer-facing functions, like sales, service… Show more

For years, there has been a clear consensus in the insurance industry about the need for customer centricity. However, there is considerably less clarity regarding the best way to achieve this objective, let alone what customer centricity means. Is it an overarching enterprise strategy? Or a set of digital capabilities that make it easier for consumers to connect with insurers, research products, and conduct transactions? And does it affect only customer-facing functions, like sales, service, and claims?

These are all excellent—and urgent—questions for insurers to address, as confirmed by findings from EY`s 2014 Global Consumer Insurance Survey. Based on 24,000 responses worldwide, it is clear that insurance consumers want more frequent, clearer, and more personalized communications from their insurers, as well as greater transparency around rates and fees. They also show a clear willingness to embrace digital channels for a broader range of interactions.
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An article quoting our survey.

While value for money is the primary factor that determines consumers’ insurance choice, other non-monetary conditions also influence customers, particularly in North America, according to EY’s 2014 Americas Consumer Insurance Survey: Reimagining customer relationships.

An article mentioning new research EY released on the Insurance customer

Les membres des coopératives des caisses d'épargne et de crédit sont plus nombreux à être satisfaits (51 %) des services alors que 25 % seulement des clients des institutions bancaires ont le même avis.

Les coopératives font donc meilleure figure que les banques en matière de résolution de problèmes, indique le rapport 2014 Global Consumer Banking Survey de l'entreprise Ernst and Young (EY).

Kaenan Hertz, associé délégué membre de l'équipe Expérience client du groupe des Services… Show more

Les membres des coopératives des caisses d'épargne et de crédit sont plus nombreux à être satisfaits (51 %) des services alors que 25 % seulement des clients des institutions bancaires ont le même avis.

Les coopératives font donc meilleure figure que les banques en matière de résolution de problèmes, indique le rapport 2014 Global Consumer Banking Survey de l'entreprise Ernst and Young (EY).

Kaenan Hertz, associé délégué membre de l'équipe Expérience client du groupe des Services financiers d'EY à New York, a présenté les principales conclusions de ce rapport lors d'un petit-déjeuner-causerie sur «les façons dont les coopératives arriveront à bien cerner les comportements de leur clientèle, tant aujourd'hui qu'à l'avenir».
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An article quoting a presentation I gave in Quebec based on research we did with banking customers. Co-ops are more liked than traditional banks.

I was quoted in an article about how external trends in technology might provide changes at ever faster paces. More importantly, could some of these new technologies provide a competitive underwriting advantage over the traditional carriers?

A recent Ernst & Young report's finding that analytics are critical to digital success means agents can’t have one without the other—throwing a wrench into agency operations for those who have found adopting a digital strategy to be an enormous undertaking in itself

An article quoting myself on EY's Digital Insurance Survey with particular focus on why this channel and analytics in general are important to independent insurance agents.

I was quoted in an article:
Kaenan Hertz, Ernst & Young: I became aware of a pretty large insurance company that during Sandy realized it couldn't send a direct mail piece because there's no address. And at the same time they had virtually no e-mail penetration. They couldn't even use what technology they had because they didn't have decent coverage. If you were able to digitally enable your mobile app so you can take a picture to initiate a claim, that is the kind of thing that improves the… Show more

I was quoted in an article:
Kaenan Hertz, Ernst & Young: I became aware of a pretty large insurance company that during Sandy realized it couldn't send a direct mail piece because there's no address. And at the same time they had virtually no e-mail penetration. They couldn't even use what technology they had because they didn't have decent coverage. If you were able to digitally enable your mobile app so you can take a picture to initiate a claim, that is the kind of thing that improves the customer experience. Insurers are missing swaths of information that would allow us to help the customers. How do you develop the technology? We have CAT deployment technology readily available to maker sure you can take care of everything. Some insurers didn't even have that. Show less

Global insurers have failed to take action and embrace the digital world, according to “Insurance in a digital world: The time is now,” a survey from Ernst & Young. According to the survey, almost 70 percent of respondents spent less than 10 percent of their business and IT development budgets on digital initiatives.

“They would like to become digitally inclined, but they haven’t been able to align the development dollars yet,” said Kaenan Hertz, executive director of the financial… Show more

Global insurers have failed to take action and embrace the digital world, according to “Insurance in a digital world: The time is now,” a survey from Ernst & Young. According to the survey, almost 70 percent of respondents spent less than 10 percent of their business and IT development budgets on digital initiatives.

“They would like to become digitally inclined, but they haven’t been able to align the development dollars yet,” said Kaenan Hertz, executive director of the financial services office for Ernst & Young. “Less than 10 percent of the IT budget is going to digital initiatives. That leads to a big disconnect between aspiration and their ability to deliver on that aspiration.” Show less

It's an enduring business challenge: How do you raise customer satisfaction and increase profitability in a mature, saturated, and highly regulated industry? Traditional solutions focus on incremental efforts around the edges—pricing offers, product tweaks, and payroll cuts. These have often led to poor customer service and unprofitable discounting.

A different approach, based on proven analytic technologies, supports more positive and sustainable outcomes. Customer service, with… Show more

It's an enduring business challenge: How do you raise customer satisfaction and increase profitability in a mature, saturated, and highly regulated industry? Traditional solutions focus on incremental efforts around the edges—pricing offers, product tweaks, and payroll cuts. These have often led to poor customer service and unprofitable discounting.

A different approach, based on proven analytic technologies, supports more positive and sustainable outcomes. Customer service, with millions of interactions each day, is the logical place to implement this approach.

Advances in predictive analytics give financial institutions (FIs) a much deeper understanding of their customers' needs, sentiments, and behaviors. Equipped with better insights, FIs can implement highly accurate modeling capabilities to improve the customer experience at every contact. Furthermore, integrating analytics and modeling into business operations sustains profitability and customer satisfaction over the long term.

An analytical approach can be used to attack two critical problem areas: customer attrition and ineffective cross-selling from irrelevant offers.

Customer attrition is a costly, perpetual problem. FIs need to better anticipate dissatisfaction to prevent churn of the customer base. When FIs do not adequately understand the needs and sentiments of customers, service interactions tend to become reactive and ineffective in addressing a customer's problems. This leads to customer frustration, lower usage, and higher attrition. Customer retention is required for a company's long-term survival.

Ineffective cross-selling efforts, including missed opportunities, constitute a second pitfall. Better analytic and modeling capabilities enable FIs to make targeted offers to receptive customer segments at opportune moments.

Reducing attrition while simultaneously taking advantage of opportunities for growth may seem unrealistic, but a handful of FIs are already doing it successfully. Show less

In this paper, we explore how technology is changing consumer dynamics and show how insurers have an opportunity to influence persistency, retention and expectations through improved customer engagement.

An old article quoting me about who owns the data. In 14 years, we have made some progress, but the issue of sharing data and who is responsible for its accuracy --- still resonate.

I wrote a chapter in this book: The Chaos of Program Evaluation.

The fundamental challenge for the policy sciences lies with its very subject matter. The complexities of the interactions of humans in groups and the interactions of individuals with their social environment produce uncertainties and surprises that defy the best efforts to develop consistent, transportable and enduring means for either altering or maintaining these group and individual dynamics. The evolution of the larger… Show more

I wrote a chapter in this book: The Chaos of Program Evaluation.

The fundamental challenge for the policy sciences lies with its very subject matter. The complexities of the interactions of humans in groups and the interactions of individuals with their social environment produce uncertainties and surprises that defy the best efforts to develop consistent, transportable and enduring means for either altering or maintaining these group and individual dynamics. The evolution of the larger enterprise of the social sciences has, of course, enhanced understanding of these often daunting dynamics. Thus, improvement in the means for understanding social phenomena thus should serve to move the policy sciences toward more reasoned and grounded efforts to analyze and construct public policy. Show less