This article was produced in partnership with Gore Mutual.
Gia Snape, of Insurance Business, sat down with Kate Hogan, VP of broker engagement and performance at Gore Mutual, to discuss the new broker engagement and performance team and how the greater focus on partnerships plays into the insurer’s “Built for Success” strategy.
Gore Mutual is doubling down on its broker partnerships, forming a new unit that merges its marketing, distribution, and digital teams called broker engagement and performance.
Kate Hogan (pictured), formerly head of distribution, has been promoted to lead this effort as vice president of broker engagement and performance. The new structure brings more alignment across multiple teams that are tapped into Gore Mutual’s key relationships.
“Broker engagement and performance is pulling together the marketing and distribution teams to create alignment in how we engage with our brokers and to find more opportunities to drive the right conversations with our key partners,” said Hogan.
“It allows us to focus on what our brokers need from us so that we’re able to provide the best possible experience for them.”
The enhanced focus on broker partnerships is part of Gore Mutual’s 2023 strategy. Dubbed “Built for Success,” it capitalizes on the agility and technological capabilities the insurer has invested in over the past few years.
Gore Mutual announced it had finished laying the foundation of its ambitious “Next Horizon” transformation at the end of the 2022. During the initial phase, it introduced new operating models, technology, and talent to modernize its business.
“Our broker partners have been very patient with us through the natural hiccups that you experience as you go through a technology transformation. We hear from brokers often that they find our new model much more efficient and a very effective way to do business with us,” said Hogan.
In 2023, Gore Mutual is ready to reap the benefits of its hard work, which will reflect on brokers as improved service in its commercial and personal lines, better clarity on appetite, and agility in bringing new products to the market.
“We are coming out the other end of our transformation journey and that is no longer our focus. Now we’re looking ahead towards the opportunities this work has created, and how we can better serve our broker partners in this new model.” Hogan continued.
While broker partners had been supportive during the changes, they wanted more transparency from Gore Mutual. The feedback is also part of the reason the organization is boosting its broker engagement strategy.
“Brokers understood our need for transformation, and that we were in a position where we needed to improve our technology and operating model to continue to be a relevant player in the marketplace,” Hogan said.
“One of the things we heard as we moved through our transformation is that we are not being transparent enough about some of the day-to-day changes in our business.
“We want brokers to understand we've heard their feedback, that we know we have more work to do to be better partners.
“By having the business development team work very closely with the communications team and the teams rolling out our social media and campaign marketing, we hope that we'll start to have more consistent transparency.”
Canada’s broker landscape continues to evolve in 2023 amid mergers and acquisitions. Gore Mutual saw that these changes were calling for a different way of engaging with brokers.
“We see a continued evolution of the broker landscape and emergence of consolidators, so the broker landscape represents everything from large national brokers to smaller regional brokers. All those brokers require our attention,” said Hogan.
“We wanted a team that could ensure we were meeting everyone's needs across that spectrum. It’s still the same people that have been doing the work behind the scenes but making sure that we're tackling challenges together is going to create a much better experience for brokers.”
Finally, being “built for success” also means Gore Mutual is positioned to weather the economic headwinds facing the insurance industry.
“There are a lot of challenges facing the insurance industry at the moment - including the macroeconomic environment, capital markets, inflation, and reinsurance costs – all of those things are driving change in our business, and we need to be able to respond,” said Hogan.
“The evolution of our broker engagement operating model was an important shift because, at the end of the day, we want to create a model that best serves our broker partners through an ever-changing environment.”
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