John Hancock - Achievement in Management

Company: John Hancock, Boston, MA
Entry Submitted By:Porter Novelli
Company Description: John Hancock is the U.S. division of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. John Hancock provides financial advice, insurance and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. John Hancock is one of the largest life insurers in the United States.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Achievement in Management - Insurance

Nomination Title: Driving Innovation During a Pandemic

While financial advisors have long offered very highly personalized service and recommendations, life insurance carriers themselves have not done nearly enough to truly understand consumers and offer products and services unique to their individual circumstances. On top of that, the purchasing process has always been complicated— causing many misconceptions and deterring individuals from getting financial protection their family needs.

The traditional approach to purchasing life insurance included a detailed application, a required medical exam and then a lengthy waiting period to be approved. As the COVID-19 pandemic struck and end of life matters were suddenly thrust into the spotlight, the demand for life insurance increased – but stay-at-home orders made this previously arduous process even more difficult. Doctors’ offices were overwhelmed, and many didn’t want a paramedical examiner coming into their home for fear of infection. However, as devastating as the pandemic has been, it has also been a catalyst for change within the industry.

At the forefront of this transformation is Brooks Tingle, President and CEO of John Hancock Insurance. The company has been paving a path for digitization and modernization for several years, and COVID-19 allowed the opportunity for Brooks and his team to put their work to the test. Through previous research, John Hancock was able to understand the value of each piece of the underwriting process and where there were opportunities to make the process less cumbersome. John Hancock fully transitioned their evaluation process to leverage electronic health records (EHRs) and other data points to create a more digitally enabled application process. These simple, yet dramatic, changes make life insurance incredibly easier to purchase.

In early 2020, Brooks led new collaborations between John Hancock and both Clareto and Human API, which he saw as strategic investments to further improve the company's underwriting speed and efficiency. By working with Clareto, John Hancock life insurance agents gained access to an entire field of electronic health data sources via a single-entry point, cutting down on time and paperwork during the application process. Human API helps the company improve the speed, efficiency and ease of purchasing life insurance by enabling customers to share their current and historical medical information via a digital, HIPPA-compliant authorization process. These improvements in turn shift the review process toward a more personalized approach for each applicant.

John Hancock, with Brooks at the helm, is no stranger to innovative partnerships with leading tech companies that ultimately help customers live longer, healthier lives. In August of 2020, John Hancock announced that it is the first life insurer to integrate with Amazon Halo, a wearable device that marks Amazon's first venture into the health and wellness space. This collaboration offers an enhancement for John Hancock’s life insurance customers as part of its John Hancock Vitality program, launched in 2015. John Hancock Vitality combines life insurance with a technology-enabled program that offers education, support, incentives, and rewards designed to help customers take small, everyday steps toward living a healthier life. As the company saw a growing movement toward wearable devices as a way to connect and engage with consumers, it has partnered with some of the biggest innovators in tech to integrate with the Vitality program and provide customers with a seamless digital experience. The program syncs with a variety of wearables and apps on the market to reward customers for their healthy activities – including the new Amazon Halo band.

Each of these innovative efforts is a significant stride toward building a modern, digital sales process that enables the level of service and security consumers demand, while enhancing the overall experience for John Hancock life insurance agents and customers.

-In 2019, Brooks and team successfully launched John Hancock Aspire™, the first of its kind life insurance designed specifically for Americans living with diabetes in collaboration with Verily, an Alphabet company.

-Brooks spoke at leading industry and top-tier media events, including the Milken Institute’s Summer Series, the ACLI Annual Conference, InsureTech Connect, Reuters Connected USA, DIGIN and the Financial Times’ Insurance Innovation Summit.

-In January 2020, Brooks and his team introduced a collaboration with Human API, a leading health data platform, to significantly streamline the life insurance buying experience by offering a simple, digital way for consumers to share access to their EHRs in real time.

-In April 2020, Brooks and his team launched a strategic collaboration with Clareto, a leader in digital solutions to acquire and aggregate electronic health data, which further improved the company's underwriting speed and efficiency as part of its ongoing commitment to transform the life insurance purchase experience.

-In August 2020, John Hancock became the first life insurer to integrate with Amazon Halo, as part of Amazon's latest venture into the health and wellness space.

-The team expanded John Hancock Vitality’s Apple Watch program in October 2020 to include the Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, bringing customers the latest in personal health technology and additional insights into their health and wellness with features like high and low heart rate notifications, irregular heart rhythm notifications, and handwashing detection that promotes good hand hygiene.