EFG Companies - Contact Center of the Year

Company: EFG Companies
Company Description: As the innovators of the award-winning Hyundai-Assurance program, EFG Companies brings almost 40 years of industry-leading consumer & vehicle protection programs to the retail automotive market. EFG's commitment to superior client engagement is delivered through a proprietary portfolio of products & services that increase penetration, fortify compliance, and drive maximum F&I profitability.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Contact Center of the Year (Up to 100 Seats) - Financial Services Industries

Nomination Title: Shortening Claim Lifecycle Through Empowerment

Tell the story about what this nominated contact center achieved since the beginning of July 2017 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

As a third-party administrator of vehicle service contracts (VSCs), commonly referred to as “extended warranties,” EFG Companies balances the needs of distinct types of clients. The company works directly with automotive dealers, powersports dealers, and lenders, providing product innovation and administration, training, recruiting and wealth management solutions. In addition, consumers who purchase VSCs through dealers and lenders must also be provided with superior customer service in terms of contract fulfillment and claim lifecycle.

Efficient claims adjudication is important because a faster experience in servicing a vehicle gets it back on the road while increasing:

-the speed with which the customer gets back on the road and their daily life;
-how quickly dealers are compensated for the work done on the vehicle;
-service drive operational efficiency, allowing dealers to process more transactions in a month; and
-customer experience levels with both the vehicle and the VSCs they purchased, resulting in both higher levels of customer retention and additional revenue opportunities as customers should be more open to purchasing consumer protection products in the future.

Each year, EFG tackles the question of how to raise the bar in providing quality solutions and customer service for its clients and contract holders. In 2018, this translated into an increased focus on the claim lifecycle. EFG implemented an adjudicator claim report to measure the lifecycle of each claim. EFG’s claim lifecycle includes everything from the customer’s initial contact to the final authorization and payment. At the beginning of 2018, the average claim lifecycle at EFG was 1.55 days, and the company established the goal of shortening the claim lifecycle time to one day.

To accomplish this goal, EFG first enhanced the company’s award-winning digital client portal, EFG DRIVE, to provide business clients with a single sign-on to a full suite of digital features like online billing, contract cancellation quotes, the ability to view their customer’s claim and inspection reports. Additionally, EFG DRIVE was upgraded to give clients access to EFG Express Claims, a portal allowing dealers to electronically submit, self-adjudicate less complicated, lower dollar claims.

The enhancements to EFG DRIVE provided clients with a simple solution to manage their business with ease, analysis, detail and efficiency. It now also provides analytics for sales and claims performance, enabling clients to make more informed decisions when deciding to make goodwill approvals for claims that fall outside of contract parameters.

Lastly, EFG implemented process changes to empower adjusters to manage claims more effectively.

- EFG conducted daily management and engagement sessions where managers reviewed all open claims and provided the adjusters with specific action items necessary to close out each claim.

- EFG established an easy-to-use digital contract catalogue for adjusters to utilize in the claims process, under the mantra to ALWAYS look up the contract.

- For the last 5 years, EFG required each claims adjuster to maintain ASE certification. In 2018, EFG utilized that certification and each adjuster’s tenure in the industry to give them more authority to approve claims without manager approval, shortening the claims lifecycle significantly. For quality assurance that all claims are handled appropriately and compliantly, the company implemented an ongoing claims audit process.

EFG segmented the adjusters, assigning more complex, lengthy claims to more seasoned adjusters, enabling all adjusters to process claims more efficiently.

By the end of the year, EFG reduced the claim lifecycle by 56 percent, and maintained service level excellence:
-96% of all claims are paid by corporate credit card within one hour of receipt of invoice.
-74% of EFG’s total claims are one-call claims.
-EFG’s average claims call handle time benchmarks at less than 5 minutes.

EFG was also recertified a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal for the fifth year in a row.