EFG Companies - Sales or Customer Service Solutions Technology Partner 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: Solution Provider Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales or Customer Service Solutions Technology Partner of the Year

Nomination Title: Shortening Claim Lifecycle Through Virtual Empowerment

Tell the story about what this nominated organization has 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, commonly referred to as “extended warranties,” EFG Companies operates with a tremendous obstacle to overcome – negative consumer perception of the industry. The industry’s reputation has been tainted by large players that approached claims adjudication and customer service with a “deny-only” mindset. Conversely, since 1977, EFG has striven to set the example and raise the bar in providing superior customer service and fulfilling the terms of its contracts.

In 2018, this translated into an increased focus on the claim lifecycle. At the end of 2017, 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. To shorten that time, EFG implemented a three-fold strategy by empowering:

-clients to self-manage less complicated claims;
-contract holders with more control over their claims experience; and
-claims adjusters with more authority in the claims approval process.

In the second half of 2017, EFG DRIVE, the company’s digital client experience, was upgraded to provide business clients with:

-Online billing
-Cancellation quoting
-The ability for dealers to electronically submit, self-adjudicate and receive automatic claims approvals
-Claims inspection reports
-Product performance and loss ratios
-Retail and point-of-sale material ordering
-Access to EFG’s online training platform for professional development resources

In 2018, EFG DRIVE was further enhanced to be more flexible, scalable, mobile responsive, and provide a single sign-on to all key business applications, including full contract automation and EFG Express Claims.

The enhancements to the EFG DRIVE platform provide clients with a simple solution to manage their business with ease, analysis, detail and efficiency. It also provides analytics for sales and claims performance, enabling dealers to make more informed decisions when pricing their products.

In addition to the EFG DRIVE enhancements, EFG built a website for Contract Holders website, providing consumers access to:

-View sample contracts with full benefits and terms information
-View claim status
-Total dollar amount of claims paid
-Proactive notification of contract expiration
-Request a cancellation or transfer
-Tap or click-to-connect for Roadside Assistance
-The ability to purchase other protection products and services

With the Contract Holders secure portal, most customer inquiries and simple claim requests are handled digitally and expeditiously. This increases customer satisfaction and streamlines the customer experience with both the dealer’s service center, and with EFG.

Lastly, EFG implemented three process changes within the company’s contact center to empower claims adjusters to manage claims more effectively. First, EFG conducted daily management and engagement sessions where managers reviewed all open claims and provided the adjusters with specific action items, such as following up with service advisors, to close out each claim. EFG also established a robust, easy-to-use contract library for adjusters to utilize in the claims process, under the mantra to ALWAYS look up the contract.

In addition, 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. Rather, the company implemented an audit process to ensure all claims are handled appropriately and compliantly.

Through these process changes and technology enhancements, 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.
-EFG’s average speed to answer claims calls is 29 seconds.
-74% of EFG’s total claims are one-call claims.
-The company maintains a call abandon rate of less than 2%.
-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.