Travelers 2005 Annual Report Download - page 4

22005 Annual Report
making us a “go-to” market in our agents’ and bro-
kers’ offices. While our relationships are deep in many
individual product lines, they do not always reflect
the breadth of insurance products and services that
we offer. Therefore, one of our best opportunities for
growth lies in our ability to increase distributor access
to our range of products, which is among the broadest
in the industry. We are pursuing strategies designed
to make it easier for distributors to tap into our many
products and services. These strategies are based upon
the foundation of offering quality products and services,
delivered at competitive prices. The strategies include:
• Being Local. We are committed to delivering the bene-
fits of our national franchise through a local operating
structure. This structure enables us to respond to our
agents like a smaller company, but offer the benefits
and resources of a national leader. We are creating a
strong culture of front-line relationship managers in
the field, whose priority it is to deliver our complete
franchise value to our agents and brokers. Our scale
and national reach are competitive advantages, and
we will continue to focus on providing the breadth of
our product suite in a way that makes us the market
of choice for all of the products and services we offer.
• Business and Marketing Collaborations. We have the
expertise to meet the needs of a wide range of clients –
from individual homeowners to small businesses to
complex multinational companies. We continue to
share that expertise across our businesses to support
marketing, underwriting and service initiatives. For
example, our Global Underwriting business unit has
successfully broadened its reach by partnering with
National Accounts. Our collaborative efforts also are
eliminating gaps in coverage for policyholders, such as
through Boiler & Machinery now offering Equipment
Breakdown coverage on all property policies under-
written by Commercial and Specialty.
• Technological Advantages. Agents continually report
that their primary consideration in choosing to work
with an insurer is the ease of doing business. Our use of
technology allows us to better meet this need. For exam-
ple, our new Quantum AutoSM product uses state-of-the-
art technology to enable us to respond to a broader
segment of the automobile insurance market than pre-
viously was available to us, which in turn has enabled
agents to place more business with Travelers personal
lines. This technology also enables us to deliver our
quotes to agents in a desktop application that is simple
and straightforward. The results have been encouraging.
Late in 2005, we successfully rolled out an updated plat-
form for issuing small commercial policies that has
broadened the types and classifications of business
that agents now can quote directly. Again, early signs
are encouraging.
Mobile Claim Headquarters
Respond to Customers
The company’s seven Mobile Claim
Headquarters – custom-built RVs designed
as mobile insurance claim offices that can
provide claim services immediately following
a disaster – were stationed in the hardest-hit
areas surrounding New Orleans, La., Mobile, Ala.,
and Jackson, Miss., following Hurricane Katrina
in August. They also were deployed following
Hurricanes Rita and Wilma and following the
November tornados in Evansville, Ind., and
Henderson, Ky.
The Mobile Claim Headquarters, the first of their
type in the industry, are staffed by catastrophe
response team members equipped with wireless
technology and other equipment required to
process claims in the midst of a disaster area.
Each of the vehicles has its own generator, so
it can operate in areas without electricity and
can process claims through wireless or satellite
connectivity if land lines are not available.
The vehicles allow claims to be resolved more
quickly and checks to be issued to policyholders
on the spot.