Travelers 2007 Annual Report Download - page 9

2007 Annual Report
7
Commercial Accounts grew in 2007 by expanding its product line
with the addition of several new IndustryEdgeSM products to its suite
of industry-specific coverage solutions for mid-sized businesses. New
targeted classes include Auto Dealers, Printers, Publishers, Hotels and
Restaurants – each presenting significant growth opportunity. Also,
the group’s strategic push to enhance existing products with embed-
ded coverages such as Travelers Global CompanionSM international
coverage and others further increases the agent-insured relationship
through account penetration, retention and new business growth.
National Accounts product and service breadth is significant, helping
customers better manage their total cost of risk. In 2007, the business
focused on more integrated marketing and delivery of those solutions,
improving access for insureds as well as agents and brokers. Risk
Managers in this market want options from their insurers, from cus-
tomized service offerings to a variety of program structures. National
Accounts “bundled” loss sensitive programs, stand-alone claim services
from Constitution State Services LLC and Discover Re’s unbundled risk
financing programs and group/association captives are among the
approaches designed to respond to buyers’ needs.
In the Target Risk and Industry-Focused Underwriting groups, there
were many initiatives, among them:
• Technology continued its successful track record of insuring the
growing and evolving technology industry with the intro duction
of Market Solutions, a product that offers companies with revenues
under $25 million the same broad coverage available to larger
firms. In 2007, Technology completed the countrywide launch of
CyberTech+SM, a package approach to offering errors & omissions,
network liability and media liability in one policy and allowing tech-
nology companies to choose one, two or all three of the coverages.
• Construction rolled out new coverage and services for three new
target markets in 2007: Bridge Contractors, Underground Utility
Contractors and Concrete Contractors. The offering for each of
these businesses is tailored to fit their specific needs. These new
target markets are part of the new business initiative begun in 2006
which added coverage and services for Fire Sprinkler Contractors
and Millwright Contractors. Additional new target markets are
planned for release in 2008.
• Public Sector expanded product lines to include workers’ comp-
ensation as part of the business unit’s total account approach for
public entities.
• National Property, which is one of the largest writers of commercial
property insurance in the United States, improved its local presence
in numerous under-penetrated markets.
• The Inland Marine, Ocean Marine and Boiler & Machinery busi-
ness units enhanced their marketing effectiveness by broadening the
options by which customers can obtain their specialized coverages
on either a stand-alone basis, or embedded with other coverages.
Personal Insurance
2007 net written premium: $6.8 Billion
Personal Insurance offers a broad array of property and casualty
insurance products for individuals. Products include automobile,
homeowners, umbrella, condominium, tenant, flood, identity theft,
valuable items, boat and yacht and wedding coverages. Personal
Insurance distributes primarily through a network of about 8,400
independent agents, as well as through employee and affinity
groups and joint marketing arrangements.
2007 highlights
Product – Quantum Auto®, the company’s multivariate pricing prod-
uct, continued rolling out and is now in 39 states and the District of
Columbia. This product has fueled an industry-leading growth rate,
and in 2007, annual premiums in Quantum Auto topped more than
$1 billion. Also, Travelers has pioneered a hybrid car discount to
reward environmentally conscious consumers. For homeowners, similar
levels of product sophistication were combined with market research
insights to develop Quantum HomeSM, which now is in 31 states and
the District of Columbia. This new product offers a full range of
packaged offerings to appeal to broad segments of the homeowners’
insurance marketplace, while facilitating easier policy quoting and
issuing for independent agents.
Distribution – More than 1,600 independent agency locations were
added to continue to diversify Travelers’ geographic footprint and build
the foundation for future growth. In addition, the National Distribution
unit is continuing to develop and expand product distribution through
aggregators, employers, associations, affinity groups and financial
institutions to achieve a broader reach of customers. In 2007, Travelers
launched a Web site that provides a suite of sales and marketing tools
to help agents drive new business and retention. One of the tools,
One2One, is a marketing communication program that enables agents
to be more consultative and connected with their customers and
improves retention for Travelers.
Claim – Claim continued to invest in service quality and effectiveness
in 2007. The opening of the company’s industry-leading Claim training
facility in Connecticut in April 2007 expanded on Travelers’ history of
offering hands-on and virtual learning programs to more than 13,000
Claim professionals. Travelers continued to expand its auto claim
service facilities, opening seven new locations in 2007, for a total of 45
in 15 states. The company also enhanced its catastrophe response
infrastructure by increasing the size of catastrophe response teams,
establishing a national catastrophe management center, cross-training
staff and adopting a sophisticated workforce management model to
coordinate deployment of trained Travelers Claim professionals to
help customers in affected areas.
Operational effectiveness – Travelers continues to be an industry
leader and advocate for agent operational effectiveness. In 2007,
Travelers was recognized for the third consecutive year with Applied
Systems Client Network’s “Interface Partner of the Year” Award. Also,
industry-leading technology that allows agents to get real-time quotes
and avoid duplicate entry with their agency management systems was
expanded to include homeowners in addition to auto and to additional
national distribution partners. Our presence on our Web site, travelers.
com, was expanded to provide real-time auto quote and issue capabil-
ity. A revamped Web site, “Agent HQ,” provides easy access for agents
to Travelers products, guidelines and agency management information
such as commission statements and transaction reports.