By Jon Hughes

Even in the best of economic times, theFlorida insurance market presents challenges in terms of a uniquegovernance model and frequent losses due to natural disasters. Notsurprisingly, following the especially volatile storm seasons of2004 and 2005 many insurance companies stopped writing homeownersinsurance in Florida creating a void in the insured market anddemand for homeowners and wind insurance. For start-ups likeHomeWise Insurance, this situation was a golden opportunity to takeover some policies from state-run Citizens Assumption and providereliable wind coverage to Florida homeowners.

When HomeWise entered the market in 2006, demand was high forexperienced, financially-sound insurance companies offeringhomeowners coverage. Strategically, moving rapidly to handle thisnew business made sense, but since the company was starting outwith a small, strategic staff, HomeWise executives knew ramping upin time to take advantage of the market opportunity would bedifficult.

Finding a way to quickly process the new business was criticalto HomeWise's potential success, so outsourcing core businessprocesses instead of taking time to build in-house staff levelsseemed a logical course of action. HomeWise had a system in placefor wind insurance but felt a different solution was needed for thehomeowners market. Blue Cod Technologies, Inc. (Blue Cod) had beenprocessing business for insurance companies serving the Floridamarket for several years with great success, and afterrecommendations and deep due diligence, HomeWise decided toconsider Blue Cod as the company's primary business processoutsourcing (BPO) provider.

In a meeting with HomeWise executives, Jeff Brown, president andCEO of Blue Cod, and other Blue Cod executives, provided detailsabout successfully supporting and managing the existing homeownersbook of business for an insurance company now exiting the market.Blue Cod's obvious BPO expertise, knowledge of the Floridainsurance market and commitment of the company's management teammade an impact on HomeWise.

"We were impressed with the leadership and felt it made sense toengage in a relationship with them [Blue Cod]," said Dale Hammond,president and CEO of HomeWise Insurance.

Up and Running

"We try to automate as much work as possible," said Jon Hughes,director of BPO for Blue Cod. "We are focused on delivering qualityand are proud of exceeding our set standards. We feel like a truepartner with HomeWise and are passionate about understanding anddelivering on our clients' needs."

To that end, Blue Cod has implemented a stringent qualityprocess during which 10 percent of all transactions are randomlypulled and reviewed for accuracy. Blue Cod also operates on aone-day turnaround basis for cancellations, and a two-and-a-halfday turnaround basis for endorsement processing. Other qualitymeasures Blue Cod has enforced ensure 100 percent of all incomingHomeWise calls are answered by a human being, and 98 percent ofthose calls are answered in 30 seconds or less.

By working collaboratively, it took only three months to getHomeWise's new book of business up and running, and through the BPOagreement with Blue Cod, HomeWise was able to rate and issuepolicies, send out bills and provide customer service quickly andefficiently.

Forging a Future Together

In fact, some Blue Cod employees now operate from the HomeWiseoffice, and are helping to take on additional local supportfunctions.

Due to the success of the relationship so far and the extendedcapabilities Blue Cod provides, HomeWise plans to expand therelationship and is looking forward to forging even stronger tiesfor the future. Blue Cod is in the process of building a front-endfor HomeWise which will go live in conjunction with HomeWisebeginning to write new business in South Carolina this Spring, anddeveloping a new claim module which will go live this Summer.

"We have a lot of belief that Blue Cod will get us where we wantto be in the next 12-18 months," said Hammond. "It's the rightdirection. We can bring up problems and it's a discussion, not abattle. It's a very unique collaboration."

In a little over two years since the original "go live" datewith Blue Cod, HomeWise has gone from 0 policies to over 119,000policies in force, and in 2008, the company increased volume inmost areas over 2007 results by more than 200 percent. HomeWise hasmoved all of its business to Blue Cod, including wind, which hadpreviously run on another system. As a result, today Blue Cod isconsidered an integral part of HomeWise's business success and is akey partner.

Quick Facts:
Homewise Insurance
Established: 2006
Line of Business: HomeOwners
States: FL, LA, SC
Direct Written Premium: 230 million
85 Employees
Technology and Services: BPO

2008 Statistics HomeWise Florida BPO data processed
Data Processed 80,081
Payments Processes 190,000
Call Volume 162,538
New Business + Assumptions 118,317
Renewals 49,082
Active Policies 119, 431
P+D Mailings 741,105