Even in a soft market, price is not the only differentiatoramong insurance companies.

In a wide-ranging interview, Paul Romano touches upon the manyelements of quality his company seeks to offer--includingresponsiveness through every stage of underwriting, expertise in arapidly changing risk environment and a commitment to managingrisk.

A 25-year insurance industry veteran, Romano previously wasresponsible for underwriting, business development and marketingwith Darwin Professional Underwriters. His prior experienceincludes leading Chubb Specialty's Health Care UnderwritingDivision and, early in his career, working in Aetna's GroupInsurance and Managed Care businesses.

Q: What is your business strategy forOneBeacon Professional Insurance? What unmet market need are youaddressing - and in what segments?

Paul Romano: Our strategy focuses expressly onour value proposition: "OneBeacon is determined to deliver anentirely better insurance experience." We feel as though there's anopportunity to position ourselves as a company whose ease of doingbusiness is greater than that of our competitors.

There are few companies that do a lot of things well, andseveral who do a few things well, but executing at all customertouch points crisply and professionally is a point of distinction.We've been repositioning the company for some time to bringspecialized expertise to those segments that value it. We have astrong franchise in hospitals, in mid-market lawyers, in nursinghomes and managed care organizations, in media organizations andseveral other segments including design professionals, realtors,technology and privacy coverage.

Q: How does this approach contrastwith the typical customer experience with insurance providers? Whathas changed in the market - and in your approach?

A: Traditionally, the insurance transactionreally centered around the purchase of insurance coverage, andunder some circumstances, companies might supply some riskmitigation services and ultimately deal with the claimsactivities.

In the research that we've done, brokers and insureds expressthat many of the transaction points in the insurance business couldbe executed substantially better. In their minds, getting thingsdone isn't as easy as it should be. They want access to people whoare able to help with front-line decisions. Follow-through needs tobe consistent, whether it's the issuance of policy, arrangement ofservice visit, etc. They perceive that, traditionally, it's notabout the customer, it's about the carrier. So we think there's anopportunity in moving the needle much more dramatically, by takingownership of meeting customer needs.

Q: What's the benefit of this approach toOneBeacon? How does it make you a stronger company?

A: None of what we're doing is intended tosacrifice our profitability objectives and returns as a company. Infact, we think our approach enhances our bottom line. If we can getthe best-run companies to buy their insurance from us, then it'slikely both we and the client will be very satisfied.

The efforts we're making around service and customer experiencedirectly relate to becoming a more desirable market for the bestquality business, from a risk perspective. So we're trying to earnour way into being recognized by the very best businesses, and in asoft market that provides you a lot better opportunity to achievethe returns you want - more predictable business, more engaged inserving customers, a better portfolio of insureds. The soft marketis about a continually reduced margin of error in the risks you'rewriting at a given price, so the reliability of clients to performbecomes much more important.

Q: How do you go about improvingclient performance? What kind of results are you seeing?

A: Today, it's become a much more activerelationship with our customers. We're constantly interacting withour customers--both the brokers and agents we distribute through aswell as the end clients who have our coverage. Technical expertiseand depth are really important, and education and awareness arevery important as well. We think that at the many touch points withour customers, those experiences ought to be more fluid, efficientand more satisfying to our customers.

We've been at this for two years, and we've seen a change,particularly with our brokers and agents. We've seen an increase inloyalty, an improvement in the quality of risks we see and moreopportunities than before. This appears to be an acknowledgementthat our message is getting across - that we're about quality.

Q: How do you make customerexperiences "more fluid, efficient and satisfying"?

A: When we are provided a submission (anapplication for insurance) there is an immediate dialogue aroundthe opportunity. Brokers want to understand our interest in aparticular risk very quickly, so they can sort out their ownstrategy. They want direct contact from a technically capableperson--an immediate screening contact. They want a quote that's ontime and a requote process that is not arduous. At the end of theday, brokers and agents are trying to select carriers that are agood fit for clients, so reliable practices go a long way ingetting brokers to recommend a carrier to their clients.

Q: How do you balance your qualityvalue proposition with the pricing pressures in a softmarket?

A: There is risk in changing carriers inpursuit of lowest price, but brokers feel vulnerable if they don'tget you the best possible deal. We try to work with brokers andcustomers to say we're probably not going to be the cheapest, butwe are generally going to be in a very competitive range - one thatwill allow us to sustain our business over time. We strive to be agood fit today, and emphasize what we are doing to ensure ourproducts evolve appropriately over time. If you're just looking atprice, you may be missing the knowledge, expertise and adaptivequalities of a carrier that you need to rely upon in a changingmarket.