Frederick Mutual
New core platform modernizes operations and drives newfound efficiency, while positioning company for continued profitability
A full-scale transformation was essential to stay competitive
In 2015, Frederick Mutual Insurance Company (FMIC) was in a place no mutual insurer wants to be—unprofitable, operating on outdated platforms with limited functionality, and virtually no process automation. They relied heavily on manual processes and workflows that required significant amounts of agents’ time and energy. These issues impeded their growth in the increasingly dynamic, competitive insurance landscape. FMIC’s board of directors, knowing significant change was required, hired a new president and CEO to champion rebuilding the company from the ground up and returning it to profitability. Their goal was to offer new, innovative insurance products, expand to multiple states, and double direct written premium.
By 2019, FMIC’s ground-up approach to overhauling each facet of the company had taken them to profitability. That success enabled the mutual insurer to invest in a critical component to their growth journey—the acquisition of a modern, comprehensive insurance management system.
FMIC selected BriteCore for its modern user interface, extensibility, and comprehensive functionality. FMIC quickly realized major benefits from moving to a modern system. FMIC’s agents went completely paperless, customer satisfaction and agent productivity increased, and they quickly launched multiple new product lines while expanding their market reach into new states. With BriteCore, FMIC accomplished all of this while operating fully remotely during a pandemic.
Frederick Mutual: A trusted community mainstay
Founded in 1843, FMIC is the third oldest insurance company in Maryland and the ninth oldest in the United States. It has continuously operated for nearly two centuries as a mutual insurer, empowering its policyholders through shared ownership and providing them with peace of mind in their most trying times. They work with respected independent agents who are familiar with customers’ geographic areas and businesses to provide policyholders with competitive, realistically priced products that keep their homes, businesses, and communities safe. Stepping into the age of modern insurance management solutions has cemented FMIC as a major player in the Mid-Atlantic region.
“A 174-year-old start-up”
FMIC’s on-premises legacy core systems were behind the times—all paper, little to no process automation, no policyholder portal, and no integrations. FMIC had their work cut out for them. Prior to FMIC’s revitalization, the CEO described the company as a “174-year-old startup,” with their business focus limited to small commercial and homeowners lines—their existing systems didn’t have the capabilities necessary to expand and grow their offerings. They desperately needed the ability to flexibly and responsively create and modify their insurance product offerings while providing a first-class user experience. This would require mobile application access, open API, and ease of integration with third-party services.
While recognizing that a major core systems overhaul was an essential component for increasing their market reach with improved, expanded services, FMIC also feared a complex implementation. This could impede their speed to market and revenue growth. It was not only imperative that they chose a vendor with the right solution, but one who could get them up and running quickly.
Unlocking new possibilities and growth with BriteCore
In January 2020, after an extensive vendor evaluation, FMIC selected BriteCore for its modern user interface, extensibility and ability to rapidly expand into new lines and regions. In a matter of months, they moved selected lines into production on the BriteCore platform. As a SaaS cloud-native core platform, BriteCore also enabled FMIC to eventually remove its servers located in the office basement.
With BriteCore, FMIC immediately experienced the cost and maintenance savings benefits of a SaaS environment as it improved the user experience for their agents, policyholders, and underwriters. They were able to quickly launch their new Frederick Mutual Secure® Home and Secure BOP® products with features such as cyber coverage, multivariate rating, comparative rating, portal access for agents and policyholders, and much more.
The project’s complexity included moving from on-premise legacy systems to a modern cloud/SaaS core system platform to manage new insurance products that delivered differentiation and captured greater market share—all occurring amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with FMIC working remotely. BriteCore not only guided FMIC on implementing the core platform, but was instrumental in providing guidance and support regarding broader ecosystem decisions.
A radical transformation
Once Frederick Mutual moved its business onto the BriteCore platform, it began experiencing numerous benefits:
Business Growth
In 2021, FMIC was able to introduce a host of innovative new products and technologies to improve the customer experience, including 24/7 online and mobile access to policy documents, billing information, and claims, as well as numerous personal and commercial lines of business.
Paperless
The automation provided by BriteCore reduced costs by eliminating printing and storing paper. FMIC is now almost entirely paperless, helping drive the company’s ascent into robust profitability. In addition, the migration from paper documentation to digital is more secure and makes documents easier for customers to manage and access.
Agent Productivity
Through BriteCore’s automation of formerly manual processes, staff and agents gained tremendous productivity improvements in areas of risk assessment, underwriting workflows, and claims processing, while experiencing dramatically reduced cycle times. Quotes can be completed in less than five minutes, so agents now spend more time directly helping customers.
By implementing BriteCore as their core platform, FMIC unlocked an endless opportunity to incorporate third-party products, tools, and services to their market offerings. They now leverage many third-party vendors such as Betterview, LexisNexis, e2Value, MIB, Munich Re, Verisk, Vertafore, IVANS, HSB, and Merlinos & Associates, all which further enhance their insurance products and bring cost-saving efficiencies and scaling to the organization.
FMIC’s vision to revitalize the company is a resounding success story that was fully realized once they were finally on the same modern playing field as their competitors. Their staff, agents, and customers have experienced the quality-of-life improvements they sorely needed, and which will help them navigate today and beyond with confidence while providing the breadth and depth of services today’s customers appreciate.
