Two former brokers have launched an online service designed to match SMEs with the right insurance adviser to suit their needs.
Co-founders Nga Nguyen and Geoff Stooke describe the venture, RiskAdviserMatch.com, as being similar to an online dating site but instead it matches small business owners with insurance advisers – brokers and authorised representatives – and customised business products. The site specifically targets young business owners, which the duo believes are missing out on key help and advice by choosing to buy insurance online.
The customer clicks on their state and business sector and adds further details about the business phase and structure and turnover, and is immediately presented with a list of brokers and ARs that can find them the best insurance solution.
Nguyen, who has worked for
Aon,
JLT and Willis, told
Insurance Business: “There is a worrying trend that the younger generation business owners are purchasing insurance directly online without understanding the consequences of that, or the gaps in coverage, and having no access to a claims advocacy
. We think that young business owners believe that it is difficult to find the right advisers with the right skill set, personality, and who is a specialist in their particular industry and that is how we came up with RiskAdviserMatch.com.”
RiskAdviserMatch.com made a ‘soft’ launch to the industry last Thursday and 11 independent brokers and authorised representatives immediately signed up. It plans to get 300 brokers and ARs on board before February 14
th when it officially launches to the public.
To sign up, ARs and brokers must pre-purchase credits and each time a customer chooses to connect with the adviser, they use up one credit. The company is offering 50 credits to the first 300 to sign up. Each credit represents a connection with a customer.
Groups such as
Steadfast,
Austbrokers and
NIBA have services to help customers find brokers but Nguyen stressed RiskAdviserMatch.com targets a different market.
“We see that as a different market. Our platform is about connecting with individual brokers rather the company they work for. Our platform really lends itself to individual ARs, with customised products that they do not necessarily market well."
Nguyen believes their combined total experience of more than 20 years, has given them a deeper insight into what the insurance industry is missing. They began working on the site in April last year after Nguyen approached Stooke, who runs brokerage Modern Risk Solutions, with the concept.
“Our platform is purely about marketing the individual brokers as opposed to the broking house they work for.”
The duo wants RiskAdviserMatch.com to become the “one of the largest insurance platforms in the world”. After targeting and testing the site in Australia, it plans to move on to America.
“We have our sights set on expanding to the US because we believe the US market is quite fragmented. They have a lot of ARs and insurance agents so our platform is suited to that sort of market but we have to test it first. The long-term vision is to take it global.”
“We feel as though we do understand the insurance industry well. We are really excited about it. People see the insurance industry as not terribly innovative but innovation can exist.”
