How INTERprotección Rose Above the Rubble

INTERprotección is Mexico's biggest insurance broker. In 2016 they were leading the market in the travel and car insurance.

As a 40-year-old company in one of the oldest and most regulated industries, they were growing steadily—but not exponentially. With a wave of insurance technology startups beginning to innovate in the space, they knew they needed to equip themselves with new strategies to widen their leadership position.

That’s when they decided to invest in an ExO Sprint, a repeatable process designed to help successful companies drive meaningful results in innovation. Through this coaching program, the team at INTERprotección developed many of the important qualities of a world-class exponential organization (ExO).

In just a few short months, they saw a dramatic increase in revenue—crediting the ExO Sprint with having a major impact on their ability to double their revenue and triple their profits within 3 years. They also created an internal incubator to scale their disruptive initiatives. It was this framework, and the well-timed execution of the 11 ExO attributes, that allowed INTERprotección to react quickly when a disaster struck their city.

Serving the People & Shaking the Industry

In September of 2017, an enormous earthquake rocked the area near Mexico City, registering at 7.1 on the Richter scale. Buildings were reduced to rubble, with damages in the billions. It’s estimated that over 90% of Mexico City residents didn’t have home insurance at the time. Some people lost everything, and many feared aftershocks and what would come next.

The industry’s standard of operations was largely paperwork-driven,  cumbersome, and with little potential for clear, data-driven decision-making. Since the ExO Sprint, INTERProtección had been working on a mobile chatbot to make it easier for people to get insured. This was an important new tool in emerging markets like Mexico, where most people lived without home insurance—and it became a necessity when the earthquake struck.

While other insurance providers stopped offering new policies for two weeks, INTERprotección transformed the tragedy into an opportunity to serve the local community.

Turning Tragedy into Trust

After the earthquake, INTERprotección leapt into action. They brought members of their ExO Sprint teams together to brainstorm how they could help—because these were the people who had already been trained on innovation. INTERprotección’s ExO Sprint created a pool of internal talent who learned to collaborate under pressure and who could be called upon as strategic “SWAT” teams to regroup when needed.

INTERprotección repurposed the mobile chatbot, rolled the app out early, and launched home insurance for the first time—all within 72 hours. Their new product provided two months of vital aftershock coverage for free to a sizeable population of previously uninsured homeowners and then saw a 36% conversion to paid plans.

This response highlights the power of an ExO Sprint at helping legacy organizations adapt in a more rapid and agile manner.

“We’re in insurance—an industry that moves slowly. The ExO team coached our people on how to focus on compliance but not completeness, versus our competitors who try for both. Now we’re the fastest decision-makers so we can beat everyone else.”

—Paqui Casanueva, CEO of INTERProtección

Where other insurance companies created stressful delays through forms and frequent inquiries, INTERprotección’s in-development application gave people peace of mind with access to insurance in a five-minute process.

More importantly, their fast solution earned the people’s trust, because it was so different from how some other insurance companies responded to the tragedy.  Some refused to create any new policies for two weeks after the quake. Others raised their premiums extensively—sometimes 70% or higher—at a time when people were suffering.

The buzz created by the shift was powerful: at a time when the few insured buildings were discovering holes in their coverage that left them with high bills after the earthquake, INTERprotección was offering instant, free, and effective coverage.

How the 11 Attributes of ExOs Prepared INTERProtección to Rise

Thanks to the ExO Sprint, INTERProtección’s also leveraged some of  the 11 attributes of ExOs, namely: Community & Crowd, Interfaces & Dashboards, and Experimentation.

Here’s how the ExO Sprint training enabled the team at INTERProtección to shift their mindset and solve problems at a higher level:

• Community and Crowd—INTERprotección’s offered two months of free coverage. Competitors would have considered such an offer too ambitious, but they knew it would create social buzz that would bring in many new users. INTERprotección added in the ability to gift the policy to others, creating a social-share option that exponentially spread the news about the new home insurance option.
  
• Interfaces and Dashboards—The INTERprotección application had an easy-to-use interface from the beginning, but consumer feedback allowed the developers of the app to improve it quickly. For instance, data security turned out to be a huge concern, and they could see people searching for a privacy policy. So rather than leaving potential customers unsatisfied, they moved the privacy policy disclaimer to the top, resulting in 68% more conversions from just one small change.
  
• Experimentation—Before this application, the standard approach was to make products perfect before launching. This meant that others could get to market faster. During the ExO Sprint, the company realized that launching and then iterating in response to customer feedback was a great way to engage with their customers, build loyalty, and beat everyone else to market. Paqui Casanuave, CEO of INTERprotección explains, “We’re in insurance—a regulated industry that moves slowly. The ExO team coached our people on how to focus on compliance but not completeness, versus our competitors who try for both. Now we’re the fastest decision-makers so we can beat everyone else.”
  

Case Study Takeaways for INTERprotección

The ExO Sprint taught this company far more than simply how to launch an app. They also learned that constantly iterating in response to customer feedback can help quickly improve their products. They increased staff morale by testing their products in-house and offering enticing incentives (tickets to the World Cup)  to provide detailed product feedback.

“Our entire mindset has shifted. It prompted us to make the best of ourselves. All our competitors are wondering what happened.”

—Paqui Casanueva, CEO of INTERProtección

INTERprotección has grown in revenue and profit in the three years since the ExO Sprint and they continue to see great improvements in the operations and among their community. After realizing the potential for return on investment through successful innovation, they created their own Innovation Lab. They’re currently running a Sprint to streamline car insurance with a focus on customer-experience.

Paqui Casanueva goes on to say, “Our entire mindset has shifted. It prompted us to make the best of ourselves. All our competitors are wondering what happened.” Rather than wait for perfection, adopting the 11 exponential attributes can help your company seize opportunity and constantly innovate to keep your product ahead of the curve.

This articles was first featured on ExO Works Insights on October 21, 2019. Be sure to catch a follow-up piece with an interview: The ExO Sprint and Interproteccion: a conversation with Paqui Casanueva