In June we conducted our second broker partner survey. We promised to share the results with you and let you know how we intended to address gaps in areas you identified as being the most important.

The table below outlines the key categories (or value drivers) in the order of importance you gave them, and the score you gave to our performance. The percentage represents the number of top scores (5 = excellent and 4 = good) that you gave Trisura. Percentages above 80% are considered “best-in-class”, and the scores where we fell short of this mark are highlighted in red. We’ve also provided a comparison from our last survey in 2013.

Scores represent the percentage of ratings in the 4-5 range, value drivers with percentages above 80% are considered “best-in-class”

The following addresses each of the value drivers in order, and sets out what we are doing and what we intend to do in response to your feedback:

1. SERVICE AND EASE OF DOING BUSINESS: 83% (UP FROM 78%)

We’re obviously pleased that this measure went up from the last survey, particularly since you also identified this as the factor most important to you. We realize that the expectation of business today is to do more, faster, while remaining responsive and flexible. Below are some of the initiatives we are working on to further enhance our service to you:

• Our underwriters are held to the highest service standards and measured on how they deliver against these standards. Exceptional customer service and exceeding our broker’s expectations remains ingrained in our corporate DNA.
• We continue to invest in the delivery of our products by finding ways to streamline small transactional and commoditized business. We now offer Non-Profit Directors’ & Officers’ Liability, Contract Surety and Commercial Surety on our E-commerce platform, Trisura Online. This provides our broker partners with instant underwriting decisions and policy/bond issuance.
• Boots on the ground are important and we continue to increase our presence in key markets. We will be adding a specialty insurance underwriter in our Quebec office, at which point we will have specialty insurance and surety underwriters in all our offices across the country.
• We recently established an E-commerce department to ensure that our online products serve you better. The department includes a bilingual help desk to answer questions and to promptly troubleshoot any issues.
• We are developing online courses which qualify for continuous education credits. This way, you have access to courses anywhere and anytime, even on your smartphone. We will be introducing our first course this fall.

 

2. PRODUCT: 79% (UP FROM 71%)

Innovative and flexible products continue to be of great importance even though this moved from number one to number two. We are pleased that we improved significantly in this category, though we still did not achieve a “best-in-class” score. Over the past three years, we have done a lot of work in our product areas and introduced many new product features, including:

•  A standalone cyber policy and coverage extensions for social engineering exposures.
• We revamped our entire Directors’ & Officers’ Liability Insurance suite of products, making them the most comprehensive in the marketplace.
• All of our specialty insurance clients have unlimited access to a free legal hotline and privacy breach consulting services.
• We are adding to our CGL and Property coverage to our offerings in order to round out coverage for our clients in professional classes.
• On the surety side, we continue to increase our capacity to participate on larger construction projects. Our capacity is $100 million single and $150 million aggregate.
• At the other end of the spectrum, we recently introduced our Contractor Bond Portal for brokers who have clients with smaller bonding requirements.
• In our commercial surety area, we are moving most of the commercial bonding business online, thus significantly reducing the amount of paperwork customary of this class of business.
• Last but not least, we recently hired a VP of Product Development & Innovation. We know that in order to stay relevant in today’s ever changing market we need to continuously innovate and introduce new product offerings.

We will be continuing to broaden our appetite as we move forward, so stay tuned for continued development in this area.

3. QUICK AND DECISIVE DECISION MAKING: 81% (UP FROM 80%)

We are very proud of our consistent “best-in-class” score in this area and are happy that the score increased slightly from the last survey. We will continue to make sure that we stay “best-in-class” and our underwriters are there to support you when you need them. Our underwriters will respond to most applications within 24 hours and if all information is received, they will also provide a quote within that time frame. If we have to say no, we will do so promptly so that you can find coverage elsewhere.

4. INFORMATION & EXPERT ADVICE: 87% (UP FROM 85%)

Our people make Trisura successful and this showed again in our “best-in-class” score. We invest in hiring and developing the best in the business. We are focused on mentoring and training the next generation. New types of policies and coverages are coming on the market at a rapid pace. Not all of these coverages are created equal. We want to ensure that you fully understand the subtle differences and help you determine what best suits your client.

5. PRICE: 79% (UP FROM 72%)

Price remains an important factor in the decision making process. Though it is not our intent to be the lowest cost provider, we understand that competitive pricing needs to be considered. Our focus remains in the area of providing “best-in-class” coverage, deliver exceptional service, quick turnaround and expert advice to you and your clients…all at a competitive price.

6. IMAGE, REPUTATION & RATING: 84% ( UP FROM 71%)

Well, it looks like you agree. We are no longer the new kids on the block. Not only has image, reputation & rating made a few jumps on the importance scale, our score has also moved up significantly into “best-in-class” territory. We’ve worked hard in this area over the past few years. We’ve undergone a complete brand refresh, designed a new mobile friendly website, implemented a quarterly newsletter, increased advertising in major insurance publications and have established an active social media presence. We have been much more outspoken and visible in the insurance community. Our A.M. Best rating remains strong at A- (excellent). We are ready to play in the big leagues!

7. PARTNERSHIP & COLLABORATION: 82% (UP FROM 79%)

We continue to build long term relationships with our broker partners. We have become much more strategic about managing our broker partnerships. We meet regularly with our key partners at a senior level to discuss opportunities and challenges and to set plans for the upcoming year. We exchange information and business results regularly, discuss trends and challenges. On the front lines, we try to be visible in your offices and we encourage our underwriters to get out and learn more about your business and the business of your clients. This isn’t always easy because of the sheer volume of submissions that come into our office and need to be quoted and responded to. Though it was not reflective in the scores, some of you made comments which indicated that our underwriters may not get out to your offices as regularly as they have in the past. We will certainly address these comments because we firmly believe that this is where the true partnership and collaboration happens.

8. CANADIAN OWNERSHIP

We’re proud of our Canadian roots, so we were a bit disappointed that this landed on the bottom of the list of importance the last time around. This time however, it inched up a few spots to 8th place. With the continuing trend of large global giants moving into our market, maybe the sensitivity to this has increased slightly and you place greater importance on carriers who truly understand the Canadian insurance landscape and who can make decisions locally and on the spot. We are certainly pleased that our “Canadian-ness” matters to you.

9. TECHNOLOGY & E-COMMERCE: 72% (DOWN FROM 73%)

Trisura has embraced technological advancements in how we interact with our brokers. We pride ourselves on our capability to bind and issue policy documents within a 24 hour period, compared to the past when the same process could take months. To be fair, we introduced a new question in this category which specifically dealt with E-commerce and it brought the overall category score down. Technology has changed a lot over the past few years. E-commerce is becoming a real factor in commercial insurance. We have actually grown a lot in this area. Last year alone, we processed over 23,000 transactions of commercial insurance policies and bonds, worth over $15,000,000 in premium. Most of this was program business, however, we recently introduced three new broker facing online products for non-program or one-off business and we plan to broaden this further in the coming year. Currently, we have the following products available on Trisura Online:

• Non-Profit Directors’ & Officers’ Liability
• Contract Surety Bond
• Commercial Surety Bond

To learn more about Trisura Online visit www.trisura.com/trisura-online

10. MARKETING, TOOLS AND PROGRAMS: 73% (UP FROM 64%)

Better….but not yet “best-in-class”. We’ve done a lot to bring up this score over the past couple of years. We’ve introduced a new website with extensive resources and documents to help you sell our products. We publish a quarterly newsletter, blog, and are active on social media, trying to help you stay on top of industry trends and issues. Our goal is to provide our brokers with the tools they need to boost their business. We are always open to feedback so don’t hesitate to reach out and tell us what these tools look like, or to ask for more of what we currently offer.

11. EDUCATION & TRAINING: 78% (UP FROM 65%)

The significant jump in this category comes as a result of efforts to bring young brokers in, visiting broker offices for education sessions, as well as an exciting new initiative to introduce our first E-learning course this fall. “Surety 101” will teach you all aspects of contract surety in a fun, game-based approach. A second course on cyber risk will launch at end of this year. Our plan is to develop a library of accredited courses which are available to you anytime and anywhere, even on your smartphone. These E-learning tools will not replace our face-to-face course delivery. We will continue to hold courses and seminars regularly in your offices or ours.

Once again, we would like to thank you very much for taking the time to provide feedback on what is important to you and your opinion on how we are doing. Your insight will definitely help shape the direction we take as we continue our efforts to be a better and more responsive partner for you. We plan to conduct a follow-up survey in 2017 to measure our improvements in each of the above areas.

We truly appreciate your support. If you have any questions, concerns or feedback, please contact me at mike.george@trisura.com.

Best regards,

Mike George
President & CEO

On September 15th, 130 brokers participated in Trisura’s 5th Annual Charity Softball Tournament, and once again, the day was hugely successful.

Each year, Trisura donates 100% of the proceeds from the tournament to a local grassroots charity. This year that charity was The Children’s Wish Foundation, an organization that aims to grant the wishes of critically ill children so that moments of joy can break the often painful cycle of the terminally ill.

Mike George of Trisura and Tiffany MacDonald, Director of the Children’s Wish Ontario Region

The Children’s Wish Foundation has been operating since 1984, and has granted over 25,000 wishes. Through donations from our staff and brokers, Trisura raised over $13,000, which is more than the total raised from any previous tournament.

12 teams arrived at Richmond Green that morning, but ultimately, only one would be crowned champion.

And this year, that champion was Masters Insurance, for the second year running. Congrats to Master’s Insurance.

We hope to see you all again next year! To find out more about The Children’s Wish Foundation and to donate, visit their website:

The Children’s Wish Foundation

 

– PROFIT and Canadian Business unveils 28th annual list of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies

Toronto, Ontario (September 15, 2016) Canadian Business and PROFIT ranked Trisura on the 28th annual PROFIT 500, the definitive ranking of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies. Published in the October issue of Canadian Business and at PROFITguide.com, the PROFIT 500 ranks Canadian businesses by their five-year revenue growth.

Trisura made the 2016 PROFIT 500 list with five-year revenue growth of 136%.

“Companies become a part of the PROFIT 500 through innovative thinking, smart strategy and sheer grit,” says James Cowan, Editor-in-chief of PROFIT and Canadian Business. “These firms demonstrate what Canadian entrepreneurs can achieve, both at home and across the globe.”

“Trisura is honoured to be on the PROFIT 500 ranking,” says CEO Mike George. “This is a direct result of the strong, lasting relationships we have with our broker partners. We wouldn’t be experiencing this magnitude of growth without their continued support, and the dedication of our staff to always perform a step above expectations.”

Trisura is a specialty lines Canadian insurance company that was founded on the belief that insurance can be done better. From humble beginnings to present day, Trisura sets itself apart by going the extra mile to identify, understand and cater to the unique needs of brokers and their clients. Trisura has just celebrated 10 years of business, was recently awarded as a Best Employer in Canada by Aon Hewitt, and named a Top 5 Carrier in the country by Insurance Business Magazine.

About PROFIT and PROFITguide.com
PROFIT: Your Guide to Business Success is Canada’s preeminent media brand dedicated to the management issues and opportunities facing small and mid-sized businesses. For 34 years, Canadian entrepreneurs across a vast array of economic sectors have remained loyal to PROFIT because it’s a timely and reliable source of actionable information that helps them achieve business success and get the recognition they deserve for generating positive economic and social change. Visit PROFIT online at PROFITguide.com.

About Canadian Business
Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-serving, best-selling and most-trusted business publication in the country. With a total brand readership of more than 1.1 million, it is the country’s premier media brand for executives and senior business leaders. It fuels the success of Canada’s business elite with a focus on the things that matter most: leadership, innovation, business strategy and management tactics. We provide concrete examples of business achievement, thought-provoking analysis and compelling storytelling, all in an elegant package with bold graphics and great photography. Canadian Business—what leadership looks like.

About Trisura
Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company is a Canadian specialty insurance and surety company with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Halifax, Quebec City and Vancouver. Trisura provides customized solutions and expertise through a select broker network and is uniquely positioned to satisfy mid-market risks in Contract Surety, Commercial Surety, Directors’ and Officers’ Liability, Fidelity, and Professional Liability including Media Liability and Privacy Breach.

Media contact
Sandra Henkel, Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company, Sandra.henkel@trisura.com 416.607.2092