Compared to other marquee names in the Property & Casualty insurance space, Celina Insurance Group is smaller in size, but they make a big impression on their network of independent agencies with a modern, tech-forward agent experience.
Celina Insurance Group, operating since 1914, has built their business around relationships with independent agencies. The Midwest mutual insurer serves agencies across five states—Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Kentucky—with the promise that whenever agents reach out, Celina always answers.
The Celina website has a page dedicated to their agent experience: “When you call, we always answer. When you work with us, we don’t just know your name. We know your business needs, your goals and your story.” Agents report that this experience is what brings them back, time and again.
Celina has always relied on a stand-out agent experience to help retain agents who might otherwise default to working with the more recognizable names. They create that experience with the best tech available.
Early on, Celina adopted chat, rolling out the digital channel on their agent portal in 2003 through a solution from IBM. The mutual insurer enabled their agents to view Celina’s underwriting team and begin a chat interaction with any of them. While agents loved the ability to chat, there were features missing from what Celina aspired to offer.
First, there was no way for the agent to know if the underwriter had seen the chat and would respond—in contrast to Glia, where the Celina team has 30 seconds to accept the interaction. Agents no longer worry about a message lost in the void or feel left in the dark.
Second, agents often would request a transcript or chat history, but the previous solution didn’t enable that. Celina wanted a solution that would give agents every tool they needed to streamline workflows and bring clarity with easy documentation.
But Celina knew that new technology innovation would let them take that even further, going beyond chat for their agent offerings.
Rob Shoenfelt, SVP - Chief Information and Innovation Officer, wanted the ability for agents to interact with the Celina team in any digital channel—chat, voice, video—with additional capabilities like screen sharing, CoBrowsing, and file-sharing to create an all-in-one experience.
Chat is well-suited for many interactions, but more complex conversations around risk are better suited for voice or video. In particular, video was an important differentiator for Celina. One of the major outcomes of the pandemic internally at Celina was leveraging video for meetings that would otherwise take place in-office. While nothing can replace in-person interactions, video enables a more personal interaction than an email, chat, or even phone call ever could.
When Celina saw Glia’s Digital Customer Service solution, they knew it would enable them to provide the holistic digital experience they’d been looking to provide to their agents. Less than a year after first meeting the Glia team, Celina had launched the solution for their independent agents.
For carriers like Celina that are reliant upon independent agents to bring in business, it’s all about creating an experience and a relationship that entices agents to pick them over the other carriers they’re appointed with.
Outside of price, the people at Celina and the technology they provide agents are the key factors that determine if an agent wants to place their business with them. Shoenfelt said the agent doesn’t care how big Celina is, they care if someone is going to be on the other end of the computer or phone when they need help.
“Why do agents write business with Celina when they could write with one of the big companies?” asked Shoenfelt. “They put it with Celina because of the relationships. It’s the only reason. Do we have the lowest price? Sometimes. A lot of times we don't, but they still put the business with us because it's a relationship and they know that if they reach out, they can get help. The Glia solution enables that, and it builds that relationship.”
The Celina team is always there — and with Glia, the technology is too.
On top of the benefits Celina has seen in improving their relationships with agents, the mutual insurer has realized efficiency gains as well. One of the key improvements over Celina’s previous chat solution is the ability for the Celina rep to immediately have information on the agent they’re speaking with. This auto-authentication accelerates Celina’s ability to assist the agent with their needs.
With Glia’s CoView technology, the Celina team is also presented with immediate visual context of where the agent is on Celina’s system. This functionality has enabled Celina to more efficiently and effectively resolve agent inquiries.
Celina has also seen improvements in agent satisfaction and efficiency by enabling the agent to select who they need to speak with, cutting out the need to transfer to another underwriter or someone in accounting. Leveraging business logic behind the scenes, an agent is presented with their core Celina support team who knows their business once they’re logged into Celina’s system.
These enhancements with Glia are driving more efficient and personalized interactions between independent agents that represent Celina and the Celina team. For the thousands of interactions that have flowed through Glia in the first six months since implementation, agents have responded with a 4.93/5 satisfaction rating.
The Glia solution enables Celina to meet their agents in whatever channel they prefer. Some agents still email or call, but for those that have adopted the digital channels, Shoenfelt said they rarely opt to communicate another way.
