1. WHITE PAPER SERIES
The Impact of Strategy-Analytics:
New Thinking for a New Market
Contributor: Kevin Coomer
© 2012 Kevin Coomer
3312 Cherrywood Court
Bethlehem, PA 18020
(610)704-5174
coomerkevin@gmail.com
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The information contained in this document is proprietary and confidential to Kevin Coomer. No part of this document may be
reproduced in any form or by any means, without the express written permission of Kevin Coomer.
This document is subject to change without notice and Kevin Coomer does not warrant that the material contained in this document
is error-free
B
Usiness leaders are overwhelmed by the data available in today’s Information Age. Financial data
is available in near real time, and regulatory requirements mandate frequent review, reporting
and sign-off. This focus directly impacts the top and bottom lines. However, this information is
retrospective in nature and has limited value in looking at future trends.
As business implements more sophisticated systems, such as Customer Relationship Management
systems and data warehouses, the wealth of information available expands exponentially. Many
systems offer a limited number of stock reports and provide some tools to allow management to create
custom reports, relying on managers to expend efforts to create reports, relying on their computer
skills, which may not always be present. Frequently, it is very difficult to recognize the correct question
and then to identify the correct data elements to derive the business value.
Conventional wisdom holds that 80% of our sales come from 20% of our customers, but careful analysis
of sales information may lead to other opportunities to focus efforts. If we take this as a starting
assumption, the comment is frequently driven by the top line generated by that 20%. Analysis of the
sales data may show that some customers are producing a single large transaction while others produce
multiple transactions, yet both are treated the same.
In the commercial insurance industry, where sales take place through independent brokers, this was
particularly true. Many brokers would place a single account with our company with a six or seven digit
premium, while others produced dozens of smaller transactions.
Kevin Coomer ©2012 –The Impact of Strategy Analytics: New Thinking for a New Market

2. We began an examination of hit ratios, the number of policies submitted to the number of overall
submissions, and penetration ratios, the number of policies written compared to the number of policies
fitting our niche. The study was done both on the basis of frequency and dollars.
In the case of when one large policy was written for a broker, the answer was usually self-evident in that
they had access to many other accounts in a variety sizes and we were writing only a small portion of
their available premium. We focused on those agencies with an eye toward increasing the penetration
and gaining more accounts that fit our appetite. Our strategy focused on increasing the submission level
targeting accounts that fit our appetite.
Within the group producing larger numbers of accounts, we determined that some were submitting
huge numbers of applications that were generating a large number of written policies, but the hit ratio
was relatively small. Working with the marketing staff, we identified the commonalities of the success
stories and worked with the producers to reduce the overall applications to those where we had the
greatest chance of mutual success. While the approach seems counterintuitive, we retained the
accounts we wanted, decreased the unproductive flow, and generated less work for both the broker and
our company.
Additionally, by identifying the traits present in the existing broker base, we were able to identify non
customer brokerages with similar characteristics for expansion.
These concepts apply across many industries and are not limited to insurance. They apply whether one
is a paper supplier, equipment supplier, service provider or insurance company. Statistical analysis can
help target the customers most similar to your existing base or to increase the penetration of the
existing clients. If your company is one of a number of suppliers of services to your larger customers, the
opportunity is there the increase your market share within the existing constituents.
Strategy analytics may also reveal solutions and help to control issues to supplement existing efforts. At
a prior employer, we had a recognized problem with receivables. Insurance companies are required to
collect premium within 90 days of the policy effective date or it is considered statutorily overdue, with
significant financial ramifications. The conventional approach was to examine shortening credit terms,
renegotiating contracts and other conventional actions.
I recognized that many states have statutes affecting commercial accounts stating that an insured is not
required to make payments for a policy until the policy is issued and delivered. I began a study that
examined the effective date of the policy and the date that the policy was actually issued. The results
showed that our large, complex policies were not issued until 90 days after the policy effective date.One
of the root causes of the problem was directly in our control and we incorporated a variety of additional
elements such as producing region, underwriter, broker, line of business and other factors. From this
information, management was able to target problem and take actions such as focusing on the problem
areas and instituting personal and regional objectives to shorten the elapsed time between effective
date and the policy issue date.
Kevin Coomer ©2012 –The Impact of Strategy Analytics: New Thinking for a New Market

3. We made some minor modifications to the front end systems to capture other key dates, and created
reports that could be used as a monitoring control for senior management. The changes in process
resulted in a decrease in the policy issuance time from 90days to 16 days on average, and a
corresponding decrease is statutory overdue premiums, which are really nothing other than late
payments.
Strategic analytics involve a discovery phase to identify opportunities, and monitoring phase which
repeats some of the same analytics to ascertain the effectiveness of the corrective actions.
In any business there exists some opportunity to improve receivables. In small business, the billing cycle
may be monthly at the close of the month. Billing at time of service or on a daily basis can greatly
enhance cash flow.
In the past, management could operate with a “ready, fire, aim” strategy as resources were less limited
and profit margins were higher. In today’s much more competitive environment we must learn to use
information beyond macro level financial reports to more micro focused transaction and market data to
carefully target our openings. Whether a company is large company operating with integrated data
warehouses or a small company using spreadsheets to track its activity, careful analysis of the available
data will produce strategies for a focused success.
Kevin Coomer is an expert in discovering business trends through analytics and insight to manage
creative change. With 30+ years of experience as a multiple management roles and working for
directly for leading CEO’s on a host of Special Project assignments, Kevin has looked under the hood of
a variety of business processes and has grown to recognize the trends and opportunities that drive
business success. Kevin has combined his management experience and business development skills to
grow business operations despite uncertain economic times. As an economist and social engineer,
Kevin combines his talent and passions to produce white papers on a range of topics of interest to
modern business leaders. This white paper series is the result of these efforts. For more information
on Kevin’s White Papers or to talk to Kevin, call (610)704-5174.
Kevin Coomer ©2012 –The Impact of Strategy Analytics: New Thinking for a New Market