Coping_with_Electronic_Commerce

Coping With Electronic Commerce: Electronic Patient Information Business 107 June 06, 2009 Coping With Electronic Commerce: In The Auto Insurance World Over the last three decades, the meaning of electronic commerce has changed. At first electronic commerce meant the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically. Now electronic commerce, also known as e-commerce, can be defined as business actives conducted using electronic data transmission over the Internet and the World Wide Web. Other transactions included in conducting e-commerce could be businesses trading with other businesses and internal processes that companies use to support their buying, hiring, planning, selling, and other activities. There are five general electronic commerce categories which are: business-to-consumer, business-to-business, business processes, consumer-to-consumer, and business-to government (Schneider, 2009, p. 5). The most common categories of the five are business-to-consumer, business-to-business, and business processes. For decades many auto insurance companies focused on streamlining much of their business via the internet. This was a push to move towards increasing profits, decreasing cost, and having a more paperless system. Progressive insurance company has had tremendous success with e-commerce. After reading this paper one will have a better understanding on the background of Progressive and their past business successes with the help of e-commerce. From their humble beginnings of 1937, Progressive has flourished into one of the largest auto insurance groups in the country. They provide personal and commercial automobile insurance and other specialty property-casualty insurance. It was on March 10, 1937, when Joseph Lewis and Jack Green started Progressive Mutual Insurance Company. They were lawyers were looking for a good investment and wanted to provide vehicle owners with security and protection. From their beginnings, Progressive has been a front runner for new and innovative techniques to auto insurance. Progressive was the first auto insurer to offer drive-in claims service and to allow customers to pay their premiums in installments. One of Progressive goals is to make auto insurance accessible and easy so more people could protect their vehicles and in return bring big profits. Progressive has experience an upswing up growth since the early 50’s and which help fuel the decision to become a public company in 1971. In 1987, Progressive surpassed $1 billion in premiums and that same year the New York Stock Exchange listed their stock under the PGR symbol (Progressive, 2009). They currently have over 28,000 employees in more than 450 offices throughout the country. Progressive business philosophy was to approach auto insurance in an innovative way, setting them apart from their competitors. Progressive is definitely utilizing the first-mover advantage, which is a strategy that companies use to gain a competitive edge. First-mover advantage is defined as the benefit a company can gain by introducing a product or service before its competitors. Progressive has had a host of accolades and achievements (Progressive, 2009): • In 1990, Progressive introduced Immediate Response® claims service, which is available 24/7, to provide customers with personal service and support immediately after they have reported a claim. • In 1994, Progressive was the first to introduce Immediate Response® Vehicle (IRV), which is a specially marked vehicle that brought trained claims professionals to wherever customers needed them. • In 1995, Progressive was the first major auto insurer in the world to launch a Web site, which push them ahead of their competitors by gaining momentum in the online world. • In 2003, Progressive was the first to launch a concierge level of claim service by allowing customers to drop off their cars at a claims service center for repairs and they pick their customers up once the repairs are complete. • In 2008, Progressive.com earns the No.1 spot on the Keynote Systems Q4 2008 Insurance Carrier Scorecard and has won every scorecard published since 2004 and has held the top spot for 13 of the last 14 scorecard rankings published since 2000. By Progressive being the first auto insurer it placed them at the forefront of the online world of technology, giving them an edge over their competitors like State Farm, Allstate, GEICO, and USAA. Progressive is known for being one of the more innovative insurance companies. Many consumers would agree the reason they utilize the internet is because of lower prices, convenience, and personalization; Progressive gives consumers those more times over. Some of the benefits of Progressive using e-commerce are increasing revenue, ability to reach more consumers, and saving the company money in the process. Also, a benefit e-commerce provides within the workplace is that it allows people to work more effectively by enabling employees to telecommute. Progressive has a vast array items that can be done on their site, such as (Progressive, 2009): • Policy Service and Management — which allows policyholders to log in to update information, make payments, get vehicle recall information and more. • Online Claims Reporting — allows policyholders to log in to report auto accidents and glass claims. • Rate Ticker — which shows a scrolling rate ticker displaying actual Progressive Direct auto insurance rates side-by-side with those of other top auto insurers. • Agent Locator — allows anyone to search for local independent insurance agents by entering a ZIP code or by selecting the type of insurance one would like to buy. • Talk to Me — is Progressive’s online customer service feature that uses Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to allow online shoppers who have questions about their Progressive Direct auto insurance quote to click on an icon and talk to a representative over the Internet or have a representative call them directly. • Instant Quotes — allows anyone who wants to purchase online or through an agent, to be able to receive online insurance quotes. In conclusion, Progressive has proved that much success can be gain through e-commerce. They have set the staged for their competitors to follow but Progressive is very keen on technology and truly understands its value. Progressive is definitely on the right path with utilizing e-commerce and is showing continued success over their competitors. Their use of the e-commerce business solution in their line of business has proved the benefits to e-commerce. Progressive use of e-commerce has help increase speed and accuracy with which they can exchange information, which reduces costs on both sides of the fence. In complete support of Progressive’s current e-business process, they should continue with their innovative ideas on servicing consumers online. Progressive will continue to thrive by offering increasingly innovative products and services. References Crane, M., Farrell, M., LaMotta, L. & Nelson, B. (2008). Try These Innovative Marketing Techniques. Retrieved September 29, 2008, from Forbes website: http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/29/small-business-marketing-ent-sales- cx_mf_0929innovativemarketing.html Kurtz, D. (2008). Contemporary Marketing (13th ed.): Lachina Publishing Services Progressive, Retrieved May 18, 2009, from Progressive website: http://www.progressive.com/progressive-insurance/history.aspx Schneider, G. (2009). Electronic Commerce (8th ed.): GEX Publishing Services Wikipedia, Retrieved June 4, 2009, from Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_commerce Wikipedia, Retrieved June 2, 2009, from Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Corporation ----------------------- Coping With Electronic Commerce 1