How Coterie Insurance optimized its claims process with OpenPhone

About Coterie Insurance

Industry:

Insurance

Founded:

2018

HQ:

Cincinnati, Ohio

Previous provider:

None

Coterie Insurance represents the most underrepresented sector in commercial insurance: small businesses. Their Cincinnati-based team helps complete all the legwork for small businesses around getting an insurance policy.

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Coterie Insurance serves as a managing general agent (MGA) by writing the policy, completing the underwriting in-house, and handling claims on behalf of businesses. A core part of their offering is simplification. Coterie Insurance also streamlines the process of purchasing business insurance by integrating with the tools entrepreneurs and business leaders already use.

OpenPhone integrations used:

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The challenge

The solution

The impact

The challenge

Coterie Insurance needed to build a modern claims department in house

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When Brian Thomas, Director of Claims Experience at Coterie Insurance, joined the team, he was looking to build an internal claims organization to replace a third-party administrator who handled claims.

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“As we had an internal claims mindset, a phone system was something we definitely needed,” says Brian. A traditional desk phone wasn’t a fit for Coterie as they have remote team members. Coterie then tried a business phone solution that Brian found “just didn’t tick all the boxes of what I wanted.”

"One of the things I love about OpenPhone is the upgrade mindset. They’re not complacent; they’re always looking for ways to improve their product.”

Brian Thomas

Director of Claims Experience at Coterie Insurance

The solution

OpenPhone checked the boxes for problems Coterie needed know existed

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Brian recalled coming across OpenPhone in a Google search. After poking around the OpenPhone website, he spoke to one of the co-founders, Daryna Kulya, and discovered OpenPhone as something they could use for their business.

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“There were so many features we were looking for,” Brian says, “and so many features I didn’t even know existed that it was a win/win situation when we started with OpenPhone.”

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One of the major draws for Brian was being able to set up multiple phone numbers — one for anyone reporting a new claim and another for people following up on filed claims — and even give individuals their own.

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The impact

OpenPhone improved Coterie’s responsiveness and earned a permanent place in their tech stack

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Coterie Insurance started the rollout of OpenPhone with three team members which included Brian and his supervisor working on claims. Since then, “it’s ballooned through to our marketing, product, and claims teams,” Brian shares.

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The claims team line distributes calls to Coterie’s claims team round-robin style. That way calls go out in small batches until someone picks up — and they don’t miss calls during working hours. And because Coterie’s OpenPhone workspace acts like a CRM, Brian’s team has been able to speed up their claims process. “We can obtain the information we need to close the claim quicker,” he says.

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As Coterie Insurance grows, Brian knows OpenPhone will continue to be a major part of their tech stack — and grow with them. “One of the things I love about OpenPhone is the upgrade mindset. They’re not complacent; they’re always looking for ways to improve their product.”