LAS VEGAS — June 10, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. today announced at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Institute 2010 the Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a strategic sales and service-enabled customer relationship management (CRM) platform that will allow health plans to quickly and easily move their marketing and sales processes online to better manage and monitor sales, member service and retention. As a result, health plans will be able to better compete in the individual and small-group market, reduce multiple points of failure in their current sales, service and retention processes, and interoperate with state health insurance exchanges.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that health reform will expand coverage to 32 million by 2019 and 24 million will be enrolled through exchanges by 2019, not counting employer coverage, meaning health plans need to quickly take advantage of this short window of growth or risk losing share and revenue to competitors. According to a recent Gartner report, “Health insurers that do not have effective online sales and service functionality for the individual market must immediately establish such capabilities to compete in the current market and meet future requirements of exchanges.”*
“In light of changing regulations, health plans must now focus on winning share and loyalty through adaptive and efficient sales processes and exceptional customer experience while preparing to integrate sales and service processes with each health insurance exchange in 2014,” said Dennis Schmuland, director, U.S. Health Plans Industry Solutions, Microsoft. “Through a comprehensive CRM strategy that is pre-integrated with various touch points in the sales process, our Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables insurers to easily and quickly capture critical sales data, reduce the cost of sales, service, and retention, and interoperate with state health insurance exchanges by 2014.”
The Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an interoperable framework that allows for more seamless integration with existing systems and applications. Partners can pre-integrate their solution to offer health plans a seamless workflow across different applications, and a number of Microsoft’s trusted partners, including Ingenix, CosmoCom Inc., VUE Software and Colibrium Partners LLC, are already supporting this framework.
The platform enables insurers to more easily design and deploy a complete CRM strategy that spans acquisition, retention, health and care management, and service, and it tightly integrates social media sites into the sales, service and retention processes. With the platform, payers also will be able to reduce custom legacy integration costs and maximize their existing investment in both Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies. In addition, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution can be deployed wholly on-premise, in Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, or as a hybrid solution that provides the flexibility, improved security and cost management that health plans want.
“Health insurance is an increasingly complex and challenging environment to work within because of the ever-shifting regulatory, patient and business landscape, which directly impacts our underwriting efforts,” said Jeff Berry, vice president, Underwriting, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. “By deploying the Tuo product suite integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we will be able to quickly expand and change underwriting methodologies as the market shifts without costly development efforts. This will help us achieve significant efficiencies, which directly benefit our customers.”
About Microsoft in Health
Microsoft is committed to improving health around the world through software innovation. Over the past 13 years, Microsoft has steadily increased its investments in health, with a focus on addressing the challenges of health providers, health and social services organizations, payers, consumers, and life sciences companies worldwide. Microsoft closely collaborates with a broad ecosystem of partners and develops its own powerful health solutions, such as Amalga and HealthVault. Together, Microsoft and its industry partners are working to advance a vision of unifying health information and making it more readily available, ensuring the best quality of life and affordable care for everyone.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
* Health Insurance Exchanges Play a Key Role in Health Insurance Reform, April 20, 2010, Joanne Galimi and Robert H. Booz
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Supporting Industry Quotes
“Ingenix looks forward to working with Microsoft to provide health plans with a strategic sales and service-enabled CRM platform for competing now and in the post-reform economy. Ingenix Risk Management Solutions combine expert process consulting, implementation and training services with industry-leading products, including StepWise Rating Engine, MedPoint Prescription Profiling and Impact Pro for Underwriting, to evaluate, optimize and automate underwriting operations, improve rate evaluation and implementation, and expedite the sales cycle.”
Lori A. Stevens, FSA
Vice President, Risk Management Solutions
Ingenix
“We’re very excited about the ongoing investments Microsoft is making in Dynamics CRM to extend its relevancy and value to the health plan market. We’ve observed the momentum for the platform and believe the Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM will extend the value to carriers and agencies and lower the barriers to connecting third-party solutions to what is becoming the hub for marketing, sales, agent, member, policy and claim information at many of the largest health plan organizations. As an ISV this solution enables us to better integrate with other partners’ offerings and deploy to our clients more quickly and for a lower cost, and that’s a win for every organization.”
Joseph Westlake
Vice President
VUE Software
