Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association (LIDMA) Announces Legal & General America’s “Straight Through Processing” as its 2017 Innovation Award Winner

PR Newswire

ATLANTA, Sept. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association (LIDMA) has today announced that it has selected Legal & General America as its first-ever Innovation Award winner. The announcement was made at LIDMA's 14^th Annual Fall Meeting & Business Showcase, which took place at the Ritz-Carlton Tyson's Corner in McLean, Virginia.

Brooke Vemuri, Assistant VP New Business; Eric W Lester, VP Administrative Services; Patrick M. Bowen, CLU, Senior Vice President, Distribution of Legal & General America accept 2017 LIDMA Innovation Award.

"Our panel of steely-eyed judges and industry experts voted and we're thrilled to announce that Legal & General's Straight Through Processing technology was the winner," remarked LIDMA president Shervin Eftekhari. "Known as a low-cost provider of term life insurance for over 20 years, the new Legal & General technology represents, for eligible shoppers, a fast and convenient way to buy."

Eric Lester, vice president of operations at Legal & General, said, "We are thrilled to have won the 2017 LIDMA Innovation Award. Our new Straight Through technology serves both consumers and advisors with a radically-improved process in which policy delivery can happen within 24 hours for qualified applicants. Direct marketers benefit because there are fewer touch points and faster decisions, which is always pleasing to the customer."

LIDMA is honored to have considered the following finalists, each of which has developed outstanding processes and methods that reduce cost and improve accuracy:

ExamOne/Online laboratory results for life insurance applicants
Hannover Re/Sureify automated underwriting solution
Insureio Technologies/CRM, lead management and marketing automation platform
IPipeline/AFFIRM and DocFast e-Delivery Solution
Paperless Solutions Group/Rapid Issue System for Life and Disability

LIDMA is the life insurance industry's most focused gathering of high performance direct response marketers, producers, underwriters and vendors who are driving positive changes in the distribution of life insurance in order to benefit middle market consumers.

Eftekhari continued, "It's exciting to see the pace of value chain efficiencies accelerate in the life insurance sector. In selecting our 2017 Innovation Award winner, our panel of experts focused on answering each of these questions: Can it be used to improve the buying process? Can it be reasonably implemented? Is it cost effective? Will the technology/process be supported? Does it improve the customer experience?"

More and more life insurance buyers are becoming self-directed and using direct response channels as their preferred method of purchasing life insurance. Recent trends in the direct-to-consumer sector have recently seen accelerated interest from big box stores, electronic retailers, search engine companies, banks, credit unions and other non-traditional companies that command vast audiences. LIDMA is the primary organization dedicated to supporting business and professionals who are active in this new and rapidly expanding channel.

About LIDMA
LIDMA is the primary association dedicated to supporting businesses and professionals active in direct sales of life insurance products to consumers – the fastest growing sales segment in the life insurance industry. The LIDMA "Seal of Approval," developed by affiliated carriers, vendors, attorneys, and producers demonstrating compliance with articulated process requirements around e-Delivery, e-Signature and Voice Signature, has become a standard-bearer for a consistent approach to process improvement and positioned LIDMA as the leading life insurance organization in e-Process initiatives The not-for-profit organization is committed to helping members protect more families while boosting their revenues and reducing costs. For more information, visit www.lidma.org.

LIDMA - The Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association