CIExpert’s Insight Zone launched in 2021 with a digital dashboard designed to make viewing all aspects of protection policies more user-friendly.
It launched with critical illness and life policies, and recently added an income protection tool with Guardian's newly-released IP product.
CIExpert says the success of its Insight Zone is related to the 'increasing appetite of advisers for independent tools that support client interaction in virtual settings such as provided by Teams & Zoom', adding that the ability to explain policy features to clients using visually interactive tools via a screen has become increasingly important, as well as the obvious uplift in advisers seeking solutions to their Consumer Duty obligations.
Legal & General is the largest provider of protection products and CIExperts hopes that allowing advisers to undertake research on each policy's unique elements will make advisers' jobs simpler.
The platform includes a Condition Tracer tool, which allows advisers and clients to see what they are covered for by breaking it down into body areas such as cancer, heart-related, and neurological.
Commenting on this announcement, Alan Lakey Director at CIExpert has said:
"It is heart-warming to see an increasing number of advisers putting behind them the days of selling on price and condition numbers and instead seeing the benefits of seeking solutions for their clients driven by the best outcome available to them within their own budget limits.
“In the past few years, advisers have been faced with a pandemic, rising interest rates and a cost-of-living crisis creating challenges outside of their control, so I was unsure how the industry would react to the introduction of the new Consumer Duty regulation too. I don’t have a reputation for welcoming new regulations as they are often ill-conceived, however, as I have often argued, critical illness conditions criteria should be judged by outcomes. Evidence to date suggests that Consumer Duty is driving an outcome where an increasing number of advisers will engage in protection product selection in a much more qualitative manner.
“We are delighted to have another significant insurer like L&G join the CIC Insight Zone. Their support alongside the other recent additions enables us to further develop and maintain this service for CIExpert’s existing users at no additional cost.”
Julia Godley, director of intermediary and retail protection at Legal & General Retail, added:
“We’re thrilled to be the latest insurer to join CIExpert’s Protection Insight Zones. Providing advisers with the information and knowledge they need to ensure their clients get the best possible advice is central to everything we do.
“The range of interactive tools CIExpert have developed as part of their Insight Zone helps advisers explain how the flexibility of Legal & General's protection plans can help deliver good customer outcomes when their clients need it most."
