Digital group benefits insurance firm Viver Health Inc. (Viver) is positioning itself as a disruptor in the industry by promising to reinvent the advisor experience. How? By providing plan sponsors with a quote in just five minutes, based on three questions.
Founded by Jorge Ramos in November 2023, Viver is not an insurtech outsider. The idea for the company stemmed from Ramos' extensive experience in distribution and insights gained from a survey he conducted among group insurance advisors three years ago.
Ramos began his career in 1998 at Dundee Wealth, which was acquired by Scotiabank in 2011. He has since held leadership roles with both insurers and managing general agencies (MGAs). Since September 2020, he has served as the national director of advanced planning at Carte Wealth Management, an MGA based in Mississauga, Ontario, and a member of the Canadian Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (CAILBA).
Initially, Ramos and his colleagues considered launching a group insurance division within Carte, Viver’s current distribution partner. However, Ramos ultimately founded Viver as an independent entity, opening the door to partnerships with other MGAs, in addition to its partnership with Carte.
Viver defines itself as a third-party claims payor and administrator (TPA), but it outsources these services to SEB Administrative Services (SEB Admin), a subsidiary of Smart Employee Benefits Inc. This approach helps keep costs down and allows Viver to focus on sales, Ramos explains.
It’s too difficult!
We heard things like: ‘we don’t do group because it’s too difficult to get a quote’– Jorge Ramos
In an exclusive interview with Insurance Portal, Ramos shared that he founded Viver to address a common concern among advisors: the complexity of selling group insurance. His goal is to simplify the process and make it more accessible.
“We asked advisors what they like and don’t like in group insurance. The response was amazing,” recalls Jorge Ramos. “We heard things like: ‘we don’t do group because it’s too difficult to get a quote’,” he says.
Viver aims to change the game by offering a seamless experience. The company’s marketing brochure proclaims it is “Reviving the group benefits experience.” This streamlined approach, dubbed “The Viver Way,” promises to provide a group insurance quote in five minutes instead of five weeks.
Viver's process bypasses traditional complexities by asking clients just three questions:
- How many employees do you have?
- What industry are you in?
- What is your budget?
Putting pricing in the client’s hands
After facing some initial setbacks, Viver secured an exclusive partnership with Co-operators.
“We partnered with Viver because we strongly believe in data sharing, education, and personalized service to help clients make informed decisions,” says Narinder Kempa, program director, group benefits, at Co-operators.
Kempa points out that the traditional quoting process is “very time consuming and lengthy...Advisors are required to get a lot of information from their group benefits client, and there’s a lot of back-and-forth between the client, advisor and insurance company. It’s an administratively intensive process,” she adds.
We put the pricing piece in the hands of the plan sponsors. You tell us how much you want to spend and we’ll find the plan for you – Narinder Kempa
For Kempa, the new model “signals an opportunity for us to reduce administration, free up advisor’s time from all the back-and-forth they do and help the clients,” she says.
According to Kempa, allowing clients to determine their budget upfront is a groundbreaking approach for Co-operators, which has followed the traditional group benefits model for 50 years. “We put the pricing piece in the hands of the plan sponsors. You tell us how much you want to spend and we’ll find the plan for you.”
A data-driven approach
Viver’s ability to generate quotes with just three questions relies on publicly available statistical data and insights from Co-operators’ group claims experience.
By leveraging the law of large numbers, Viver can aggregate risks, meaning pricing is based on group trends rather than individual claims history, Ramos explains. As a result, there’s no need to review a client’s past claims experience with their current insurer.
Finding the right partner wasn’t easy, Ramos recalls. “It took three years to find the right partners and to design, develop, and finally launch the program,” he says. “A lot of other insurers said that what we were trying to create wasn’t possible.”
Although Co-operators eventually came on board, they initially wanted Viver’s platform to ask 10 questions instead of three. Over time, however, they realized the additional questions were redundant, and Viver reverted to its original three-question approach.
Viver’s statistical model eliminates the need to collect data deemed unnecessary, such as employee gender or family status—a question initially proposed by Co-operators.
“Statistically speaking, If I have a room of a thousand people and I know their industry and the mid of their age, statistics tell us that 60% are married. All the data needed already exists,” Ramos explains.
Targeting groups of 20 to 30 employees
According to Ramos, two types of advisors are drawn to Viver’s platform: those specializing in small groups of 30 employees or fewer, and advisors new to group insurance. The latter group, he says, presents a significant opportunity.
“We spend a lot of time with these advisors (those targeting groups of 20 to 30 employees),” Ramos says. “We’re spending a lot of time with these types of agencies. I’m doing group insurance 101, educating them on the language. When they find a client, they naturally come to me because I taught them everything.”
Sales are beginning to come in, though Ramos declined to share exact figures. “All the sales I got in the last two weeks are all new advisors that I trained,” he says.
At Co-operators, Narinder Kempa reveals that more than 25% of Co-operators' life insurance company business is group benefits insurance. She adds that roughly 35% of Co-operators group benefits insurance business is associated with groups under 30 lives.
A two-year pricing guarantee
Advisors must register on the Viver portal to receive a personalized link, which they can then share with their clients. Clients can review and adjust their quote to match their budget.
Once the first month's premium is paid via credit card, the group insurance contract is instantly issued, and the advisor is compensated accordingly. Commission rates are in line with industry standards, Ramos says.
After the sale, the onboarding process begins. The employer receives an email prompting them to provide employee details, and each employee then submits their banking information to activate their coverage.
Coverage starts on the first day of the month following the sale, and Viver offers a two-year rate guarantee for every accepted quote. If necessary, Viver will adjust the group's experience afterwards.
Jorge Ramos says Viver is licensed in Ontario and Alberta. He expects to be licensed in the other Canadian provinces in the first quarter of 2025. Except in Quebec, where he expects to get a license from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) by the end of the year.
In collaboraton with Serge Therrien.