Case Study

Manitoba Mutual Insurance Co. (MMIC) is an insurance company located in Canada. It has its roots in mutual risk management in the rural farm industry. Farmers understood that if they agreed to help each other out when disaster struck, they would all benefit from lower costs and a more stable business, in the long run.

From a partnership such as this one, MMIC was founded. To this day, it is one of the most competitive and full-featured insurers of farm and related risks. The two key products are Personal Farm Plus and Commercial Farm Plus.

Its key source of revenue is insurance premiums from all of these products. However, it also maintains a very lucrative investment portfolio, which is natural for a business that collects revenue, but does not create a physical product. Rather, the key value delivered to customers are claims payments, farm and crop risk management, and peace of mind.

MMIC prides itself on its rapid and fair claims processing. It guarantees farm property claim processing within 30 days of the claim being filed, and crop failure claims within 180 days. It also differentiates itself with excellent, personal customer service, both face-to-face and over the phone. MMIC has 30 locations across Canada with offices and Farm Service Centres in centrally located rural areas. Their Canadian-based call centre provides localized bilingual service. Their website is fairly immature and static in its content, but it provides another means to communicate with and deliver value to customers through online marketing materials, "contact us" email forms, the toll-free number, and address listings for mail and in-person service. It also offers a simple, self-serve portal that provides the details of customers' policies, including coverages and premiums, as well as billing status. Finally, it has a news section that provides details on catastrophes (droughts, floods, etc.) that have impacted farms and information on how to make a claim related to the catastrophe.

The actual work that is involved in delivering peace of mind (and claims payments) to customers is complicated and involves many groups. Farm Insurance Specialists at the Farm Service Centres and the call centre evaluate customer needs and provide information on available coverages and rates. Underwriters assess the risk for each customer, and based on the coverages requested and the risk, they calculate premiums in order to provide quotes and establish premiums for the policy, as they issue it. They also help the customer maintain their policy by updating coverages as required and provide support to Billing and Claims in terms of providing policy details. Billing Specialists create monthly invoices and account summaries, answer billing related inquiries, and report to Accounting. Accounting reports on revenue and all kinds of costs of doing business. Claims Analysts assess claims and either approve or reject them. Claims Catastrophe Managers work with local government representatives on sharing the costs due to catastrophes and establishing the requirements for these claims. Actuarial Analysts analyze risk, and look for new product opportunities and ways to balance the overall risk of the company against revenue from their products.

MMIC maintains a fully functional printing press and a team of Document Managers that handle the printing of all insurance-related documentation, from customer bills and account statements, to printed policies and marketing material. Document Managers also take care of delivery of all printed materials, using mail and courier services. The printing press is located in a warehouse, on the same property, but across the parking lot from the head office. It contains the printing press, hoppers and shelves, and carts for sorting and moving printed materials. It is a very expensive operation to maintain, with aging equipment, and the staff that work there and are knowledgeable are nearing retirement.

MMIC maintains cash assets. It is in fact regulated to do so, to assure that they are able to pay claims. It also maintains investments, as mentioned above, as an asset and a source of revenue. MMIC maintains a large farm garage in each region, for assessing damages to farm equipment.

MMIC interacts with its customers in many ways. It markets and sells its products and maintains its relationships with clients via the Farm Service Centres, the call centre, and the website. It also uses online marketing, billboards, and newspaper ads for marketing. MMIC prides itself on the personal nature of the relationship it establishes and maintains with customers through a variety of touch points and the friendly personal contacts that they make available. Farm Insurance Specialists routinely visit the insureds' farms to inspect and also to maintain relationships.

MMIC understands the customer's need for convenience and flexibility and to that end, they are working on improving the self-serve portal, to allow farmers to make changes to their policies online. Along with this update, MMIC is also working on improving their insurance document production and distribution processes, and functionality. Documents are one of the only aspects of their product that a customer can hold in their hands, and see, and there are many concerns that need to be addressed to improve that touch point with their customers.

ExerciseExercise 1: Business Model Canvas

Using the business case above, populate all sections of the Business Model Canvas.

Key Partners	Key Activities	Value Propositions	Customer Relationships	Customer Segments
Key Resources	Channels
Cost Structure	Revenue Streams

Exercise 2: Key Partners

Briefly explain the Key Partners you selected by describing what element(s) of Analyze Potential Value and Recommend Solution the partnership would address and how.

Exercise 3: Potential Value

Explain how this Business Model Canvas could be used to analyze potential value.