Assurant Awarded Patents for Call Processing System

Assurant and Assurant Solutions announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued two patents covering a proprietary call center system developed by Solutions' Diversified Financial Services business. The system, called Targeted Solutions, helps clients retain the best customers and boost profitable sales by optimizing retention and sales efforts within customer contact centers. See text of news release below.

Jun 28, 2006

NEW YORK and ATLANTA -- Assurant, Inc. (“Assurant”) (NYSE: AIZ), a leading provider of specialty insurance and insurance-related products and services, has been awarded two patents for call processing systems developed within its Assurant Solutions business. These systems optimize sales and retention efforts in contact centers through a series of dynamic customer and agent analytics. Assurant Solutions is offering the systems to its clients and making them available to other entities.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent No. 7,050,566 on May 23, 2006 and Patent No. 7,062,031 on June 13, 2006 to Assurant. The call processing systems will be marketed under the names Targeted Retention, Targeted Sales or Targeted Solutions.

Assurant said Targeted Solutions is not a software but a series of analytics and call management processes that have been shown to increase retention, sales revenue and customer lifetime profitability. By matching the right agent with the right customer, Targeted Solutions captures revenue that would have been left unrealized and retains customers who would otherwise have canceled a service or product.

The systems are supported by the Assurant Solutions Targeted Solutions Decision Science Team, which will refine and further develop a call processing system. The team maintains a central convergence engine that serves as the hub for all data feeds. The engine operates independently of the call centers that it supports and provides output for optimal call center setup.

Detailing the merits of the system, Manuel Becerra, group senior vice president for the Assurant Solutions Diversified Financial Services unit, said, “Customers within a portfolio vary in economic value to the portfolio owner. This system enables us to identify an individual customer’s profitability, predict the economic outcome of performing an intended action (like a retention attempt or selling a product or service) and direct the customer to the agent whose performance is appropriate to the opportunity represented by that customer. The result is that we derive significantly more value from the opportunities presented to our agents than a traditional business model.”

In addition to analyzing customers, Target Solutions continuously evaluates the effectiveness of individual agents, rating them on 26 dimensions of compatibility. According to Becerra, “Matching agents with customers most likely to retain a service or purchase a product enhances the selling experience for agents. Targeted Solutions helps new agents build confidence and reduces their learning curve for achieving optimum performance. Longer term, the system helps to improves job satisfaction and reduces turnover.”

Becerra said that Targeted Solutions shifts the paradigm of call centers by focusing on revenue metrics versus a sole focus on the percentage of customers sold or retained in a given day. “By shifting focus, we are able to truly measure the success of call center’s efforts. We know that all agents do not perform at the same level, and that individual performance can change day to day due to outside factors. Targeted Solutions enables us to continually adjust the effectiveness of the selling or retention process, assuring that all opportunity is captured by the agent most likely to produce the desired result, and in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. Targeted Solutions’ modeling processes constantly relearn and adjust based on call center environment changes.”

Targeted Solutions has been in development for several years and is now in full production. Initial program deployments have shown significant increases in results for both sales and retention efforts. Compensation is aligned with client success, based on performance enhancements over baseline.

For more information on how these systems can be deployed, contact Cameron Hurst, director, Targeted Solutions, at 305.252.7075, or Cameron.Hurst@assurant.com.

Assurant Solutions and Assurant

Assurant Solutions businesses develop, underwrite, market and administer specialty insurance, extended service contracts and other risk management solutions through collaborative relationships with leading financial institutions, retailers, automobile dealers, funeral homes, utilities and other entities. With operations in 17 locations, including executive offices in Atlanta, Ga., Assurant Solutions serves clients and their customers in 10 countries throughout North America, the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe. www.assurantsolutions.com

Assurant Solutions is part of Assurant, a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and selected international markets. Its four key businesses – Assurant Employee Benefits, Assurant Health, Assurant Solutions and Assurant Specialty Property – partner with clients who are leaders in their industries and who have built leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments worldwide.

Assurant, a Fortune 500 company, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has over $20 billion in assets and $7 billion in annual revenue. www.assurant.com.

For additional information, contact:

Cameron Hurst
Director, Targeted Solutions
11222 Quail Roost Drive
Miami, Fl 33157
305-252-7075
Cameron.Hurst@assurant.com