For those of you who couldn’t attend NCCI’s
Annual Issues Symposium (AIS) 2019, let me tell you about “the word.” The word is a tradition going back nearly 20 years. Presented each year by NCCI’s CEO, it once described the state of the workers compensation industry, and in recent years it has evolved into a call-to-action. The last few words have been
Connecting,
Adapting, and
Transforming.
This year, the word I announced to the more than 900 in attendance at
AIS was
Delivering. This was an obvious choice.
-
Delivering is what we’ve done as an industry for more than 100 years, since the advent of the grand bargain to protect workers and employers alike.
- Our industry is in the midst of
delivering on an unprecedented stretch of positive results. This is a testament to the carriers, regulators, employers, and other contributors who push for safer workplaces and smarter use of modern technology.
- Looking ahead, we must continue
delivering on the promise of new tools and advanced analytics to make our business increasingly stable and efficient.
At NCCI, I’m proud to say that delivering is also a perfect descriptor of our company’s performance in 2018.
- The team brought new value to its many stakeholders in the form of modern tools, improved access to data, and a broader collection of research providing insights for smarter decision making.
- We made good on our promise to the local communities we live in, with outstanding contributions of time, talent, and treasure. Our employees embrace the opportunity to give of themselves to help others in need.
- And we turned in a remarkably cost-effective operating performance, costing the industry just 59 cents per $100 in direct written premium.
However, the most important delivery—for
all of us in the workers compensation industry—is on our promise to be there when injured workers and their families need it most. And this is a promise the industry kept for four individuals featured in a video we produced specifically for the
AIS event. If you ever need a reminder about why we do what we do, I encourage you to
view the video yourself.
In any industry, delivering to customers is a prerequisite for success. At NCCI, we count the many carriers, regulators, and other stakeholders that rely on our data, insights, tools, and services as
our key customers. We take a lot of pride in helping them deliver to
their customers, and in fostering a healthy workers compensation system.
So, the next time someone asks me “what is NCCI?” I’ll just tell them
we’re in the delivery business.
—Bill
