Environmental Analysis: New York Life Insurance

Environmental Analysis

MBA 580

Dr. Kenneth Sherman

4/28/08

Background

New York Life Insurance Company’s (NYL)firm financial strength and investment strategies that have been tested over time have provided constant value and sound financial protection for their clients and their families for over 160 years.Since becoming the first American life insurance company to pay a cash dividend to policyholders in the 1800s, New York Life has continued to build a history of innovation, revamping their existing product lines, designing new financial products, and sustaining a diversified portfolio to best service theircustomers’ changing needs and demands. (About, 2008)

New York Life the leading mutual life insurer in the US has had its roots planted in New York State since its inception. By acknowledging their core business that is life insurance and annuities the company is able to venture out to incorporate innovative products to their line of business. Some examples of products addedare mutual funds for individuals, investment management services to institutional investors, healthcareand special group policies sold through AARP and other groups. The company, through its International department, is also expanding globally, pursuingcountrieslike Mexico and India where the life insurance markets are not yet established. (New, 2008)

The business of life insurance is unique in that people pay premiums for many years and receives nothing in return except a promise that the company will be there; strong and solvent years from now to help pay a claim, fund a retirement, or meet nursing home costs. For this reason it is important that NYL remain a mutual insurance company. (About, 2008) Which makes New York Life, in essence, a partner in their policyholders financial planning.An in depth strategic plan will be developed for New York Life Insurance Company (NYL) that will be geared towards their customer service department with an objective of improving efficiency.

Introduction

New York Life is known for itsenergetic and highly committed sales force, the company was“one of the first insurance companies in the world to develop a network of dedicated career agents to sell its products”. (About, 2008) Customer satisfaction is the driving force within the organization, which means the primary responsibility is to ensure that clients and their loved ones have optimal protection, and help in achieving a variety of financial goals. (About, 2008)

Life insurance and annuities are the backbone of the business, and NYL is very proud of theircreations in designing financial services for people at varied income levels. In addition to providing a broad range of quality products, they offer a knowledgeable staff to assist the valuable customers. The management staff needs to revamp the procedures and implement programs to attract and retain customer service representatives (CSR). NYL is seeing increasingopportunities such as emerging foreign markets, longer life expectancy of males and aged baby boomers who are shopping around for life, health and investment products. With the threat of a recession lurking around and a rise in competition NYL will need to address these issues to remain profitable.

New York Life is positioned very well within the financial industry so there will be very little changes within these areas. Majority of the changes will be in attracting and retaining skilled employees.Once the strategic plan is implemented themanagement staff will be able to see an organization that put its policyholders interest first. They will be able to sense the pride of never dithering from their conservative stands and doctrine. The organization will have a knowledgeable and committed staff to service the numerous creative insurance and investment products they offer.

Remote Environments

Looking ahead is a requirement, not a luxury in today’s environment. Trends may be the same or changing over time. By being knowledgeable and knowing how varying circumstances could affect the trend in the future is important. To formulate the right driving force could mean a need for several trends, particularly if there is variation among some of the trends. (Roger L Caldwell, 2007)

New York Life has been the leader in the industry for more than 160 years and has stuck to its beliefs of providing financial strength, humanity and integrity to its customers and community, by also being the easiest company to do business with. The company has seen its share of crisis over the years, but they have been able to adapt to the different situations. With regards to the advancement of technology within our lives, NYL have been able to be the first mutual company to offer a full range of customer service via the web. This strategy shows that NYL is able to adapt to the times we live in and this is why they have been around for so long. They put into operation technology that not only cut cost while increasing profits but technology that’s accessible, easy to use and saner. By incorporating advance technology, training systems and newer products to their international management concepts has shown to be a very successful and profitable strategy for NYL. With the �R-word’ being tossed around, the company again needed to step outside the box and come up with a plan formulated to maintain their leadership position within their industry. With consumers spending less and the cost of living increasing, the company again needed to show why they are the best. With a creative marketing strategy NYL was able to provide its policyholders with a product that would help in hard times. One of their many innovative products was the rider, which gave their policyholders the option to skip payments when they came across financial hardship. By doing this they are able to remain the �company you keep’ and a company that cares. The following paragraphs will give a more detailed view of the trends that will be impact NYL.

In a rapidly changing industry like information technology, it is important to know not only the current state of the industry, but also the underlying trends so we can anticipate future changes. The most important trends in IT are cost reduction, increased capability, and convergence of technologies, increased communication, and velocity of change.

Technology

To be successful, all organizations must have an objective with respect to technological leadership. As the