Celebrating 25 years of delivering a promise
Insure Group Managers is celebrating 25 years of providing niche financial services to the insurance industry this year. Although this is a definite milestone on the road of success of the company, Managing Director Charl Cilliers prefers to describe it as “just a point in time, an event on a road of development, growth and consistent evolution of improvement to become bigger and better at what we do.”
The business was established in 1992 as Insurance Outsourcing Managers, and fast became known throughout the industry as IOM. This bit of history remains entrenched in the name of the head office building in Randburg, Johannesburg, still being called IOM House. This building has been the head office and home of the company since the beginning.
Choice service lines
In 2002 the company changed its name to Insure Group to clearly identify the grouping of three distinctive service lines, each with its own trademark and logo – premium collection services were known as Epic, broker acquisition services as InAdvance and the financing of annual premiums as Premium Finance.
A year of change
The Epic trademark and logo almost became an icon, with some clients still using this name although it was phased out when the company name was changed to Insure Group Managers in 2013. More of this history is visible in the head office building with the main boardroom, known as the Insure Suite, still displaying the original Insure Group logo.
In 2013 the company adopted its modern corporate identity, combining all services under the identity of Insure Group Managers.
Heroes all the way
An enormously important ingredient of Insure Group Manager’s success is its people – many of them have been with the company for more than ten years.
One of them is Executive Director Diane Burns, who has been instrumental in designing different financial services the business offers. Looking back at where it all started in 1992, Burns is overwhelmed by the size and volume into which the company has grown. But at the same time, she also admits she could not have foreseen that the small beginnings would have turned out into such a phenomenal success.
It is clear that the promise of service excellence originated right from the beginning. Burns lightheartedly refers to a promise the small staff compliment made to each other that any phone call will always be answered within three rings – and this led to some interesting acrobatics across desks and chairs to make it happen. This small commitment very quickly became entrenched in the values of the business. With a staff compliment of almost 70 today, with regional sales offices in Cape Town and Durban, that service promise still holds strong with many clients that have been with the company for many years testifying to the exceptional service the business delivers.
When trying to put a measure on the phenomenal growth the company has experienced over 25 years, the natural tendency should be to look at numbers or a financial graph. But Job Mamabolo , handyman and caretaker of the business has also been around throughout all of the 25 years and he has a different way of looking at it. He still remembers how, in the early days, he got to know the different clients and recognise them when visiting the head office. But now, he says, this is no longer the case.
Numbers are important and Financial Director Grant Davids wonders if the people who started this would have believed the tremendous growth that the company was about to experience over 25 years. Collection volumes have grown from about R50 million back in 1992 to about R15 billion today.
Building up
Many clients have been with the Group for more than ten years. This is achieved through fostering solid long term relationships, not only with clients, but also with the industry.
What is also important is that the company has also been actively involved with the industry throughout the years, supporting the various industry bodies and associations in their initiatives to constantly improve and enhance the industry. Insure Group Managers has – over time not only established itself as a recognised and respected intermediary, but has also become an active participant and role-player within the insurance industry.
Today the company prides itself on being described by clients as a team that is always available and a generally exceptional team of can-do people; built on a basis of strong financial backgrounds.
Continuing upwards
According to Cilliers, “It is not about a number on a balance sheet or a progress report, it is a journey. The business engages clients on a journey made up of various facets and broken up into multiple conversations. This means sharing experience and authenticity to support the client in getting it right- because we actually care. And that is why we have clients staying with us- some even for 15 years and longer”.
The legacy built over a quarter of a century is value, passion, commitment and authenticity. That is what got the company to where it is today, and it is going to continue… continue to grow and grow again.
