The Right Fulfillment Solutions Can Help You Avoid Regulatory Penalties by Jeremy Suratt

When you're looking for fulfillment solutions, you're probably not giving much thought to the impact fulfillment can have on compliance. But maybe you should - especially if you work in a heavily regulated industry like insurance. Your choice could save (or cost) you thousands in regulatory fines.

To elaborate

For insurance companies who offer products and solutions in multiple states, chances are you have recently experienced the joys of a market conduct exam, you may even have a regulator in your office as you read this blog. While a good deal of the regulations deal with filings and claims, marketing practices are also subject to scrutiny.

No doubt you have legal reviews and other standard procedures designed to keep your sales and marketing aligned with regulations. But, given the complexities of operating in multiple jurisdictions, it's easy to miss something. If a market conduct examination uncovers irregularities, you could be hit with a sizeable penalty.

Your fulfillment vendor can help you avoid three of the top 10 life and health market conduct problems cited most frequently in 2013. How? With a program that incorporates business rules, automated processes and content creation tools that take work and worry out of compliance. To illustrate, let's look at the three fulfillment-related market conduct issues most often cited in 2013, along with Iron Mountain solutions that address them:

Failure to use compliant policy forms/plans. Does your current system let anybody order anything from your entire inventory? If so, chances are good that, sooner or later, someone will order and use materials that aren't intended for the markets they serve or the products they sell. Or maybe they'll distribute an outdated version. Whatever the case, you're out of compliance. With Iron Mountain you can control which materials individual users can order - by job function, job level, location, product, jurisdictional licensing or any other criteria you choose. You can also lock down out-of-date materials while archiving them in case they're needed for internal audits or market conduct exams.

Failure to provide required claims and underwriting disclosures. Iron Mountain offers a tool that automatically inserts disclaimers, disclosures and other fine print. You can also link documents that need to be distributed together. Once linked, an order for one document automatically generates an order for the accompanying item(s), and updating one document automatically changes the same text in linked item(s).

Failure to adhere to advertising requirements. If your sales reps are like most, they're probably creating or personalizing materials for their presentations. You're on the hook if those materials don't meet regulatory standards. Iron Mountain offers a content customization tool that lets users tailor and digitally print materials using preapproved templates, text and images. Your sales reps can create more relevant marketing presentations while you keep their creativity within the confines of regulatory requirements and brand standards.

Potential regulatory missteps aren't something you can afford to take lightly, given that penalties can range from the thousands into the millions. With the right fulfillment solutions, you can avoid many of these common problem areas, spend less time worrying and concentrate on creating campaigns that boost sales and revenues.

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Do you have questions about fulfillment service? Read additional Knowledge Center stories on this subject, or contact Iron Mountain's Fulfillment Services team. You'll be connected with a knowledgeable product and services specialist who can address your specific challenges.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/service-lines/marketing-production-...
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