Distinguished Programs -International Operations Program of the Year

Company: Distinguished Programs

Location: New York, NY

President: Carla Vel

Established: 1995

Size: 70 employees

What the company does: Distinguished Programs is a national Property/Casualty Insurance Program Manager distributing property and liability insurance products to a network of approximately 2,000 retail insurance brokers all over the country. To process large amounts of data more efficiently in a soft market, Distinguished Programs formed a separate business in China called ReSource Pro, a back-office processing center, which now has 700 college-educated, English-speaking employees. Teams in the US and China worked closely to identify possible efficiencies in tasks related to quoting and binding policies. In 2009, Distinguished Programs increased renewals of commercial accounts by 90 percent. Additionally, the submission-to-quote percentage went from 38 percent to 53 percent due to China office performance.

Why it works: Employees have excellent communication with overseas colleagues. “Employees travel when needed, but most of our communication is done through technology—web conferencing, IMs, and phone calls. You need to be able to define your processes in writing, with a narrative and visuals—such as a screen shot or flow chart—where appropriate,” says President and COO Carla Vel. “When someone isn’t in your physical space, verbal instruction alone isn’t effective.”