Healthcare Software Startup Zipari Launches First and Only Customer Experience Platform for Health Insurance, Poised to Disrupt $2.5 Trillion U.S. Health Insurance Market
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PRWEB) June 30, 2015 -- Healthcare software startup Zipari is poised to disrupt the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare market, leading the charge with its cloud-based CX Customer Experience Platform, suite of products and CRM integration. The Zipari offering enables carriers to better understand their customers and accelerate customer acquisition, improve brand loyalty and increase renewals. Leveraging deep healthcare and technology roots, Zipari has created the first holistic solution that meets carriers’ challenges to address the rapidly growing consumer market with technology that can be quickly integrated to provide retail-like experiences to health insurance prospects and members. Against a backdrop of tectonic shifts in the U.S. healthcare market due to the Affordable Care Act, Zipari’s solutions benefit carriers and consumers alike by humanizing and personalizing engagement with health carriers.
The launch of Zipari’s cloud-based CX Customer Experience Platform allows carriers to capture a true 360-degree view of healthcare consumer behaviors and actions in real-time throughout the entire customer lifecycle from shopping through daily member maintenance. By identifying and monitoring more than 50 customer engagement points, from presales through shopping, enrollment, life events, utilization, retention and renewals, the Zipari CX Customer Experience Platform is completely differentiated from the less sophisticated and more point-solution options currently available to insurance carriers. The solution puts the consumer first by providing the type of personalization and useful information that consumers have come to expect from the retail industry. The Zipari CX Customer Experience Platform is the only platform that gives carriers the ability to see end-to-end consumer activity in real-time and provides automated responses and recommendations based on user behavior with integration with popular CRM solutions.
“There is a massive shift underway in the healthcare industry due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the rise of consumerism, meaning that within three years more than $650 billion in health insurance purchase decisions will be made by consumers either entering the market or shifting from one health plan to another,” said Mark Nathan, chief executive of the Brooklyn, New York-based software startup and who has 15 years of healthcare industry experience and held senior technical roles at Apple Inc., Walt Disney Co. and NASA. “In our online and digital age, consumers expect solutions that are user friendly and intuitive, and Zipari can simplify healthcare interactions and decisions for consumers, while at the same time helping carriers achieve greater retention and renewal rates. Our 360-view of the customer is not about simply creating a customer record, it’s about understanding consumers based on their engagement with their health insurance company.”
To help realize this vision for the future of healthcare, Zipari has secured a recent round of financing led by Silicon Valley venture firm Vertical Venture Partners (VVP). VVP Managing Director Dave Schwab, a respected veteran of the CRM industry stated, “CRM is going vertical. Customers want CRM built for their exact needs and their specific workflows. They are tired of customizing a horizontal solution that was designed with the lowest common denominator of functionality. Zipari is building the first and only world-class customer experience solution with deep CRM integration exclusively for the healthcare industry. That is what attracted our investment.”
With its proprietary CX platform, Zipari is simplifying the healthcare experience for all. Zipari’s solutions include Scout Provider Search, a robust and detailed tool that empowers health insurance members with intelligently recommended doctors and facilities; Script, a user-friendly way for consumers to find prescription coverage and manage costs; Square Retail Private Exchange, a consumer-friendly shopping solution with smart decision support enabling carriers to get the right plan to the right consumer while maximizing conversions; and its Group Storefront, an easily branded tool for carriers that supports broker sales and direct-to-consumer sales and includes a consumer-friendly benefits shopping exchange to sell health and ancillary benefits to employers and their employees.
“Zipari’s innovative provider search solution allows members to have the best possible experience, while at the same time encouraging prospects to shop and enroll,” said Catherine Ann Sauner, COO of Health Republic Insurance of New Jersey, one of Zipari’s lead customers enjoying transformational effects upon adoption of Zipari’s products and the CX platform.
Historically, most health insurance carriers have communicated their plans and policies via intermediaries such as brokers and human resources specialists and not directly to consumers. As a result, most carriers do not know how to effectively communicate directly with consumers, while at the same time most consumers do not understand the complexities of health insurance. The timing is right for Zipari as more consumers enter the market needing to make their own decisions about which health plan to buy. Zipari’s products are also architected with mobile in mind and designed for today’s anywhere, anytime healthcare shopper.
Zipari and its customer experience platform enable carriers to better understand their customers by humanizing and personalizing the brand experience. With its shopping solution and decision support tools, for example, Zipari can ask active customer questions and determine whether prospective members are a young family, empty-nesters, or retirees, and make appropriate coverage and provider recommendations. This allows Zipari to help carriers give consumers the best possible product that meets both their lifestyle needs as well as their budget. Through improving the consumer experience of engaging with carriers, health insurers can also see increases in their brand value, resulting in higher consumer satisfaction scores and greater renewal rates.
“Zipari is a true end-to-end customer experience solution platform for healthcare, providing a richer experience that allows insurance carriers to get the right health insurance products and services to the right customer,” said Greg Caressi, SVP, at Frost & Sullivan. “Their solution disrupts the legacy solutions that exist today, is forward thinking, and addresses all stages of customer acquisition, retention and engagement. The Zipari solution will assist organizations in improving current processes and results, and is the type of platform that will support future needs of both payers and their members.”
Health insurers are just now beginning to recognize the importance of customer experience and positive member sentiment. This is a dramatic shift from just collecting consumer data, and allows carriers to focus on understanding and improving the relationships they have with their customers. The Zipari CX platform with CRM integration is the catalyst that will help carriers understand consumer behavior throughout the customer lifecycle, including shopping, billing, filing claims, customer service, finding doctors, self service, wellness questionnaires and managing life events.
About Zipari
Zipari is disrupting the healthcare industry with its proprietary CX Customer Experience platform. Zipari streamlines processes, improves efficiency and integrates with major CRM solutions. The result is increased conversions, reduced acquisition costs and improved member satisfaction. Zipari is passionate about utilizing its extensive healthcare experience and technology to improve consumer satisfaction. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Zipari's primary investor is Vertical Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on investments in vertical markets. For more information, visit http://www.zipari.com.
About Vertical Venture Partners
Vertical Venture Partners is a venture capital firm focused on investments in companies that target specific vertical markets. Some vertical markets of interest include Retail, Healthcare, Transportation, Insurance, Financial Services and Telecommunications. Some technology areas of interest include: analytical applications, cloud applications, mobile, vertical CRM, cyber-security and software infrastructure. Vertical Venture Partners will invest at any stage of a company’s growth and can help companies accelerate their business. For more information, interested parties may contact info(at)verticalventurepartners(dot)com.
Ryan Mattison, Zipari, +1 (415) 820-4484, [email protected]
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