Winning IT formula for the future DIGITAL REPORT 2021
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
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ringlerassociates.com
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Winning IT formula
for the future
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Innovative IT strategy for Ringler the largest US settlement planning company who has put the customer first for 45 years - will ensure “Everybody Wins”
Butch Knowlton, Executive Vice President & CIO
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ridging the gap between business and technology is Butch Knowlton, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Ringler - the oldest structured settlement planning company in the US. For more than 45 years it has designed hundreds of thousands of settlement plans with premiums in excess of US$3bn. Stepping into his role at Ringler, Knowlton is driving innovation by leading the digital journey to expand its competitive edge and create additional value for clients. “We are working towards innovations that will be more scalable, more secure, will deliver strong analytics, and will have greater integration capabilities.” Ringler is renowned for its message “Everybody Wins,” highlighting a tradition of helping clients succeed at the settlement table by providing products and services that create the best settlement solution for all parties involved. The team of 150 structured settlement consultants work in 65 offices nationwide to collaborate and design the best settlement plan for injured people, attorneys, and insurance professionals.
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Ringler: Winning IT formula for the future
With previous career expertise in managing virtual teams at Aon Hewitt, the fact that Knowlton joined Ringler at the height of the pandemic wasn’t ever a concern. From his office in Powell, Ohio, he was able to quickly be up and running, hiring seven new staff members, and overseeing a US$3mn IT budget with the goal of accelerating Ringler’s digital transformation. Curve of the digital journey “We are on the curve of a digital transformation which is the foundation to accelerate innovative products and services,” said Knowlton who points out that during the pandemic, Ringler focussed on digital housekeeping, comparing it to a spring clean. “At a time when business was slow we focused on our internal security data and technology. This is testament to our Board of Directors and our CEO who chose to make investments internally to support our continued path of growth and innovation.” 6
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Knowlton’s long-term digital strategy for Ringler includes: • Cloud adoption - which will allow for scalability • Digital Application Sales Hub (DASH) • Creatio CRM • Focus on cybersecurity and zero trust • Data-analytics to drive future decisions internally and for our clients • Voice of the Customer • Artificial Intelligence
“ Today’s business solutions end up being a technology solution” BUTCH KNOWLTON
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, RINGLER
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“I’ve always been solution-focused, and my interest in technology has evolved over time. Today’s business solutions often end up having a technology component. Although I’ve never coded, I’m able to bridge the gap between business and IT and I’m a strong advocate for integrated IT-business partnerships.” By thoroughly understanding business strategy, Knowlton is able to be agile in his approach and pivot technology to match Ringler’s business goals. “For an IT organisation to be successful you have to understand the business goals and show your peers how technology can be enabled. Success comes from understanding and using the technological tools available. As CIO I manage a myriad of pieces to support the business. When technology dictates to the business or hamstrings goals, this is where you have a lot more difficulty in delivering strategy,” said Knowlton. Ringer helps to bridge the settlement process to create the best outcome for all parties involved, with the main focus on the injured party. Our consultants look to provide the best solution to ensure the injured party has the funds they need, now and in the future. “Our company values are woven into every settlement we create and is the heart of what we do,” said Knowlton.
TITLE: EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CIO INDUSTRY: INSURANCE LOCATION: COLUMBUS, OHIO As Chief Information Officer for Ringler, Butch Knowlton is responsible for setting and overseeing the strategy for the data and technology and for defining how Ringler manages information across the organisation. As a senior strategist and IT architect, he plays a key role in helping Ringler expand its competitive advantage to serve its clients and improve profitability. During his accomplished 30-year career, Knowlton has navigated that unique space between business and technology – sometimes steering toward business roles, sometimes more focused on IT.
EXECUTIVE BIO
Scalability offered by cloud Knowlton highlighted how he has overcome legacy architecture and why he has prioritised cloud services (Microsoft Azure’s cloud computing platform) for Ringler’s digital journey. “We're in a heavily regulated space and have security requirements that we need to meet for different state requirements, federal requirements, as well as client expectations.
BUTCH KNOWLTON
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WHAT IS A STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT?
“ For an organisation to be successful you have to understand the business goals, strategy and show your peers how technology can enable that” BUTCH KNOWLTON
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, RINGLER
DID YOU KNOW...
“As Ringler deals with multiple clients one of the things we're building out within Azure is an enterprise gateway so that we'll have a RESTful API architecture that allows us to quickly and easily integrate with any client that we may engage with.” API architecture is the process of developing a software interface that exposes back end data and application functionality for use in new applications. “When we think about the expectations of our clients and regulatory agencies, as well as where we need to go for innovation and scale, we felt the most economical and
At the heart of a Ringler settlement plan is an annuity which is a financial tool that provides a tax-free solution to maximize their settlement dollars and is exclusively for injured people called a “structured settlement.” Instead of taking all of the money a client receives from a personal injury claim as one lump sum, they can choose to put some or all of that money into a structured settlement. Regular payments are then made over a specified period of time to match your future needs and goals. The financial advantages of a structured settlement are: • Guaranteed • Tax-free • Customised • No risk, no fees • Eligibility Structured settlements apply to a wide variety of injury cases regardless of how much money is involved. Structured settlements are used for any personal injury claim including workers’ compensation or medical malpractice cases involving: • Long-term medical needs • Temporary or permanent disabilities • Minors or the mentally incompetent • Severe injuries that result in brain damage or shortened life expectancy • Surviving spouse and/or dependents The money can be distributed as future lump sums, over a set period of time; in level or increasing payments; or in some combination of these options.
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DID YOU KNOW...
HOW “EVERYBODY WINS” WITH RINGLER
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Objectivity combined with expertise, experience and a reputation for collaboration is how Ringler helps everybody win. Rather than representing the interests of just one party, Ringler is responsive to the needs of everyone involved in settlement negotiations. • Attorneys - by providing them with the information and recommendations they require to analyse how a settlement plan and structured settlement will meet the needs of their client. • Insurance professionals - in bridging the gap between a lump-sum offer and the need of the injured party for funds for future medical expenses. • Injured people (and their loved ones), knowing a plan is in place that will provide future financial stability and peace-of-mind. “We know every injury and every negotiation is different, which is why Ringler consultants specialise in designing custom settlement plans that explore all the options,” said Butch Knowlton, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer of Ringler.
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secure solution was in the cloud. In order to accomplish that plan, we had to update some ageing technology. We congegrated our data centres into one location, and in doing so, we addressed potential security risks and reduced our overall online footprint,” said Knowlton. Ringler is now turning its focus to delivering a new proprietary application suite, DASH (Digital Application Sales Hub) which will combine their five currently used applications (an accounting app, two case management systems, and a proprietary quoting application) into one experience. This new application will be used to support consultants, clients and internal employees.
“We know every injury and every negotiation is different, which is why Ringler consultants specialise in designing custom settlement plans that explore all the options.” BUTCH KNOWLTON
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, RINGLER
“DASH allows us to put all five into one application experience. In order for us to be able to do that we are building everything in the cloud, within Azure This approach allows us to scale as necessary, manage our staffing costs, maintain best in class security and confidently interface with our many partners and clients. It enables our organisation to utlise modern technology - which was one of our goals,” comments Knowlton. ringlerassociates.com
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QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS...
Focus on cybersecurity To ensure sensitive data is protected, Ringler uses a virtual information security officer from All Covered, who offer a layered approach to security services. “We consistently perform monthly vulnerability scans, periodic penetration testing, and 24/7 monitoring with SIEM and SOC services. But the biggest security threat we have is our people,” said Knowlton. “90% of security breaches come from an individual who has broken protocol like clicking on a phishing scam,” said Knowlton who points out they work with security education specialist KnowB4 to help train their team for spotting security threats. “Going forward, we will continue to focus on security awareness and following protocols.”
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Butch Knowlton, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer of Ringler What technology trends do you see shaping the industry in the future? “I think organisations who can make data-driven decisions and take advantage of the tools associated with that, will be the organisations still here in 10 years time.” How effective are your podcasts on Ringler Radio for reaching out to your clients? “Incredibly effective! With more than 10 years in the podcast space, we have created a terrific following. Our marketing strategy connects all of the tools to provide insights to our followers. Our new CRM capability is also focused on continuing to find new ways to share our podcasts and information provided in them. Ringler Radio will help to create awareness about the structured settlement industry as this is quite a niche area and help our clients better understand the industry. “With our digital transformation, we now have more tools like podcasts that we can seamlessly incorporate into our marketing material to provide value to our clients,” said Knowlton.
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“DASH allows us to put all five into one application experience. In order for us to be able to do that we are building everything in the cloud, within Azure This approach allows us to scale as necessary, manage our staffing costs, maintain best in class security and confidently interface with our many partners and clients” BUTCH KNOWLTON
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, RINGLER
Power of partnerships “The costs from a development and Ringler works with an ecosystem of partners new project perspective are substantially to ensure they offer the best service for their smaller because we're starting with a base customers. These include long-standing application capability. Creatio has bent partners Creatio, Microsoft, Ascydent (a over backwards to work with us on the Columbus-based consulting customisation. At the end partner), and All Covered of the day, we're able to STATISTICS (Ringler’s security partner). configure our outcomes. Knowlton highlighted We have someone on our the fact that working with • 1975 the year Ringler team who has trained in Creatio gives Ringler a “lowas founded that Creatio space to allow code, no-code solution” • 65 offices us to really manipulate the that allows them to • 150 individual application in a supremely configure their CRM. “One settlement consultants unique way,” he said. of the challenges I have as • US$3mn budget for the Looking ahead, Knowlton CIO is the decision to build digital transformation said Ringler is focused or buy. Creatio has allowed • Hundreds of thousands on organic growth. “We us the happy medium of settlement plans with already own 33% of the between buy, or build and premiums in excess of market and our goal is come up with a solution $33 billion since 1975 always to improve that that allows the smooth • US$3MM investment in market share. We're always execution of our application technology transformation looking for opportunities suite,” said Knowlton. to improve our services “We ended up with a and customer experience proprietary solution for Ringler that isn't being and the work we are doing today is the replicated anywhere else, yet we were able foundation for future growth.” to use the out-of-the-box capability from Creatio to start us off and then configure toward where we wanted to go with our goals. ringlerassociates.com
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