Agenda

Workshop Registration

Whether you are new to the industry or a seasoned professional, this workshop offers a foundational understanding of the industry and the supporting businesses that keep it running. This workshop will cover the main concepts of service contracts and extended warranties, key terms and definitions, fundamental principles that guide us, critical legal and compliance regulations, and real-world case studies with practical examples. Vehicle, Home, Consumer Goods and other Special Markets! Send Your Whole Team! See registration page for special team discounts!

This exclusive hands-on workshop will walk you through:

• Organizing your team to operate service contracts
• A clear vision of various roles and responsibilities in sales and administration of warranties
• Organizational ideas of how to structure the team
• Understand the intricate network of players in the industry and the integral role each plays – from Underwriters, OEMs, and TPAs to Obligors and everything in between
• Identify workflow processes in your company across all departments and individuals involved in developing and executing a successful extended warranty & service contract program. Who does what? How can you work most effectively as part of this cross-functional team?
• Product design including: product economics, compliance, terms and conditions and servicing models
• Product distribution including: distribution channels, sales and marketing options, and pricing models
• Options to address the migration from point-of-sale transactions to digital
• Applications for artificial intelligence (“AI”)
• Partnering with innovative third parties to maintain cutting edge legal, compliance and customer service excellence
• Gain insights on solution providers and how to effectively choose and manage these partners
• Find out about key challenges and opportunities to grow and expand market share in all industries: consumer goods, auto, home, appliance, electronics and other special markets

Join this exclusive interactive workshop where industry leaders present top of mind opportunities and challenges in an intimate program format. This new conference feature is your best opportunity to get questions answered on the spot, share winning solutions, lessons learned and challenges. Go home armed with information critical to your success.

Workshop Leaders:

Angie Breedlove Executive Director, Women of Warranty

Ted DannerPrincipalDanner Automotive Consulting

Jim MostofiChief Executive Officer Rely Home

Dawn Taylor, SVPClient Management Domestic & General

Welcoming Reception Sponsored by

Registration & Networking Continental Breakfast

Chairperson’s Welcome & Introduction

Innovative Sales, Marketing & Distribution Channels:  Consumer Trends and Behaviors

• Innovations and Trends in Traditional Selling Channels.
• Point of Sale
• On-line
• Affinity Channels
• Credit Cards & Financial Institutions
• Industry Changes
• Home, Appliance, Mobile, Electronics and Furniture
• Auto including EV Battery, Charging Accessories, and Opportunities in Autonomous  
• Others including Utility Line, Jewelry, Medical, Pharma  
• Direct to Consumer Update
• Harnessing Technology to Maximize Attachment Rates and Opportunities
• Subscription Models: Cost, structure, profitabiity

Voice of the Consumer Marketing and Sales

Join us for a dynamic and interactive session on Voice of the Consumer Marketing and Sales. We'll be incorporating a fun, game show to make learning about how focusing on customer experience can transform your approach and drive success, right from the experts who live and breathe it. This session promises to be both informative and entertaining. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to enhance your marketing strategies.

• Focusing on Customer Experience: Learn how prioritizing customer experience can transform your marketing and sales approach.
• Hear from the US Consumer: Gain insights directly from US consumers about their current thoughts and behaviors.
• Strategic Actions for Success: Discover actionable strategies to conquer consumer challenges and build a better warranty that truly resonates with the people.

Case Study: From Launch to 300K Customers in less than 1 Year

How Vivint Smart Home launched its first warranty program in less than 6 months, acquired 300K active warranty accounts in less than 1 year by providing immediate value to our customers through innovative product benefits and incentives to motivate our sales channels.

• How to create a program that adds immediate value to the customer
• How get your Sales Channels to prioritize your sales
• Creating a Warranty without a waiting period

Industry News Flash: Vehicle

Networking Refreshment Break

Hosted by

EV Extended Warranties – Product Design, Data, Availability, Batteries and More

• Update on EV sales trends
• Current repair cost of EV vs Internal Combustible Engines
• Extended Warranty Coverage on High Voltage Batteries
• EV Specific Products
• Emergence of Plug In Hybrid

Increasing Close Rates in Retail: Bricks & Morter vs On-line

Business Transformation – What Does it Take & How to Think About Your Business Differently

• Business Transformation requires three things:
• Leadership that Embraces Change
• Technology that Enables Change
• Staff that Executes Change
• Key questions that you need to ask yourself:
• What is hampering your ability to maintain and grow your business?
• What are you trying to accomplish/solve for?
• Consumer, Dealer, and IT Perspective
• What are your goals?
• What resources do you need to compete in this space in the 21 st Century?

Moderator:

Doug BellOwner/Principal Consultant, Doug Bell & Associates – Service Contract Consulting

Panelists:

Mark NagelvoortCEO,PCMI

Donald BerryVP, Insurance – International OperationsGM Financial

Tara Ferrier-KasicaSVP Sales Nation Safe Drivers

Andy PetersonDirector, Risk and Financial Products Polaris Inc.

Innovate, Impact, Inspire: Integrating ESG and Philanthropy for Sustainable Success

Networking Lunch

Join one of these small group, highly interactive discussions to get your questions answered on the spot, generate innovative ideas and hear from your industry colleagues.

A. Roundtable Discussion Group: Home & Appliance

• Emerging Trends in Appliance Warranty Management
• Discuss the latest trends reshaping the appliance warranty industry. Focus on how IoT integration, predictive maintenance, and personalized warranty offerings are driving innovation and improving customer satisfaction.

Group Leaders:

B. Roundtable Discussion Group: Mobile/Electronics

• Technology trends impacting consumer electronics
• Emerging and evolving privacy legislation and its industry impact
• The value of warranty programs for retailers and OEMs
• Changing customer expectations in the CE extended warranty space – How are you evolving your processes & interactions with customers
• Customer experience management
• Environment analytics, reporting, and system self-healing.
• Post purchase engagement for extended

Group Leader:

C. Roundtable Discussion Group: Vehicle

• Selling PPM & VSC on the Service Drive - What's it take?
• EV PPM Plans – how has the experience been?
• Adoption of EV Plans vs Traditional plans – what have the challenges been?
• Loss Control Strategies and Tactics
• Use of AI for claims adjudication
• Growing parts and labor costs impacting losses
• Use of F&I consultations
• Unlock Customer Retention to Service
• Innovative Marketing Strategies to Improve Retention and Sales
• Direct to consumer strategies
• 2nd chance marketing opportunities
• Utilizing PPM Service Reminders
• Current market and trends for retro and reinsurance program.

Group Leader:

D. RFP Workshop

A collaborative discussion between clients, insurers, TPAs and other industry related providers -- A workshop aimed to drive discussion, visibility and perspectives from varying industry standpoints on continued applicability of RFPs in our industry. The goal of the discussion is to explore key components of an impactful response, different formats, and strategies for mutual support and improvement.

Group Leader:

Town Hall Discussion:
Applications for AI: A Cross-Industry Exploration from Product Design, Call Center, Marketing & Sales to Loss Control and Claims

Join this vibrant discussion on how your peers are applying AI to solve operational and strategic challenges. Participation from the audience is strongly encouraged!

• Cross-industry perspectives
• AI assumptions
• Workflow, processes and root cause analysis
• Automation of claims, loss control, fraud detection and risk
• Scheduling, dispatching, routing of people and parts
• Data utilization and analytics
• Early warnings and predictive maintenance
• Use-cases, POCs and internal champions
• Wins, losses and learnings

Group Leaders:

Networking Refreshment Break

Sponsored by

News Flash: Home & Appliance

AI in the Warranty Industry: Separating Hype from Reality

A lot is being said about the application of AI.  We’ll explore practical innovations and challenges such as the use of Generative AI for automation, fraud detection, personalization, enhancing customer support along with risk assessment and mitigation strategies.

Decoding Model Reliance: Trust, Validation, and Mitigating Risks

During this session, we will address the challenges of navigating through a multitude of models and their insights. We will explore the crucial questions of trust and validation: how can we determine which insights to rely on and how can we ensure their accuracy? Additionally, we will examine the potential pitfalls and risks that may arise when working with these models, providing valuable insights to mitigate any potential issues.

Warranty Industry Awards Nominees Announced!

With the assistance of our Awards Steering Committee, the following are the shortlisted nominees for the 2024 Warranty Innovation Awards. One of these companies or individuals will win in their category based on voting from the industry.

Category 1: Innovative Product Design

Bolt Solutions & Choice Home Warranty - Transforming the device protection industry by distributing through home warranty and covering all phones in a household.
Dodge - Offering an extended warranty for performance vehicles that includes a day long visit to a performance driving center.
ProGuard Warranty - CAD Protection for agricultural vehicles that are currently unserved or underserved.
One80 Intermediaries - AI Warranty that protects companies from unreliable AI models – a new category of coverage for increasingly emerging needs.

Category 2: Transformative Technology Innovation

Daimler Truck & Tavant - Integration of AI into the warranty system process to ease coding and data entry.
NSA IRIS - A platform that allows manufacturers to bring service administration in house and use one system that connects to all aspects of the service process
Pfizer - Offering a warranty for their Beqvez Hemophilia drug
QMerit - EV Charger warranty support and maintenance

Category 3: Customer Experience Excellence

Apple - The AppleCare program has maintained excellent customer services since the introduction of the iPhone and has been exceptionally successful.
Marcone - Deploying Door Dash to offer same day delivery of parts for repairs.
FordDirect - “The Shop” warranty processing platform streamlines the customer experience for dealers, and ultimately, for end customers.
Guard Home Warranty – Created a program where the homeowner gets to select their own contractor.

Category 4: Operational Performance & Administrative Excellence

The following companies have the most significant reductions in their claims and accrual rates from 2022 to 2023.

Networking Reception

Sponsored by

Networking Continental Breakfast

Chairperson’s Remarks

Transforming the In-Home Repair Customer Experience through AI Technology Powered by Big Data

Panel Discussion: Innovation in Home Warranty - from Product Offering to Distribution

Moderator:

Panelists:

Legislative and Regulatory Developments

This session will focus on recent legislative and regulatory changes and trends at both the state and federal level.  An overview of service contract regulation will be provided and lead into a discussion of specific issues.  Topics will include problematic state legislation, recent FTC activity, and what to look out for.  We will discuss new laws passed in 2024 as well as what to anticipate in 2025.

News Flash: Mobile & Electronics

Networking Refreshment Break

General Counsel Roundtable: What Key Legal and Regulatory Challenges Industry Leaders are Facing and Doing to Ensure Compliance

Moderator:

Panelists:

Case Study: Success Ingredients to Select & Manage Partners to Create a World Class Service Contract Program

Are you considering creating a warranty program? Do you want to make changes to an existing program? Not sure how or where to start? Let’s explore several key steps for creating a world-class warranty program with a third-party partner. During this dynamic session, we’ll share learning points and experiences for creating and growing a successful warranty program.

• Buy vs Build: Consider an ‘Out of the Box’ program vs creating a program specific to your company.
• Selecting the Right Partner(s): Identify a reputable and experienced warranty service provider whose values and service standards align with your brand’s.
• The Program: Develop a comprehensive and transparent warranty policy that clearly outlines coverage, exclusions, and claim processes, ensuring it meets or exceeds industry standards and consumer expectations.
• Worth Noting: Recommendations for establishing seamless integration and transparent communication channels between your company and the third-party partner to ensure efficient handling of claims, continuous improvement, and exceptional customer support.

Join one of these small group, highly interactive discussions to get your questions answered on the spot, generate innovative ideas and hear from your industry colleagues.

A.Roundtable Discussion Group: Home & Appliance

• Customer-Centric Warranty Solutions
• Explore innovative approaches that enhance the customer experience through warranty services. Highlight the benefits of self-service portals, digital claims processing, and proactive warranty alerts in creating a seamless customer journey.

Group Leaders:

B. Roundtable Discussion Group: Mobile/Electronics

• Technology trends impacting consumer electronics
• Emerging and evolving privacy legislation and its industry impact
• The value of warranty programs for retailers and OEMs
• Changing customer expectations in the CE extended warranty space – How are you evolving your processes & interactions with customers
• Customer experience management
• Environment analytics, reporting, and system self-healing.
• Post purchase engagement for extended

Group Leader:

C.Roundtable Discussion Group: Vehicle

• Selling PPM & VSC on the Service Drive - What's it take?
• EV PPM Plans – how has the experience been?
• Adoption of EV Plans vs Traditional plans – what have the challenges been?
• Loss Control Strategies and Tactics
• Use of AI for claims adjudication
• Growing parts and labor costs impacting losses
• Use of F&I consultations
• Unlock Customer Retention to Service
• Innovative Marketing Strategies to Improve Retention and Sales
• Direct to consumer strategies
• 2nd chance marketing opportunities
• Utilizing PPM Service Reminders
• Current market and trends for retro and reinsurance program.

Group Leader:

Conference Concludes