eRepat Development/Launch
For those of you who have been following eRepat's launch, thank you! I'm pleased with the progress we've seen to date and i'm surprised by the number of assistance companies that have pro-actively registered on the site. Four weeks into the launch and we have nearly forty repatriation companies many of those are ...
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July 22, 2009
Indirect Brokerage of Repatriation Services
Brokers are not always what the stereotype portrays. In fact, most brokers are not called brokers because the brokerage function is mixed with other services, e.g. case management/assistance services. In assistance, the brokerage component simply becomes a line item in a variety of service offerings. Assistance companies broker air ambulance flights and other ...
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April 8, 2009
Competitive Intelligence
Have you ever wondered how much your competitor spends on advertising or what new product/service they will launch next? I have, so I dug a bit deeper and was shocked at how much information is available on the Internet. Today, you don't need to be a Black Hat to uncover corporate secrets. The Internet ...
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March 24, 2009
‘All Insurance Policies Are Created Equal’
During my last years with MedAire Limited UK, a boutique assistance company, I spent a lot of time with insurance brokers and underwriters at Lloyds. My impression from that experience is that the depth of support behind accident and health (A&H) policies were rarely reviewed by consumers, i.e. corporate entities. There tends to ...
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March 17, 2009
Repatriation Industry Data: True or False? You’ll have to share to find out!
You've heard me say it before but i'm going to say it again. Share your data. The repatriation industry is so rife with competitive paranoia that you rarely hear statistics. People like me are inevitably going to find some way of mining your facts and figures. There's a fundamental component of any ...
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March 9, 2009
‘Going Green’ Strategic Marketing in Repatriation
While thinking strategy for another project it occurred to me that a number of companies are using a 'green' strategy to appeal to customers sense of moral/environmental obligation. A friend told me that British Airways offered him the option to buy carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions for his flight to London. ...
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March 3, 2009
A Layman’s Guide to Web Development (1.0)
Today marks nearly 45 days past my deadline for completing eRepat.com. Functionality bugs, content changes, navigation changes all have taken their toll on my time line. Although frustrating I'm not surprised given my previous experience. Moving niche concepts to functioning business applications have their ups and downs but web development ...
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February 27, 2009
Repatriation Websites: Whose been successful?
'Repatriation Websites?' Many people, including the travel insurance publications, are wondering what box to put these companies in. For those who are just as confused, let me be more specific. Over the past 3-5 years there have been a number of websites that have attempted to carve out a niche service within the ...
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February 22, 2009
‘I hate brokers!’
Wow! Pretty strong words...... Unfortunately it's all too common. There is a disdain for brokers in the repatriation industry and I'm keen to understand why. This animosity persists even though many air ambulance, insurance and assistance companies depend on brokers for support. Brokers can be viewed like the telemarketers. They always seem to call at ...
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February 19, 2009
Air Ambulance Co’s: Competitive Paranoia or Calm Confidence?
The Air Ambulance business is one of the most competitive within the repatriation world. Many times fierce competition drives desperate measures like selling AA flights at below cost, using sub-standard medical crews and/or contractors etc. These tactics may be a perfect recipe for winning short-term business but can't be sustained in the long run. What ...
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February 7, 2009
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