Identity Theft Protection as an Employee Benefit
An interview with Mark Churchill, Regional Sales Director with Identity Guard by Kim White, Division Project Manager
In our current world of online banking, e-commerce, and multiple social media platforms, identity fraud affects more individuals than ever. Many employers now offer affordable identity theft protection, like Identity Guard, as an additional employee benefit. This benefit helps contribute to an effective workspace by allowing employees to focus on productivity, rather than fearing the side effects of identity theft.
I recently spoke with Mark Churchill about the importance of identity theft protection and our new partnership.
Regional Sales Director of Identity Guard
With Identity Guard being one of the pioneers of the industry for over 20 years, please give our brokers some history on the company and what set Identity Guard apart?
When our Chairman and Founder, Michael Stanfield, wasn’t allowed to see his own credit report, he saw a commercial opportunity. He figured correctly that others would be as curious as him about seeing what, until that point, only potential creditors could view.
In 1996, Identity Guard was the first company to provide identity theft and privacy protection services. Today, this is a $2 billion industry just in the U.S. alone.
Identity Guard is the only provider with direct relationships with all three credit bureaus as well as 70+ other data providers enabling us to search broadly and quickly for our customers’ personal information being used. Identity Guard is [also] the only provider [to] incorporate IBM Watson Artificial Intelligence and machine learning into its monitoring algorithms, enabling us to nimbly and quickly adapt to and protect our customers from evolving threats.
With 80% of identity theft being credit-related (the use of Personally Identifiable Information of another to apply for credit), what should someone look for when evaluating providers?
It’s understandably difficult to stay on top of the expanding ID Theft Protection provider market. Providers tout peripheral services (mailing list removal, vehicle registration plate protection, private investigator advocacy, etc.) in order to differentiate and to check more boxes on self-authored spreadsheets.
The most important considerations in an ID Theft Service are:
ALERT SPEED: the sooner you know that your information is being used to apply for credit, loans, etc., the better your chances of stopping or minimizing the theft. To cut costs, ID theft protection providers purchase batch data from some or all their data providers. Batch data is sold in 8, 24, 36, and 72-hour frequencies resulting in delayed or missed alerts and maximum identity theft/fraud loss. Identity Guard only invests in real-time/fastest alerts available from our gold standard data providers.
BREADTH OF DATA MONITORED: the more data that an identity theft company monitors, the greater probability of detecting and thwarting malicious activity. Identity Guard currently partners with 70+ data sources to monitor consumer information resulting in the broadest monitoring in the industry by a wide margin.
INFORMATION SECURITY: you read about serious breaches every day; ID Theft protection providers house the most sensitive and valuable customer Personally Identifiable Information available. We are as big a target as Equifax, Anthem, and more recently, Capital One — all breach victims. After partnering with our first clients — some of the largest financial institutions in the country — Identity Guard adopted and developed the most stringent infosec protocols in the industry. Some noteworthy facts about Identity Guard:
- We are one of the only providers of size that has never had a breach.
- We successfully pass dozens of information security partner audits annually.
- We have been recognized for the past six years by the Online Trust Alliance (OTA) for best practices in data security, storage, and compliance.
PROFESSIONAL, THOROUGH REMEDIATION: nobody can prevent all identity theft. If someone becomes a victim, remediation has to be fast and complete in order to be effective and preventive against future headaches.
- Identity Guard’s white glove customer care service center is U.S. based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
- The customer care center’s 130+ employees are 100% staffed by Identity Guard employees with an average tenure of 7 years. Identity Guard does not outsource this level of support as many providers do.
I’d recommend placing significantly less value on any comparison of ID Theft services that stray from these four core competencies.
Why should Employee Benefit brokers and consultants be focused on identity theft?
According to Market Watch, the global Identity Theft Protection Services market was valued at $6.65 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $17.6 billion by the end of 2024, growing by 17.6% annually between 2019 and 2024. According to the 2018 Eastbridge/BenefitsPro Spotlight Report, ID Theft Protection is the most popular non-life/health employee benefit in the country. According to the 2019 Lockton Benefits Survey, ID Theft Protection is the 3rd most popular voluntary benefit. Benefits brokers know that their clients count on them to stay up to date, for both their sakes, on benefits trends. For client retention, it’s part of the job. Offensively, it’s a foot in the door for a new prospect. Defensively, it eliminates a potential opening for their competition. It’s also a new revenue stream.
With identity theft being the third most popular voluntary benefit, how are employers benefiting by helping protect employees from identity theft?
Based on the previous mentioned trends, it’s clear that employees value this coverage for good reason. Identity theft happens more frequently than car or home theft. In an Economist article, published in September 2017, it stated it can take between 100 and 200 hours and up to six months to fix identity theft. But in some cases, it can take thousands of hours and years to resolve fully, with most of these being working hours. Identity Theft Protection is now part of strategies that attract and retain good employees while offering the most popular benefits package. It also increases employee presenteeism, decreases employee stress, and adds a layer of protection against a potential corporate breach — with the leading cause of corporate breach being a negligent employee. Identity Theft Protection (especially if employer-funded) can aid in avoidance and/or early detection of this threat.
We are excited about our recent partnership with Identity Guard and know there are perks for the agents working with MWG — can you share some of the benefits of this special program?
Identity Guard is thrilled to be partnering with MWG in this unique program. The benefits of offering Identity Guard through MWG include:
- No group size minimums
- Ease of quoting both employer and employee-paid options as part of a package or as a standalone benefit
- Streamlined implementation