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April 28, 2024
April 25, 2024
Generally, the goodwill generated by any business entity is directly related to its leaders who constantly work behind the curtains. These business leaders are often ignored and receive few recognitions. Incepted in 2018, Chris Smith (CEO at OnPoint Warranty) was instrumental with Rob Christian (Founder at OnPoint Warranty), in bringing the OnPoint Warranty Solutions in Louisville, KY.
Originally founded by Rob Christian as an insurance and warranty consultancy in California, Rob contacted Chris after he’d been approached by several manufacturers and retailers that were seeking innovative solutions to product and extended warranty underwriting and service administration. Traditional third-party administrators are notoriously bad at customer service and are stymied by old technology and claim practices that simply do not build brand loyalty. Those reaching out to Rob were looking for new solutions to bad customer product service experiences.
When OnPoint was expanded in 2018 as a warranty company, it focused on three fundamental elements: a global underwriting ecosystem, a connected, national service network, and a cloud-based consumer-oriented insuretech platform that drives down costs and improves customer satisfaction. Building on those elements, OnPoint creates brand loyalty through technology and warranty service solutions designed to reduce risk, increase efficiency, delight consumers, and improve customer’s bottom line.
OnPoint offers manufacturer warranty underwriting and service administration, service contract and extended warranty program development and service fulfillment for consumer and commercial products such as appliances, mobile devices and home systems, an end-to end insuretech platform, and logistics. It drives the highest levels of consumer experience in the service industry. Since its relaunched in 2018, the company has grown exponentially, with revenue improving from $43K in the first year of operations to nearly $5MM in 2020.
OnPoint is fortunate to have an innovative leadership team including CEO Chris Smith. Chris has been instrumental in positioning the business as an industry innovator, with a focus on consumer experience. He has dictated that every product, service, and interaction deliver the highest levels of quality possible for consumers. While the industry tends to be inwardly focused, and generally seeks to avoid claims which drive bad consumer interactions, OnPoint has created technology and a culture which delivers the opposite. It calls its staff ‘Service Avengers’ and has empowered them to be problem solvers and customer superstars. This focus on consumer experience has been critical in landing fortune 100 companies as a start-up. Clients trust OnPoint with their brands and their consumers.
The company’s insuretech platform, called Service Avenger, offers complete 360-degree warranty functionality. It facilitates seamless warranty offers via retail, e-commerce platforms, or aftermarket efforts. It also has integrated sku management, contract onboarding, terms delivery, intelligent service dispatching, and claims adjudication. The platform is API forward in design and incorporates the latest in omnichannel consumer communications and real-time claim payments. It is the only platform of its kind in the industry, as most other ‘insuretech’ platforms simply offer warranty sales functionality, without the ability to support back end warranty service fulfillment through technology or infrastructure. In fact, many of OnPoint’s competitors in the home warranty and e-commerce space have come to OnPoint to utilize its insuretech platform, underwriter ecosystem and its service network to fulfill their own warranty sales. The company has assisted global competitors and clients to streamline the warranty offer and sales process through intelligent sku delivery and sales execution, while delivering warranty service fulfillment via OnPoint either through a straight software deployment or a warranty services engagement. Chris was absolutely instrumental in driving innovation in an industry fraught with old tech and bad consumer experiences. He’s also increased its addressable market 10-fold by creating cooperative, competitive offerings.
OnPoint Warranty Solutions connects brands to consumers through dynamic service experiences. As clients seek out innovation in the warranty space, to drive brand loyalty and increased lifetime value of each consumer relationship, OnPoint provides a proverbial one-stop-shop. OnPoint’s innovative warranty programs enable consumers to protect products they purchase at retail, whether in-store or online and renew that coverage when it expires. However, Rob and Chris also realized that consumers own more than the one appliance or electronics item, and many never opt for warranty coverage at the retail purchase. Consumers are homeowners, renters, even couch crashers, who own appliances and home systems, electronics and computers, mobile devices and smart devices, all of which can be protected with warranty products, repaired and eventually replaced with new, warrantable products.
OnPoint has created programs like FixHomz which offers home warranties, extended warranties on electronics and computing products, Comfort Protection on HVAC equipment and on demand installation, repair and maintenance. These programs are available direct-to-consumer and through its reseller channels, enabling consumers to choose the protection and service options they need, on an annual or subscription bases. Consumers are looking for innovation protection products, quality service delivery, and the ability to customize the protection and service programs that are best for them and their families. OnPoint offers that ability, driving convenience and peace of mind while increasing long term revenue for its clients. As the electronic catalog of customers’ homes expands, OnPoint is watching and creating service options to make the ownership of those products hassle-free and long-lasting.
One of the recent changes that the world experienced together was the outbreak of COVID-19. It was a very challenging time in both professional and personal aspects. Many businesses suffered in the last two years. However, OnPoint thrived during Covid, due to its early adoption of omnichannel, SaaS technology which again was a very strategic decision Chris drove in the business. “I think COVID has changed a lot in our industry. It changed consumer’s perceptions of how they interact with warranty service providers like OnPoint, which frankly, we anticipated as a trend long before COVID. The Millennials really began this several years ago,” said Chris.
When OnPoint was launched, the company envisioned a supporting a virtual workforce in some way. Therefore, they selected cloud-based technology which enables them to place employees anywhere in the world. It enables consumers to interact with the company from any device, using a communications channel they prefer. OnPoint’s insuretech platform enables clients, through a robust set of APIs, to use it to sell and service warranties anywhere in the world.
Presently, OnPoint is riding a wave of success which nothing has been able to slow, even the outbreak of COVID. It saw huge growth in 2020 and more than double again in 2021 and sees no end in sight, especially as the insuretech platform is rolled out globally. The company is in the process of setting up several eCommerce and home warranty programs using its insuretech platform, in addition to the traditional warranty services it is providing for manufacturers and OEMs.
“It’s a very exciting time at OnPoint. Our biggest upcoming news is about the launch of phase 2 of our insuretech platform, the Service Avenger Insuretech platform. As we build out more of the warranty service integrations, we’ll expand not only globally, but exponentially into new, exciting verticals that are ripe for improvements based on technology deployments,” concludes Chris.
Chris Smith, the CEO, is a proven dynamic thought leader in the areas of customer experience and service delivery. Chris was appointed CEO of OnPoint Warranty in 2018. Since then, Chris has led the company on a progressive and innovative path. OnPoint, under his leadership, has created an insuretech and warranty services business that is acknowledged by the industry as a leader.
Prior to OnPoint Warranty, Chris was the Vice President of Service Operations at Samsung.
His responsibilities included service fulfillment for Major Appliance, Television, Mobile Phones, and Wearables. Prior to Samsung, Chris was President and equity holder of Service Net Warranty which was acquired by AIG in 2012, where he was Vice President of Customer Experience. Chris was responsible for providing warranty and extended service plan administration and service to the world’s most respected brands. With more than 30 years of experience in consumer service and retail operations, he also served as Founder and CEO of Service Power Field Service Solutions and President of GE Warranty Management. Chris has had the opportunity to construct and execute service delivery programs for companies such as Apple, Google, GE, Dell, CDW, NewEgg, and HP where Customer experience programs drive the lifetime value of the Customer.
Chris serves as a board member of Encompass Supply Chain Solutions and was awarded by NESDA as a National Friend of Service in 2017, the Richard Mildenberger Outstanding National Officer in 2017, the National Electronics Servicing Dealers Association, the NESDA Person of the Year 2015, and the General Electric President’s Award for Service in 1999.
Rob Christian is Founder, President and Chief Risk Officer of OnPoint Warranty. Rob is also a licensed Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter and has been in the warranty industry since 1994.
Rob began his career in warranty with GE Appliances and then went to Sears where he turned around profitability of the largest aftermarket program in history.
Rob was a Founding Member and Vice President of Operations of Service Net Solutions, now AIG Warranty. After Service Net, he was instrumental in the creation and initial rollup of Encompass Supply Chain Solutions. Rob then led the restructure of the extended warranty program at Harbor Freight Tools.
In 2015, Rob launched OnPoint Warranty to focus on warranty consulting and strategy. In early 2018, Rob relaunched OnPoint as a global, full-service, insuretech and warranty services administrator and licensed insurance brokerage.
Rob has been active in the warranty industry, having most recently held an advisory board position with the Global Warranty and Service Contract Administration. He also was a founding member of the Wireless Repair Council, now part of CTIA. Rob is a speaker at industry events, such as the Warranty Innovations conference.
