These include some of the largest school systems, construction firms, credit unions, manufacturers, breweries, city governments (and more) in the area, O’Hara said.
ConsumerOptix is an insurtech (or insurance technology) firm helping to modernize one of the oldest industries in the world. Clients pay licensing fees to use the company’s software, drawing customers who in turn use the tech to easily buy insurance over cell phones or in other ways.
ConsumerOptix supports the insurance business, but it does not sell insurance.
Credit: Caroline Williams
Credit: Caroline Williams
“We empower the insurance agency, both the carriers — the companies that underwrite and provide insurance — and also the distributors, be they employee benefits brokers, financial advisors, individual agents ... we empower that industry,” he said.
ConsumerOptix’s SaaS (software as a service) technology — known as “Accelerate Xplore” — is cloud-based, meaning no physical hardware exists on the client site or ConsumerOptix’s site. Computing is done via the Microsoft Azure platform.
The business “white-labels” its proprietary technology to look like its customers’ consumer engagement technology. “The word ‘ConsumerOptix’ is just hidden in the background,” O’Hara said. “We enable the transaction.”
The transaction is what this is about, ultimately.
“I’ve been fortunate to see the impact Xplore has had on our sales process,” said Tommy Lunne, a sales associate with Moraine benefits broker McGohan Brabender, which helps employers navigate employee benefits. “Xplore does an exceptional job simplifying and communicating the benefits process, while making it easier for those who matter most, the employees.”
Dayton leadership appears to be part of the company’s success. Scott McGohan, a McGohan-Brabender co-chairman, is a ConsumerOptix investor and board member. Michael Bridges, founder of defense contractor Peerless Technologies, is a board member, as is Aaron Miller, director of strategy at research and development firm Galois.
McGohan said historically, when employers were onboarded for benefits, their employees may have received a sheet of paper that outlined options.
“That piece of paper, that folder, that packet would end up in the front seat of a car,” McGohan said. “Most likely it could end up in the trash can.”
McGohan has worked with O’Hara since about 2010, after passage of The Affordable Care Act, bringing to the fore technology that allows McGohan Brabender to customize benefits.
“He eats, sleeps and breathes this strategy,” McGohan said of O’Hara. “And honestly, I think we’re just at the beginning, just on the cutting edge.”
Readers may remember that ConsumerOptix won the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 Soin Award for Innovation, taking away that award’s $25,000 in prize money.
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