Sofia: She found in fulfillment a way to get closer to her customers
Estimated reading time: 8 Min
Benigno Pérez is the head of operations of Sofía, a particular app: it is a health insurance for which the most important metric is not how much it earns, but how much the health of its members improves.
An approach to its business model confirms that Sofía really believes that health comes first: the app is designed so that you can, preventively, consult and avoid incurring major health problems that in turn end up being very strong economic blows for people. Sofía pursues a symbiotic relationship that is rare in the world of insurance companies: your health is her profitability, and that is why she does not squeeze her users with unnecessary medical treatments, as often happens in the industry.
In addition, for Sofía, keeping her partners - as she calls her users - healthy is keeping the business running efficiently. It's a win-win. But you're probably wondering: And what does Cubbo have to do with a health insurance app? Well, Sofía is also exceptional in the way she relates to her partners and Cubbo has become her main ally to convey her philosophy and message! This is her history!
How is it born? Sofía?
Benigno: I am not one of the founders of Sofía but I can tell you a little about the story as I know it: there are three founders: Arturo, Manuel and Sebastian. They have known each other since the University where they studied applied mathematics and after that each one went to different places to study master's degrees in statistics.
They are very technical people. Arturo worked in a private equity fund called Index Ventures, then Sebastián worked at Google for several years working on the product on the technical side and Manuel went to work at Patreon, there he spent several years and that was where he learned the subject of coding.
Arturo, among the companies he saw in his work, realized that there was a great opportunity in the world of health in Mexico, because here the health industry is quite broken and the quality of services is less than excellent. So Arturo invited Manuel and Sebastián to join the project and that's how Sofía was born.
At the company level, how could we understand Sofía?
Benigno: Sofía seeks to have a true positive impact on the health of Mexicans and does so through an insurance format. Here, the issue of how the healthcare industry aligns its incentives is key. In Mexico, the health industry has the incentive to treat you a lot, to charge you a lot. This often means that there are treatments that are not necessary.
We as an insurance company have incentives aligned with the patient: if the patient is better and receives the treatments they really need, the company also executes the medical actions and costs that are truly necessary.
This is Sofía's great achievement at a concept level: Our interests as a company and the interests of our clients, of the patients, are the same. I don't want you to undergo a thousand different treatments to continue taking money from you, as a private clinic would sometimes do. We want things to be done right the first time. Sofía was born from the need to improve the way people take care of their health.
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At the product level, is Sofia an application?
Benign: It is an application, yes. That's the way you use your health services. But technically it is a health company. We are a digital insurance startup, but the health part is more important for us.
How is that?
Benign: Our focus is not on the issue of insurance, that is the instrument: if you have a health problem, insurance is going to help you achieve that does not also become an economic problem. But it is more important for us to be involved with you in your daily health journey. If you have a flu, we want to be there with you through that flu. We want to avoid, prevent and always keep you at your best and in good health. And it is logical, because I repeat, our incentives are aligned with yours: you want to have good health and a good quality of life and we want you to have it because that also makes our business profitable and viable. It is a symbiotic relationship.
We focus a lot, for example, on issues of prevention and timely detection. Which, again, is also what at a health level is constantly recommended by professionals: be attentive to our state of health and address problems before they become problems.
Do you operate only in Mexico?
Benign: Yes. To operate with Sofía we had to obtain an insurance license. That is a complex procedure that, on the one hand, is an obstacle for many things, including being able to sell outside of Mexico, because in each country you have to do the equivalent procedure again.
But it is also an entry barrier that helps us, because not everyone can start or work in this industry and to a certain extent, it is very logical that this requirement exists due to safety and quality issues within the same industry. In the future, we want to be certified in other countries in the region and continue expanding.
And how has the market reception been? Mexican?
Benigno: Well look, working on the issue of health and insurance in Mexico is complex for several reasons, first it is a country where people tend to self-medicate a lot, going to the pharmacy doctor, ignoring their health problems until it is too late, using all the home remedies you want, so yes it has been difficult for us It's hard to give that message of “use Sofia, because it's much better to have a professional, a real doctor, on your phone.”
But once they try it and see the convenience it offers, the immediacy of having the doctor there in the palm of your hand, they love it. And that's where we have the most volume of use, in simple things like for example a video consultation that the person does with their internists in Sofia.
And then when more complex things come like hospitalizations, we have had exceptional feedback from our partners, that's what Sofia users call it, because we really believe that we are partners and work as a team, so the reception has been very good.
How can an insurer be linked to a fulfillment company? How do you get to Cubbo and what is the link?
Benigno: One of the things we want to do very differently is change the way you relate to your insurance. Typically, insurance is a purchase you make and if you don't use it, that's good news. It exists, but it's there in the back of your head.
We don't want that. What we want is to be close to you, in your mind constantly so that, any time you need us, you look for us. And this also allows us to be closer to you in a more proactive way and be able to help you identify risk factors for your health and recommend options that can help you prevent.
To do this, to generate that bond, we believe that a fundamental thing is to send you a welcome kit. That You see from the beginning that this is a different relationship, that we are partners and that we are a team to improve your health. Not just something you turn to in an emergency.
Is that welcome kit something that define?
Benign: Yes. We do not want to be put in the same group as traditional insurers. That is why the welcome kit is so important, because it means showing our proactivity from the beginning and starting to build that relationship of trust with the partner, so that they see that this is different.
In addition, this welcome kit brings you immediate satisfaction, it shows you value from the moment you start. And it's not that you are going to find some band-aids or aspirin in the welcome kit, no, what we send you is material to welcome you, so that you understand Sofía's philosophy and so that you can get the most out of our services; It brings a step tracker, a face mask, some stickers and other materials designed to make you feel that you are entering a service that cares about you and wants to be close to you.
We arrived at Cubbo because we had another parcel service and the truth is, it was not working, then the number of shipments began to exceed them and one important thing for us was that the shipment worked by itself, that we sent the order and we didn't have to do anything else; This did not happen with the previous parcel company.
So we started looking for alternatives and they recommended Cubbo and another additional alternative. The topic of the recommendation came from my wife who is very involved in the world of startups. And honestly, Cubbo seemed exceptional to me because I am an engineer and I have an operational mentality, what interested me most was having an operation that flowed, that worked well and in order, that was easy for us to integrate.
How was the integration with Cubbo?
Benign: In the first call I had with Cubbo I came away with the link to test the API, with an account created and the instructions to do the integration, which was super simple. From that moment we began to send them orders, supplies began to be supplied and everything began to arrive at its destination without problem. That's what we wanted.
Also, I remember that they opened a Slack channel for me with someone from engineering to help me with questions and that made everything very easy.
What would you say is the great advantage of Sofía?
Benigno: Honestly, we are concerned, first of all, about people's health. In my opinion, large insurance companies have lost that touch with people's reality. They worry more about “what do I finance you?” than for health. And in Sofia, from the beginning, everything has been done with doctors because the objective here, our metric, is the health of Mexicans. That for me is the most important thing.
Are you looking for an ally that enhances your delivery, compliance and satisfaction process? of your clients? Do not hesitate to contact us, we are the best fulfillment center for ecommerce in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, you just have to click here.
During 2021 in Cubbo:
* Our customers registered savings of 21% in operating costs
* 97.1% of the products received were processed and ready to sell in 24 hours.
* We had a compliance in shipments of the 99.7%
* We recorded a accuracy in order preparation of 99.9875%, that is, 1 error every 8,000 shipments.
* 60% of our deliveries in CDMX were made the same day
* We make deliveries nationwide in 1.3 days average
Just as Sofía found a key ally in logistics to be closer to her customers, your ecommerce can also grow by relying on a fulfillment in Mexico City, with fast operations, integrated technology and same day shipping that elevate the shopping experience.
