How digital platforms can modernize insurance processes
The insurance industry carries a longstanding reputation, whether it is deserved or not, for being slow-moving and very complex. It also carries the stigma of using outdated legacy systems. However, with digital transformation pushing every industry to become more agile, resilient and connected, insurance companies that adopt new technologies and tools are visibly ahead of the curve, enabling their employees including agents, customer service representatives (CSRs), adjusters, underwriters, supervisors and customers (policyholders) to solve challenges more independently.
Insurance processes are often consuming and intricate, with cases taking months or even years to resolve. If the insurance industry is to successfully keep up with the times and become more agile, it needs to become more efficient first. While companies must adopt new technologies to achieve this objective, technology can also help along the way to ease this transition.
This transformation begins with investments in new applications that can help empower team members in the insurance industry at various touchpoints. Insurance companies are not known for being technologically savvy, so even adopting tools that digitize operations can greatly ease processes. In the adoption process of these new applications, product and data analytics can identify gaps and where users are experiencing challenges, so that executive teams can help address them.
Additionally, digital adoption platforms (DAPs) can help users transition to new applications, and learn how to best utilize all of the features. DAPs can also nudge users to help them understand new features and updates of the applications they already use.
Smart solutions capabilities, especially those that make use of data analytics, can help identify roadblocks and offer ways to provide business value-driven outcomes. For example, in the insurance claims process, these capabilities can recognize where CSRs are experiencing difficulties in the claims process and offer guidance to help overcome these challenges. During the initial first notice of loss call with a customer, smart solution for claims can monitor the type of information input into the insurance company’s claims portal and provide real-time nudges to ensure that the data input is accurate and complete, so no important detail is missed. This guidance helps accelerate the claims process, making sure the customer’s case is resolved faster. Overall, the data provides valuable information for leadership teams, enabling smarter decisions that will optimize the company’s operations as well as offering personalized, contextual help based on the company’s role and process.
These tools also help navigate the complex web of compliance requirements and regulations, which differ from state to state and can add an extra layer of confusion for customers and internal employees alike. These regulations are of particular importance and concern for the insurance industry, as compliance procedures can vary.
For example, one insurance provider turned to smart solutions and product analytics to help standardize and improve its policyholder experience. The company was faced with challenges including a high reliance on the IT team to resolve how-to support questions and low adoption of software platforms intended to streamline operations. Using pre-built content as part of smart solutions, the organization was able to launch a contextual self-help wiki for users to find answers to their questions on demand, deploy smart tips inside their application to prompt agents to collect state-specific information from customers as needed, and implement automated prompts so the customer service team can validate that all data has been entered before closing out the call.
After deploying the smart solutions, the provider enabled the customer service team to resolve their own questions without needing to contact the IT team and therefore reduced reliance on the help desk, accelerated new customer service representatives’ time-to-productivity, increased the team’s application ROI by 25%, and reduced necessary training time by 10%.
As the rest of the world becomes increasingly connected, consumers expect all aspects of their lives to be on-demand and seamlessly integrated into digital platforms. This is forcing the insurance industry to evolve past its outdated, stodgy roots to a more connected, efficient experience, which has a ripple effect on the way that employees work. Smart solutions tools can provide the guidance these insurance companies need to make this transition to a digital interface as painless as possible. As a result, the insurance industry will see an accelerated shift to more efficient operations, drastically improving the customer experience and turning the industry’s reputation around.
