Artificial Intelligence Technology, technology, and technology! Humans are surrounded by technology and so are businesses. This buzzword has impacted almost everything- gone are those days when you have to wait in bank queue for depositing or transferring or withdrawing a particular amount, now you have ATM machines with transfer system and mobile banking as well. Visualizing that kind of world ever existed is an unbelievable facet for many.
Even the global insurance industry didn’t lay back- they gave their best to go with the flow of rising technology. And 2018 was the year of innovation for many insurers! Technology, however, imposed various challenges on insurers such as speed of new tools, rising customer expectations, the explosion of data, its protection and security, shifting market trends and the workforce of the future- empowered insurance businesses to dodge out of date business models, eventually, to excel in this dynamic market.
If 2018 was a breakout year for insurers, then experts suggest that 2019 will be a year of reckoning! Hopefully, the entire insurance industry is waking up and smelling the opportunity around them born with digitalization because the time has arrived- if you want to survive in the competitive market, either pick the right technology or lose out competitors and become insolvent.
What should be your strategic priorities where insurance firms must primarily focus?
To succeed in the digital era, the insurance industry commits to stay focused on below-mentioned factors:
- Growth- Imagine every dollar invested today delivering results in next quarter and setting a platform for viable growth for the coming years
- Return on Investment (ROI)- Imagine new business paradigm, enriched technology and simple process variations that simultaneously enhance performance and reduce costs
- Agility- Imagine conceiving, devising and launching new and more personalized products in record time
- Customer engagement- Imagine moving close to end-consumers and truly “owning” those relationships through new frameworks and improved channels
Keeping in mind all the strategic areas, let’s dive into the technologies that insurers should adopt in order to stay abreast in the agile market and become tech-savvy in 2019:
- Drones and satellites-
To simply put across, a drone is a flying camera that helps insurers to evaluate the risk for customers. For instance, if any of the states suffer through natural calamities, it is obvious that people will claim for risk and damages caused, insurers can simply take drones, leave it in the air and assess everything precisely. This means, Insurance claims processing and adjusting being automated with high speed and security, alluring more customers towards your insurance firm.
The underwriting team of your insurance business will get better information, allowing them to set premiums according to the risk evolved around every individual. It also helps in calculating the accurate premiums for different insurance policies.
- Blockchain-
The blockchain is nothing but a chain of data that is decentralized in different blocks. Only with valid id and passwords, one can access it. However, we all know that the insurance industry, on a daily basis encounters data explosion from customers, which needs to store securely.
Blockchain can assist you to keep all the data safely and maintain transparency between you and your customers. This eventually increases the trust of your customers. More so, Blockchain also helps in fraud detection, and risk prevention introduced new payment models and a lot more.
- Telematics-
Telematics tools are connected to specific objects or humans or equipment’s to understand their behavior. Telematics is majorly used in the insurance industry, assisting insurers with real-time actions of clients to acquire more accurate data and enhance claims processing.
A few examples of telematics are wearable or personal technology, the sensor on objects, location-based sensors, and geographic information systems. Insurers can track real-time drive behavior data from automotive insurance, smart appliances for homeowners insurance, fitness trackers for life and health insurance and warehouse monitors and fleet management for commercial insurance- all these things help insurers to be more accurate and stay away from additional claims fraud.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)-
AI, mainly known for its human mimic! It has been designed uniquely and equipped with efficient algorithms, enabling the device to behave like a human being.
In the insurance industry, Artificial Intelligence is particularly being used for researching risk, monitoring customer behavior and interacting with customers, enabling insurers to offer personalized services. The chatbots application by AI, communicate with customers for basic queries. AI also helps underwriters by recommending them on upselling and cross-selling strategies, refines pricing, claims processing and complaint handling process efficiently.
What are the benefits of using these technologies for the insurance business?
- Cost reduction
- Customer experience enhancement
- Speed to market
- Improved sales productivity
- Underwriting efficiency
- Claims efficiency
All set for 2019!
Being an insurer, staying ahead in the competition in this pivotal year is essential. Don’t wait for the right time to become a digital-centric firm, take the right step today and transform your business processes to benefit your business, employees, and customers!
Mika Edward works as a business development manager at Cogneesol, a well-renowned business process outsourcing company offering insurance agency management services such as policy, commissions, claims management and accounting. She has been working with Cogneesol for the past 10 years and is responsible for generating sales for the insurance division.
