Page 35 - Insurance Times November 2020

employees, customers and partners better through digital are looking for instant resolution. They want their enquiries
solutions. Smaller companies are much more agile in the answered immediately and they expect that the solutions
context of such change and are taking the leap in such they are offered will be tailored to their specific needs.
engagements, be it in terms of creating apps for their sales
teams or to track employee distribution for better visibility The adoption of app-based sales tools and client portals now
of how their resources are being used. allow potential customers to view, compare, evaluate and
buy policies at the click of a button. Unsurprisingly, the
Amid crisis, the focus has been solely on the digital platform. pandemic has fuelled awareness about health insurance
The insurance buying has been no different when it comes to policies with people sharing their nightmarish experiences
the delivery of general insurance products like health of the difficulties in getting timely medical attention and
insurance, which are significantly moving online in a big way. skyrocketing medical bills. People are warming up to the
Integrated digital front-end solutions are required to bridge idea that sound health policies can go a long way in ensuring
the social distance gap. Advisors need to be able to connect accessibility of good medical care facilities and maintaining
with clients remotely-through Skype or similar tools, even by one's financial health.
phone-and walk through a digital Financial Needs Analysis and
online illustrations. In order to remotely onboard customers, When products are offered through digital channels-with no
tools like e-Applications, e-Signature capability, online advisor agent interaction and automated approvals and policy
and client service portals will become essential. processing-insurer's costs are greatly reduced. No commissions
must be paid. Few staffs are needed to manage the policy
Comprehensive digital strategies can make business lifecycle. And these savings, especially in the Direct-to-
continuity planning a much easier and more reliable process. Consumer (D2C) channel, can be passed to clients in the form
Integrated back-office and front-end solutions can make of lower product prices. Digital improvements to traditional
Working-From-Home a more effective and attractive industry processes have added value to the entire chain.
proposition. Modern digital tools like e-Applications and
client portals enable all industry stakeholders to stay Automation is eliminating many manual steps in all insurance
connected. Customers will receive the accelerated, highly workflows and enhancing the quality of those processes. Less
personal care they desire. Advisors will be able to meet with need for manual data entry has led to reduced human error.
prospects and clients either in person or at a distance. These Onboarding, underwriting and claims are all accelerated
integrated systems will go a long way towards reducing the when Robotic Business Processing (RBP) and Straight-
strain on the bottom-line and make it easier for us all to Through-Processing (STP) are introduced. The bottom line
stay safe and prosper in the years ahead. for insurers is that implementation of the right technology
can revolutionize the way they conduct business-it brings
For the insurance industry, Work-From-Home presents a back-office operations into the 21stcentury and enables the
unique and significant challenge. Many industries are ahead creation of real-time, highly personalized digital experiences
of Insurance in their digitalization journeys. Digital tools for all customers.
make it fairly straightforward for them to adapt to remote
work. In our industry, in India, the reality is much different. References:
The decade old legacy Policy Administration System that
most companies rely on to run many aspects of the business- 1. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/push-for-online-
sale-of-insurance-policies-wont-hit-agents-
everything from customer on boarding, underwriting, billing,
claims and more-have always been a weak link. But almost 2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/04/27/
overnight, they have become an impediment to conducting customer-experience-mindset-in-a-post-covid-19-world-
business as usual. an-infograph
3. https://www.outlookindia.com/outlookmoney/
These aging systems make remote connections difficult insurance/customers-move-online-to-meet-their-
because data is hard to access. Increased availability of insurance-requirements-
bandwidth, cheap data plans, and increased awareness 4. https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/
driven by government programs seem to have rapidly online-insurance-market-in-india
bridged the digital gap between urban and rural India.
5. IRDAI Annual Report 2019-20
Consequently, the internet penetration in rural India
increased from 9% in 2015 to 25% in 2018. Customers today 6. Newspapers & Journals.

The Insurance Times, November 2020 35