Page 45 - The Insurance Times September 2024

The Need for a Consolidated View of Venkat:
Sellers "Yes. Insurance carriers have an enormous volume of data.
An Accenture report stated that large organizations typically
Sumanas: analyze only 12% of their data. This is because data is siloed
"Does this mean that no insurance organization has a and spread across lines of business and standalone systems,
consolidated view of the seller? This can be a disadvantage preventing them from unlocking the full value of their data.
because exceptional customer experience is directly A distribution management system for insurers will work on
proportional to exceptional seller experience. Even if an a single pool of data and a common data model, harnessing
insurance organization wants to improve seller productivity, the immense amounts of data that insurers possess."
they don't have a 360-degree view of the seller persona."
Sumanas:
Venkat: "Got it. But again, will this be seller-focused?"
"Yes. Most systems are focused on the customer's persona,
and for good reasons. Insurers must identify, attract, and Venkat:
then retain customers after the sale. However, to empower "To truly provide value to the business, any distribution
and enforce this, there is an urgent need to focus on the management system built should be seller-centric. Key
seller persona as well. How can insurers enable their features of such a system include:
distribution network with tools that increase productivity, 1. Core Data Component:
focus on customer engagement, and follow best practices Several banking experts advocate for data
to close sales?" centrality over core banking centrality for future
banks. This principle applies to insurance as well,
Sumanas: emphasizing a data-centric view where seller data
"Yes, but this is sales engagement and enablement in a is a key element.
nutshell-lead management, activity management, and 2. Hierarchy-Cognizant System:
mobile-first access to sellers. That has been happening over Insurers have multiple divisions and product lines
the past decade by solution providers like Vymo, and others. sold through the same distribution network.
Is there anything more that I am missing?"
Currently, systems managing these hierarchies are
disparate-HRMS, compensation tools, etc. A unified
Venkat:
distribution management system can bring
"Let me elaborate. In the past decade, solution providers different hierarchies (reporting, distribution,
have offered mobile-first tools, lead management, activity channel partners) onto one platform.
management, data-led insights, and more for insurance
sellers and distributors. But going forward, we need to 3. Unified Seller Journeys:
address two imperatives: The seller lifecycle is typically fragmented across
1. Mend the seller lifecycle, creating a seamless journey multiple systems. Addressing this requires unifying
across the distribution network. all elements of a seller lifecycle into a single,
coherent journey.
2. Develop a unified view of sellers and the larger
distribution network they are part of." Once you devise a strategy to build a solution incorporating
these three components, the next step is to develop
Reimagining Insurance Distribution playbooks for different personas. Leveraging AI and Large
Language Models (LLMs) can drive powerful insights across
Systems the distribution hierarchy, fundamentally changing how
Sumanas: distribution operates. Even with all this, we're just scratching
"While this sounds promising, it involves rethinking the the surface."
entire insurance distribution system with a fresh
perspective. It also means reworking the tech stack, which Sumanas:
is daunting but worth it since it will unlock tremendous "This sounds like a great blueprint for the future of insurance
opportunities for sellers. Such a distribution management distribution. With a data-centric approach and emerging AI
system would work on a common data pool spread across and ML capabilities, significant opportunities await insurers,
divisions in a large insurer. Is that correct?" potentially transforming how insurance is sold!"

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