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The New Business Process: 4 Tech Enablers

Writing new business accurately and efficiently is critical to an insurer’s ability to grow and gain market share. How can tech enable carriers in a world of increased expectations?
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Writing new business accurately and efficiently is critical to an insurer’s ability to grow and gain market share. The new business process – including selling, underwriting, processing the application and issuing the policy – must ensure a positive customer experience for agent, distributor and customer, but can be complex and cumbersome. What are the technologies that can streamline onboarding without sacrificing customer experience? How have these technologies evolved, and what benefits do they provide for both carriers and their agents and policyholders?

1. Think Differently

Deb Smallwood (pictured at right) Founder, Strategy Meets Action (SMA); Boston, Mass.

SMA’s research shows that the number-one IT investment driver for insurers today is profitable growth. To accomplish that, the buying/selling process has to be seamless, smooth, and satisfying for the customer and the agent. And, it has to be easy and quick to get the right business in the door! The key to successfully modernizing and optimizing onboarding processes starts with thinking differently. Those insurers that are able to look beyond a specific technology or application solution are making wiser investments that extend well beyond a single system or a single technology. It is this unification of applications and technologies that is giving insurers the power to make significant impact quickly – even if capabilities are added or enhanced in small steps. It is this broader view that ends up creating a much more collaborative working environment for insurers and their distribution partners and a smooth and pleasant experience for the customer.

SMA has identified six next-generation technologies areas that all insurers should be implementing or at least watching and considering: mobile, analytics and big data, collaboration, cloud, telematics, and social media. These technologies need to work in concert with agency/company connectivity applications and both agent and self-service portals. Insurers need to pay attention to how the competition is deploying new capabilities. It is important to watch the trends in what customers and producers are experiencing – noting shifts in expectations.

Peggy Bresnick Kendler has been a writer for 30 years. She has worked as an editor, publicist and school district technology coordinator. During the past decade, Bresnick Kendler has worked for UBM TechWeb on special financialservices technology-centered ... View Full Bio

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