The novel coronavirus continues to disrupt all industries and the insurance sector is no exception. Despite the impacts of COVID-19, the insuretech movement remains relevant by enabling resilience and meeting customer needs.
“If business starts to return to normal by summer, then most insuretechs will be very well-positioned for success,” explained industry expert, Mark Breading for Strategy Meets Action (SMA) on the impact of COVID-19 and the insurance industry moving forward. “[Traditional] insurers [will recognize this] and look to accelerate their digital transformation and inject even more innovation into their business.”
To this point, insuretech has been supported by a tech-savvy consumer base whose expectations include speed, efficiency, and accuracy – leaving little work to be done on behalf of the customer in order to obtain the services they need. Now, with the global pandemic introducing new industry dynamics, insuretech has further shown value by helping drive resiliency through virtual solutions and digital services. Chatbots, messenger applications, and video solutions — connecting agents with prospects, customers, and claimants — rose to popularity before COVID-19 and have only increased. Additionally, other digital and virtual services have made it easy amid COVID-19 for policyholders to access, better understand, and even modify their insurance plans and services.
“Self-service, DIY, mobile, and virtual capabilities will all be elevated in importance – not just for the period when people are sheltering in place and businesses are closed or at limited capacity – but for the long run,” explained Breading. “Any insurer that has not already focused on the importance of digital transformation via these types of capabilities, [helping to meet customers where they’re at], is sure to pick up the pace when the storm passes.”
Another area where the insuretech movement is aiding industry resiliency is in the ability to service customers immediately. Since the outbreak there’s been a surge in demand for life insurance policies and the need to add or modify existing plans as quickly as possible. Being the most well-equipped to do so, insuretech helps handle these demands with efficiency and accuracy especially as it pertains to the underwriting process.
“The insuretech movement is positioned to not only maintain relevance since the outbreak of COVID-19 but accelerate as a result of it,” explained Michael Wilson, senior director of Marketing at Cognizant. “As digital transformation outcomes shift to prioritize resiliency and agility, insuretech offers services that are quick and accurate while allowing customers to have control over policies and access to agents from the comfort of their own homes.”
Despite the persistence of today’s public health crisis, there are many takeaways for insurers. Of these takeaways includes the increased importance of business resiliency and agility to navigate future crises. Insuretech is a key enabler of these capabilities as its able to not only meet customers where they’re at but also fulfill demands efficiently and without much effort or strain on the prospect or customer’s end. The movement is helping to enable the digital transformation not just for support amid COVID-19 but well after it passes.
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