Digitalisation is a cornerstone of any discussion related to transformation within insurance. As firms try to meet the demands of the modern customer, their path relies on their digitalisation strategy; however, this is a rather ambiguous term that can mean different things to each insurance organisaiton. Several industry experts discussed the role of digitalisation within insurance as part of the Professional InsurTech Certificate course.
Alex Johnson – Global Industry Lead for Insurance at Quantexa, kicked off the discussion by highlighting the fact digitalisation can mean a variety of things. For instance, some insurance firms might think of it as a cloud strategy and moving legacy applications or data into more nimble systems that can be accessed quicker.
Alternatively, some might see digitalisation as distribution channels being able to provide new digital products in a manner that is easier for consumers, while others will consider digitalisation to be about driving real-time insights.
However, Johnson believes digitalisation is about the end-to-end customer view and the end-to-end decision journey that you’re making for a specific customer. This includes how to verify and understand the customer underwriting, how to personalise the experience and offer tailored incentives, the way the customer can access their portfolio or change their policy and how to service the customer throughout their life cycle.
He added, “What we’re really seeing is that insurers are starting to focus on removing the traditional transactional view of a customer. [Moving away from thinking] I’m going to look at this customer’s claim, I’m going to look at this customer’s application, I’m going to look at this customer’s midterm adjustment, and actually thinking how they need to understand my customer more holistically. [They ask] I really need to know who that customer is, who is the person or the organisation that I’m doing business with. How they interact, how do they use their data, and how do they use things like telematics information. The commonality of those data points is becoming increasingly important.”
The biggest challenge Johnson has seen insurers experience when trying to enable this process, is their ability to connect data together quickly. Insurers often struggle with disconnected internal processes and siloed data, making it extremely difficult to get a wholistic view of the customer, he noted.
So, when a firm is looking at kickstarting their digitalisation strategy, Johnson urges them to start with their data. Insurers need to think about how they can derive insights through existing channels, as well as external device information or external third-party information. This will allow them to really understand the customer.
To listen to the whole presentation, enrol in the Professional InsurTech Certificate.
About the Professional InsurTech Certificate:
The Professional InsurTech Certificate course offers a comprehensive and practical exploration of Insurance Technology (InsurTech) for professionals operating in the insurance industry. With a focus on practical applications, the course covers vital topics including the fundamentals of InsurTech, adoption strategies for insurance companies, regulatory perspectives, data analytics, customer engagement, claims processing, risk assessment, and emerging technologies like AI and ML tailored specifically for the insurance sector.
Distinguished by its holistic approach to the InsurTech landscape, this course integrates real-world case studies with insights from leading InsurTech innovators and senior leaders from insurance companies.
You can enrol here.
