The use of technology in almost every industry has increased exponentially over the last decade, including the insurance sector. While insurance carriers have cited legacy infrastructure and software as being the biggest challenge to digital transformation, the opportunities technology offers is hard to ignore.
Through providing up-to-date technology solutions, insurance companies are able to be more competitive in the market. How is technology helping? It means insurers can be agile and stay ahead of changing demands from customers.
Quick facts about insurtech
In broad terms, insurance technology, or insurtech, is about how technology is transforming the insurance industry, using technology to make insurance more affordable and accessible.
Similar to fintech, insurtech refers to both the processes, products, and services which are related to insurance. While digital transformation hasn’t been an easy process for the insurance industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgency for the sector to prioritize adopting new technology trends.
Technology advancements
Insurance companies have always depended on data for the basic processes of underwriting risk and claims assessments. Today’s new technologies have drastically increased the amount and quality of data available, so insurance carriers can proactively find new processes and create new products, and improve customer engagement.
Cybersecurity
Cyberattacks are a matter of when, not if, they’ll happen – no business is immune to potential data breaches or malware attacks. Insurance companies acquire huge amounts of sensitive data about customers, so it’s vital to ensure they’re protected against the threat of having this data accessed or stolen.
Data security technology can be complex and require constant monitoring, which makes partnering with a managed services provider (MSP) with cybersecurity expertise a good move for companies who need that extra level of protection.
Cloud computing
Cloud technology has revolutionized how we work and live. Businesses are migrating operations to the cloud, leveraging the efficiencies in both time and money, to create more effective solutions for the workplace and customers.
A cloud solution opens a world of opportunities for businesses, being able to scale up quickly as new processes or products come online. Data storage management is another huge drawcard to cloud computing. It can be important to capitalize on the know-how of a managed services provider, who has the skills and knowledge to continuously perfect your cloud platform as technology advances.
Internet of Things (IoT)
There has been a massive uptick in the number of internet-connected devices the population now rely on for everyday life. These are what’s known as the Internet of Things, from smartwatches, car metrics, home devices, to health apps.
Customers are happy to share this data if it enables them to get tailored products, reduced premiums, and a wider range of services. Devices connected through IoT provide insurance carriers with real-time data, radically changing how they collect, use, and manage data.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Consumers are always looking for personalized experiences and an AI solution can help insurance companies make this happen. AI offers the ability to create unique, personalized experiences to suit the demands of modern consumers
The best way to use AI is to generate personalized experiences for your client that are tailored to their preferences. For example, if they’ve been browsing a website for a certain time, they can be offered products related to what they’ve been viewing.
Social media data
Social media has included new roles in the insurance industry beyond marketing strategies and clever ads. Mining social media data is improving risk assessment for property and casualty insurers, bolstering fraud detection capabilities, and enabling entire business models based on insights provided by data from customer interactions.
Chatbots
It’s estimated that by 2025, 95% of all customer interactions will be powered by chatbots. Chatbots can seamlessly and efficiently deal with customer inquiries, policy application, or claims processes, improving the customer experience and saving insurance companies time and money.
How does technology benefit the insurance sector?
Insurers are leveraging the ability to analyse vast amounts of data, digging deeper into the details to offer coverage in niche and emerging markets.
Cost effective
Improving the bottom line is paramount in most industries. Technology allows companies in the insurance sector to offer specific policies that reduce premiums. Retaining and gaining customers fuels further growth into new products and services.
Efficiency
Almost every aspect of business has mundane, repetitive tasks that eat up huge amounts of people hours. Technology such as AI chatbots, data analytics and so on, can not just take those tasks off humans, but do them much faster and with more accuracy. Customers who can quickly and easily process a claim or sign up for new insurance without having to wait on hold or speak to different people, will have a more favourable opinion of their insurance company.
Competitive
Today’s customers are tech-savvy. They have higher expectations of personalised service in real time, and are more likely to stay with a company that offers this with reduced costs. Technology allows both front and back end of operations to be more flexible, enabling unlimited opportunities for insurers to offer services and products, stay competitive and remain relevant.
Insurance companies need to have a secure network infrastructure if they want to serve their clients. However, the necessary IT expertise may not be available to implement, maintain and support the infrastructure needed. This is why more small to medium-sized companies are considering managed IT services to meet their needs.
To stay ahead of the curve and competitive in the market, talk to the IT experts at PWR Technologies for expert advice on security, IT support, and communications solutions.
