Mantissa Blog: The Digital Enterprise

The Digital Enterprise: Supporting the customer before, during, and after the sale

• Life and Annuity policyholders increasingly prefer transparency and control in their interactions with the insurance carrier
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered companies will deliver highly personalized experiences
• Customer care leaders are now more focused on improving Customer Experience, reducing contact volumes, and deploying AI assistance
• The impact of digital engagement and AI will have a significant impact across the insurance value chain from across distribution, underwriting and customer service

In a digital-first ecosystem, insurance companies are now expected to provide customers with seamless, personalized experiences along with complete transparency and control in every interaction.

From purchasing policies online, electronic application process, digital underwriting, and accessing account information through user-friendly portals or mobile apps, digital channels are now expected to empower customers to interact with insurers conveniently and efficiently. This enhanced customer experience fosters loyalty and satisfaction – crucial factors for long-term business growth.

Insurers are now adapting accordingly, offering technology experiences that are faster, more engaging, intuitive, and tailored to customer needs. As an example, one American insurer, noted in a McKinsey report, offers a 24/7 chatbot service to help customers complete straightforward transactions, such as updating designated beneficiaries.

The operations function, which has traditionally been responsible for providing this experience, will now have a big role in assuring these tools address the various customer and business use cases instead of directly addressing routine customer queries.

Carrier Investments

Many insurance companies are sidestepping complex core IT systems by investing in software-as-a-service applications, which they use for distribution, operations, HR administration, and commission processing, among other tasks.

The flexibility offered by these applications helps minimize or eliminate manual work arising from legacy processes.

Other technologies, such as automation, digital applications, and advanced-analytics engines, are further transforming operations. Depending on the line of coverage, these capabilities can streamline initial information gathering and document review, allowing customers to serve themselves during the underwriting, servicing, and claims processes.

Advances in artificial intelligence are also allowing incumbents to automate increasingly complicated tasks, including all forms of customer inquiries.

Develop AI-powered customer care ecosystems

The growing challenges around increasing volumes, rising complexity, and limited talent availability are unlikely to be solved at scale without AI and data analytics. Companies can optimize the entire customer operations footprint by using technology to measure performance, identify opportunities, and deploy value-capturing change management, thus delivering critical operations insights and impact at scale.

For customers, AI-driven tools like predictive analytics can deliver a personalized and proactive experience that resolves issues before customers are even aware that they exist—enhancing the customer experience at every point along the customer journey.

Some Facts

According to a HubSpot report on customer experience trends and statistics:

• 55% of customers prefer self-service as a primary means of interaction
• 46% of customers expect more personalized communications
• 86% of respondents believe AI will have a transformative impact on customer experience

The Sureify Angle

Customers want digital engagement. Data indicates that insurance companies are prioritizing this need with a substantial desire to give policyholders an online digital experience. In a recent Mantissa survey on digital priorities, 83% of carriers surveyed noted that they will be pursuing improvements for customer experience and AI-driven capabilities.

Sureify’s LifetimeENGAGE uses data and modern digital capabilities to foster lifelong personal connections between insurers and policyholders. These relationships lead to greater brand loyalty and persistency.

Similarly, LifetimeSERVICE enables digital self- servicing for existing customers. It empowers policyholders to securely manage everything from payments to beneficiary updates. This drives persistency and the ability to control various aspects of policy changes, using web and mobile apps and chat and co-browsing features to interact with agents and advisors.

Keep an eye out for the next in our Digital Enterprise series, Chapter 4: The Technologists’ Dilemma