By Swatil Binte Mahmud, Lava Protocols
When I got my first job, I was most excited about getting health and life insurance. As I piggybacked on my parent's insurance all my life, getting my own meant I was adulting. Little did I know how complex insurance was. As a young and fresh graduate, who was still learning to cope at work, I was also learning how to fill up insurance forms so that it does not bounce back to me. I still get anxious thinking about those forms.
I am happy to share that insurance companies are increasingly leveraging technology to meet customers' evolving needs. This is called “Insurtech”, which refers to the innovative use of technology to drive efficiency, build trust, and deliver personalized insurance services. In a nutshell, no more lengthy and complicated forms!
The State of the Connected Customer report by Salesforce stated that customers today are the most active on digital platforms. It also says that this trend is expected to continue for a while. As Gen Z enters the workforce, they will not be okay with standing in long queues and being on hold on customer service helplines for hours. This generation grew up with technology, expecting the best technology in the workforce. Also, they are always online, so they expect digitalization and personalized experiences. However, it’s just not them; 80% of insurance service takers mentioned that frustrating and slow online experiences made them switch providers. This means competition is tough and digitization and automation are the only way to survive in this evolved world.
Thrive in the World of Insurtech
The Group Head of the Digital and Ecosystems Team at a leading insurance company expressed how the pandemic propelled the insurance and financial sector to make rapid changes. They stated that service and sales grew by five years in one year, and in a world of anxiety and information overload, their company wanted to help at least remove financial worries from their customers. They returned the power to make informed decisions to their customers by providing transparency around the use of their data and by simplifying and digitizing processes. They also provided their customers with an unbiased and holistic view of all their policies and allowed them to make the right and informed decisions. This means they prioritized building trust among their customers to retain them in the long run. They also invested in Salesforce to meet the increased demand for simple digital solutions.
If you are in the insurance industry, you should know basic information like whether your customer has just bought a new car, refinanced their home loan, or bought tickets for an overseas trip. As an insurer, making the right offer at the right time is your job. At the same time, with the help of Salesforce, you can stay connected with your customers from anywhere. You will receive a notification if your customer submits a complaint or query to a chatbot. Thus, Insurtech can help enable an end-to-end seamless experience for you and your customers.
Cultivate Agility and Meet New Challenges
The competition is tough. In addition to adapting to the shifts in customer demands, traditional insurers compete with the industry's new entrants. The new players are innovative in their digital strategy allowing them to quickly adapt to any situation. They are also fast-moving, allowing them to create and modify products in weeks or days. Hence, the only way traditional insurers can keep up is by being agile with automation, innovation, and digitization to meet the evolving challenges.
Changing your traditional work can bring profits and sustainability to your business. For example, automation can streamline processes, increasing efficiency and accuracy, and digital tools can carry out repeatable tasks. To enhance customer experience, you can offer different and versatile touchpoints for your customers. This will allow access to your products and services anywhere in the world. Leading Customer Relationship Management software companies like Salesforce are leaning more toward AI-powered digitization and automation. Salesforce can help you to deliver fast and targeted service, which is crucial in the increasingly competitive environment.
If your company is still using legacy technology, it will lead to slow transactions, fragmented or lost data, and processing too much paperwork will take away your employee's valuable time. This is why most successful insurance companies are going for Integrated digital platforms like Financial Services Cloud by Salesforce to simplify their processes and to have a 360-degree view of their customers.
Go the Extra Mile for Customers
Insurers need to connect with their customers on their preferred channels and platforms, which are highly likely to be digital. Customers like to engage digitally with their quotes, claims, and policies. These new types of customers want buying insurance to be as seamless an experience as shopping for any other product online. Also, the pandemic elevated customers’ expectations of insurers’ digital capabilities exponentially. This is why you need to transition and transform to Insurtech solutions offered by Salesforce, such as the cloud-based CRM with AI-powered insights. In 2023, you have to ensure you meet your customers at every touchpoint they prefer.
Financial Services Cloud by Salesforce is uniquely catered towards dedicated solutions for financial services companies. Start your Insurtech journey today with Salesforce, of course!
Lava Protocols is an authorized Salesforce Partner. Want to manage your CRM better? Drop us an email to: hello@lavaprotocols.com.