From Stodgy to Edgy: How Tech is Transforming Insurance Industry Offerings
From Stodgy to Edgy: How Tech is Transforming Insurance Industry Offerings
Benjamin Franklin is famous for the phrase, “in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” However, I always like to add one more item to that short but certain list: insurance.
Insurance has always been around, and it isn’t going anywhere soon. As with most well-established professional fields, this tends to give the insurance industry a bit of a stodgy feel at times. You can find old practices and outdated methods everywhere you turn.
Tech is Transforming Insurance Industry Offerings
Four decades of experience have taught me that if insurance avoids becoming the “sick old man” of the business world, it can’t be left to run itself. Instead, providers must approach their offerings with a growth mindset that encourages creativity and innovation. One of the best ways to do this is by identifying the necessary elements of past insurance offerings and then combining them with modern, tech-driven solutions.
This is why my firm, Hamilton Insurance Agency, has always operated on the motto “services and technology working together for a better experience.” If a modern insurance agency wants to avoid the stodgy stereotype, it must strive to provide a comprehensive insurance experience that addresses classic needs through relevant technological solutions. We are striving to do just that.
Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
Tech is splashy. It’s exciting. It’s fun. But it’s worth pointing out that technology has to be more than a hook. You can’t just slap a word like “app” or “SaaS” on your offerings and call it a day. Sure, you’ll get some calls, but you won’t be able to satisfy your customers’ needs effectively.
The areas where tech is truly making a difference are where it’s bolstering existing value. In other words, tech is transformative when it complements rather than replaces the past.
Insurance providers should always take care to separate the value they offer from the dated aspects of their business.
The insurance agency needs to identify the core elements of each service, such as providing healthcare or managing risks to the clients and customers. From there, the agent has to consider how they can deliver those services in a format that fits modern consumer expectations.
A few questions worth teaching your agents to ask.
- Are you relying on phone calls, in-person meetings, and other old-school communication channels?
- Where is the actual delivery of the service itself slowing things down?
- Are employers paying for packages that they aren’t using to their fullest?
- Is each of your offerings meeting a relevant need for the average employer and employee?
If you want to bring an insurance service out of the past, you have to be willing to separate the necessary from the dated elements of your business model.
This updating process reveals to you that “part of the value” you will preserve as well as where you’ll upgrade your methods.
Using Apps to Upgrade the Past
When technology is brought up in the insurance sector, it often brings things like AI or blockchain to mind.
BeneBee is one of the best examples of old services adapted to a modern experience. The healthcare app streamlines the entire employer and employee experience.
Let the insured have easy access to their questions on mobile
Rather than having a complex, expensive policy managed from the top-down, BeneBee puts things in the hands of employees. Staff can download the app and use it to see exactly what their current benefits package offers them. This user-friendly approach enables those who are insured to answer their questions right on their mobile devices. It also lets them see what aspects of their plan they are and are not utilizing.
Offer tools, tech and software solutions
BeneBee is a powerful tool, and it’s just one of our insurance tech amalgamations, too. We also have software solutions like BeneLink Connect, which can help employers oversee and manage the entire enrollment process. In addition, our SevarusRM technology helps with risk assessment and management within an organization.
In all three of the above examples, the goal is simple: to find strategic software and technology solutions that optimize each client’s experience. In each case, the use of tech isn’t a marketing ploy or a shallow attempt to look “cutting edge.” Instead, it represents an honest and upgraded option that addresses a classic need.
Edgy 21st-century insurance experience for customers who are looking forward to the future
Your customers are looking forward to the future under your care, and you can make all of your information easily accessible and comfortable for them.
Adapt Your Tech
If insurance professionals want to remain relevant, they must embrace this adaptation of technological solutions.
Rather than seeing tech as a threat to the “right” way of doing things — insurance professionals will want to identify where technology can improve their current offerings.
Identify the tech for synergy
When you take the opportunity to make that happen — the results are synergistic and become a catalyst that can transform an agency from stodgy to edgy in the blink of an eye.
Image Credit: kampus productions; pexels; thank you!
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