The insurance industry, like many other business sectors, has transitioned many of their sales and other business processes to being online in recent years.
As such, insurance companies are starting to implement new technologies and platforms to help them optimize workflows, improve the customer experience, and ultimately make more sales.
Let’s take a look at what some of the top trending technologies in the insurance world are right now, for you to keep an eye on in the year to come.
Five Top Insurance Technology Trends for 2022
eSignatures
eSignatures, or electronic signatures, have become an increasingly important part of the insurance world as more of the insurance business has moved online.
Gone are the days where you would have to go into an office and sit down to sign a bunch of paperwork in order to get insurance. These days, you can sign up for pretty much any type of insurance online, and sign the required documents using an eSignature.
Instead of emailing documents that need to be printed out, signed, and sent back, insurance companies can now offer a completely digital experience for their clients by using electronic signature software, such as the eSignature solution for improving the digital customer journey by EasySend.
When it comes to any type of sales, it’s extremely important to have a fully digital customer experience. Why is that? Well, you can have the best sales team in the world, but if actually closing a sale is a hassle, it can fall apart before documents get signed and money gets paid.
Imagine someone is ready to purchase a travel health insurance policy, but in order to finish signing up they have to print out a bunch of emailed documents, sign them, scan/upload them to their computer, and email them back.
In theory it’s not that hard to do, but people are busy and they don’t want to go out of their way when they’re the ones paying for something like insurance.
Unnecessarily complex processes, like requiring written signatures, creates friction in the sales funnel and leads to lost sales.
That’s why transforming the digital customer journey in insurance by using digital experience streamlining solutions, like eSignatures, is something that the top insurance companies out there are doing right now.
Low-code and no-code development
The emergence of low-code and no-code development platforms has allowed insurance companies to develop apps and tools for their clients and internal teams that would have previously required them to hire a team of developers.
Low-code and no-code platforms allow someone with little to no knowledge of how to code to build apps for all kinds of processes, in a much shorter time frame than waiting for a developer to build them.
For example, insurance companies can use this technology to build apps that allow their customers to easily file insurance claims and make it easier for their claims department to process said claims.
Not only does this let insurance companies get apps and tools to market faster, but it can drastically cut down on IT costs and increase the profitability of businesses.
Artificial intelligence
You may have heard about artificial intelligence (AI) becoming more prominent in the healthcare industry, but did you know it’s also been finding a place in the insurance world?
Insurance companies can use AI to automate processes, such as insurance package customization, and handle some of the parts of insurance sales that a broker traditionally takes care of.
AI can also be used to process and analyze insurance data much more rapidly than humans can do it, leading to an overall better customer journey and faster internal processes for insurance companies.
For instance, AI can analyze and process insurance claims much more efficiently than people can. In fact, specialized fraud detection AI software can even spot certain red flags for insurance fraud.
Telematics devices
Telematics devices are a type of system that gets installed in a vehicle to monitor how it’s driving. They hook up to the vehicle’s on-board diagnostics system to track things like speed and steering habits.
In the insurance world, people can opt to install such devices in their personal transportation vehicles so their insurers can monitor their driving and adjust insurance rates accordingly. In theory, the better and safer you drive, the lower your insurance rates would go.
Some car insurance companies are already starting to offer incentives in exchange for their customers opting in to telematics reporting, and we are sure to see this trend grow in coming years.
Chatbots
Chatbot technology is popping up more in all types of industries where companies are conducting business online, including the insurance industry.
Chatbots allow businesses to offer reliable, 24/7 customer service and streamline certain processes to provide an all-around better digital customer journey.
Chatbots work using AI and machine learning technologies to interact with potential clients or existing customers. They can gather information that can be used to make new sales, or answer commonly asked questions and provide general information.
In fact, chatbots can even act as virtual insurance agents to sell policies without an actual agent ever needing to intervene.
When insurance companies invest in chatbot technology, it frees up valuable time and resources and helps improve customer retention by optimizing their digital experience.
Conclusion
The technology trends discussed above are changing the way insurance is bought, sold, and managed in today’s digital-focused world.
Customers are choosing insurance companies based on the digital customer journey and experience that they offer, rather than just the policies and coverage they have available.
That’s why it’s so important for insurance companies to stay on top of the latest insurance technology trends and invest in implementing them in their business models.
Whether big or small, any insurance company that focuses on digital solutions is bound to see more success than those that keep doing business the old-fashioned way, and the solutions mentioned above are a few of the best ones to start implementing today.
