8 Ways To Modernize An Insurance Business

Risks are everywhere. They’re so commonplace that we’ve come up with many ways to reduce their impact on our lives. One way to do this is by getting an insurance policy.

The insurance industry dates back to the 18th century, wherein debtors were exempted from repaying loans if disasters like flooding, death, or disability prevented them from doing so. Over many centuries, the concept evolved many times in response to changes in daily living and commerce. That evolution continues today in the digital era. 

As more customers want more efficient services, ticking to traditional methods isn't an option for your insurance business. Competition now comes down to who can leverage modern technology better to meet changing needs. Thus, modernizing your insurance business is critical. 

Fortunately, here are eight ways you can do the same:

1. Robotic Process Automation

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) refers to the process of automating tedious, repetitive, high-volume, and time-consuming tasks. By implementing this into your operations, your team members won't have to sit in an office all day while crunching time on tasks that computing systems can easily do.

You can use RPA in insurance to automate tasks like: 

Using RPA in your insurance business significantly reduces costs on time, resources, and personnel. This opens up new avenues for growth in your insurance business as well as saving funds altogether. 

2. Modernized Risk Assessments

Risk assessment is a crucial component of the underwriting process. It helps evaluate a potential customer's profile and the likelihood of how much and how often they will cost your investment. In turn, this lets you determine the rates for their premiums. As is standard practice in the industry, high-risk customers pay higher premiums. 

Risk assessments can be tricky. Some factors just can’t be checked through manual observation alone. This may lead to problematic evaluations that seem unfair to some clients. 

In light of this, your insurance business can turn to technology to help you gather better data for assessments. For example, instead of tagging all car insurance policyholders who fall slightly short in terms of qualifications as high-risk, you can use apps to monitor their driving habits. These can relay data remotely, allowing you to customize policies better to a client’s actual capabilities.

3. Outsourcing Managed Services

Outsourcing is one way for insurance firms to enhance productivity. You don't have to maintain an entire in-house department for tasks that can be done remotely. 

For instance, digital marketing for your firm can be done by a freelancer. The same applies to IT support, data entry, forms processing, underwriting, commissions management, customer support, record retrieval, and claims management. 

Outsourcing helps you save costs, given you'll pay a flat monthly rate for the services instead of salaries and benefits for full-time employees. Moreover, you'll save on office space, reducing your rent and utility bills. That's especially true if you run a family office, where space and funds are limited. If this interests you, feel free to check out Sharp LLC family office management services and similar ones in your area.

4. Advanced Fraud Detection

Fraud costs the insurance industry billions of dollars yearly. Hackers are on the rise and will do anything within their means to steal your customers' data for malicious purposes like money laundering or identity theft. And that's regardless of whether your insurance business is small or big.

Big data analytics allow you to identify recurring patterns in fraud. This gives you insights on how to patch problems in your cybersecurity to better safeguard client data. With it, you can reduce your risk of data loss and improve your firm’s integrity in the eyes of your clients.

5. Improved Customer Experience

Today’s customers expect more from service providers, including insurance firms. It’s a good thing your own insurance business can keep up with their increased demand. Below are some ideas you can consider:

Improved customer experience guarantees satisfaction, making your clients more invested in growing with you as their insurance provider.

6. AI-Powered Chatbots

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made it possible to automate customer support. If you notice, customers ask more or less similar questions on many common topics. You may end up wasting more time and resources by having a customer representative respond to every single one. Why not install a chatbot on your website to answer typical customer queries instead? 

You'll need a comprehensive database of answers to frequently asked questions. Through machine learning, the chatbot can precisely identify a customer's concerns and provide a proper response. For the best results, you should work with a web design and AI expert.

7. Electronic Files

Your insurance business shouldn't have to issue policies, communications, and other documents through paper all the time. Instead, such important documents can be made, processed, sent, and stored electronically.

Electronic files take less space, use fewer resources, and offer more in terms of speed and convenience. And, since customers can use e-signatures, they let you conduct meetings virtually anywhere at any time.

They also uphold the principles of sustainability. By reducing resource consumption, using electronic files lets your insurance business contribute to efforts to protect the environment.

8. Online Promotions

For your insurance business to be visible and relevant to your customers, you can’t do without having an online presence. Therefore, you need to create a website and sign up for social media accounts. 

Once you do that, you can then craft a robust content strategy to gain traction with your target audience and keep them engaged. Post articles, videos, images, infographics, and podcasts regularly to educate and entertain them. This provides a steady source of feedback that lets you know how well you’re serving their needs. 

Conclusion

Modernizing an insurance business can take some work. However, by adopting the latest technologies in running your firm, you take your enterprise to the next level in terms of customer service, work efficiency, and sustainability. In the end, all of these small yet long-term modifications produce results that guarantee growth for your firm.