3 Technology Trends that Have Transformed the Insurance Industry

Technology has touched almost every aspect of life and has a remarkable influence on the evolution of the insurance industry. Mobile technology, internet, big data and analytics— to name a few ­­—have contributed immensely to the insurance business across the globe.

Insurance companies have welcomed aggressive strategies by keeping their customers active on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. However, the global insurance sector has undergone a huge overhaul and experts are coming up with better and innovative ways to interact with customers.

Nevertheless, it is clear that technology is redefining growth for this industry, and the insurance companies must adopt budding technologies, such as mobile technology, analytics, AI, the blockchain, which are unbeaten enablers of improved business outcomes. In this article, we will look at a few such instances of how technology has helped this industry in by boosting its growth.

3 Technology Trends that Emerged as Wonder

While it is used as an instrument for generating growth, the future growth of a company depends on what type of technology it applies and how well it is being applied. The more effective the technology, the greater is the growth. Here are some new-age technologies that can be used or have been using by various insurance companies: 

1. Chatbots

Chatbots are a recent trend in technology and are used to enhance customer engagement. Started as a fairly unknown concept, chatbots are now becoming a need for any mainstream business.  Even though India is a late adopter of any technological and digital revolution, when it comes to a chatbot, India has been at par with the world that too with a right approach. Big brands, starting from e-commerce companies, banking sectors to fairly severe industries like insurance firms, have already started introducing chatbots.

For instance, Bajaj Allianz’s chatbot Boing helps its customers register their claims, get a soft copy of the policy document, verify the policy status, know about company branches and networked hospitals. Birla Sun Life’s chatbot attempts to endorse their products, instantly create a quote, register an insurance claim, and help customers know their policies better.

Apart from insurance companies, insurance aggregator websites such as Policybazaar.com have introduced chatbot called ‘Pbee’ to help the insurance-seekers get insurance quotations for various online products. This way, chatbots help the companies grow their business and create awareness about their products among the customers.

2. Gamification

Gamification is a relatively new marketing tool which helps insurance companies interact with the customers without involving an agent, yet provides all necessary information. It helps the customers get a first-hand experience of why they should buy insurance plans. Gamification is a tool that makes the tough-stuff in life seem like fun.

The popularity of Pokemon Go is fresh in the people’s mind and the latest to bite the bait is an Indian insurance brand which has realized its worth. Contributing 4% of share towards health insurance market, this insurance giant decided to take the help of gamification for a campaign ‘Kill the Killer’.

The game was designed to educate the customers about the vector-borne disease Dengue and why one must buy specialised Dengue insurance cover. Similarly, Virtual Reality technologies help the insurer keep a track of the risks and create innovative marketing campaigns for the same. For instance, BioBall, introduced by Cigna, takes photos of the patient while playing with a ball to calculate BP, cholesterol and pulse rate. Health insurers can use such data for preventive healthcare and to perceive any claim-related risk.

3. Blockchain

Blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology, has quickly gained popularity in the financial as well as insurance market due to its potential to change our thinking about data-sharing. It is useful in:

Enhancing consumer experience by protecting the verified information of the customers shared between a group of insurers, KYC database or solicitor networks. This way, it reduces the hassle of resubmitting the KYC documents multiple times.

Efficient and Speedy Claim Process can be ensured through blockchain. Blockchain ensures that only the valid claims are processed and automatically detects if multiple claims have been filed for the same accident. When all claim-related verification is done, a reimbursement can be initiated by blockchain without any human intervention. Thus, it assures faster claim settlement.

Fraud detection & Prevention is one of the most convincing reasons for insurance companies to introduce blockchain. It has the potential to sense any fraudulent activity. As chances of fraudulent claims are higher, unbiased and automated validation by blockchain technology distinguished among fake, multiple and real claims. It verifies the customers as well as the authenticity of the claims.

The Bottom Line

Gone are the days when getting insurance was a tedious task. With these InsureTech, the entire process has become more convenient and user-friendly with less paperwork and more tailor-made offerings. It has made the insurance companies offer easily-available information, faster documentation, better outreach, and transparency in the claim settlement process.

It is something which has always been dreaded by the customers but is a key factor while opting for an insurance provider. The advent of new technologies brings the hope of a bright future for insurance sector on the whole.