Friday 20 November 2015

You’ve got email, but not from your life insurance company

When was the last time you received email communications from your life insurance company? For most of us, the answer is never. Contrast that with the last time you received email communication from your bank, your financial advisor or your favorite retailer. Life insurance is so far behind that it is not even in the e-delivery race.

E-delivery allows the customer to elect to receive documents such as contracts, letters, account statements, and billing notices via email rather than paper mail. Generally, a notification is sent that a document has been posted to a secure website, or, in the case of general notifications, mailed directly to the policy owner’s email address.

Areas of opportunity for e-delivery in insurance span all processes, from field administration to customer acquisition to claims. The benefits of using e-delivery are typically derived from reducing scanning, mailing, and printing, lessening process complexity, and increasing automation and systems integration. These drivers lower costs, reduce cycle times, and increase customer and agent satisfaction.

I recently published a report titled, You’ve Got Mail Two Decades Later, Why Are We Still Talking About E-Delivery Rather Than Doing It, where I interviewed 17 life insurers about their current and future e-delivery plans. Although e-delivery can bring multiple benefits to life insurers, it has been poorly adopted. In fact, only 25% of the surveyed insurance companies are using e-delivery.

Areas of focus within the report include:
• Progress of e-delivery.
• Targeted documents for e-delivery.
• Benefits and challenges associated with e-delivery.

There are a number of challenges life insurers face when it comes to e-delivery, including legacy systems, policy holder adoption, and agent engagement. However, other industries have found a way to overcome these challenges. It’s time for life insurers to set aside the excuses and find a solution.

Life insurers have been left in the e-delivery dust and need to run with haste to catch-up.



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Monday 9 November 2015

The Hottest Ticket in Town: @HamiltonMusical, Really?

The CBS news show, 60 Minutes (@60Minutes), ran a story last night about the hottest new Broadway musical – Hamilton (@HamiltonMusical). It turns out that some of the research for the show was conducted at the site our Innovation and Insight Day – The Museum of American Finance (@FinanceMuseum).

This biography underscores why we chose the Museum for our next Insight and Innovation Day (April 13, 2016). The segment talks about Hamilton’s numerous accomplishments: “…a penniless, immigrant, orphaned kid who came out of nowhere and his achievements were monumental…he creates the first fiscal system, the first monetary system, first customs service, first central bank…”
Without these innovations, the modern economy as we know it now would look very different.

Anyone working in financial services today is aware of the challenges we face responding to changing customer expectations and new technology opportunities. Vast sums of money and time are being spent on innovation, looking for answers. However, Celent’s research shows a widely held view that FS cannot innovate very effectively.

industry rank

How do we improve?

The theme of our Insight and Innovation Day event this year will take inspiration from Hamilton’s work and use it as a guide for our future efforts.

BTW, if you want to go to Hamilton while at the Celent I&I Day, I suggest you get your tickets now. It’s the hottest ticket in town.

And here is the link to the 60 Minutes segment (14 min):
http://ift.tt/1MtLzNY



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Tuesday 3 November 2015

Free Advice for Auto Manufacturers: How to Sell the Experience of Driving an Autonomous Car

I rarely, actually never, give advice to automobile manufacturers because I am an insurance technology analyst, and not an automotive analyst.

But as more and more and more auto manufacturers make announcements about their plans to get autonomous cars on the road, ready or not—the dire implications for automobile insurance cannot be ignored.

So on occasion I do find myself thinking about what autonomous cars will mean for manufacturers. In particular, since the marketing of cars emphasizes the driving experience so heavily, what will the automakers do when all they can offer is a riding experience?

I mean a rolling home office, or family room, or man cave, or walk-in closet only has so much appeal.  And yes I know that all these cars will be totally connected, but still how many touchscreens will entertain a car buyer/driver during the morning commute?

So I do have an answer: virtual reality! Not just any virtual reality, but a virtual reality that makes the passenger in an autonomous car believe that he or she is actually driving that car—with appropriate physical artifacts (steering wheel, pedals, brakes, dashboard, etc.); and a choice of scenic and challenging routes.  If Disney can create rides that make people feel like they are accelerating, de-accelerating, steering, and cruising, why not GM and Toyota?

As mentioned, this advice is free. But if any manufacturer reading this post is so inclined, please send a large check to Celent (not me). Thanks.



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