Insurance agency Milwaukee agents know that the insurance industry is not particularly known for its innovation and creative thinking.
Still, any industry that doesn’t develop and implement the necessary strategies to adapt to new markets and embrace new technology will become obsolete and eventually disappear.
“Imagine if you could file a claim after an auto accident by simply snapping a photo of the damage with your smartphone, or buy coverage for your boat or motorcycle by the mile or just for the weekend?”
This is the near future scenario that insurance agency Milwaukee experts and several insurance companies have in mind for the industry, including opening new design and innovation centers to study new ways to serve policyholders.
“Why can’t I use my phone to generate an automated claim?, says Pablo Azar, senior vice president of Insight design and innovation, an Allstate Corp. innovation center. “As you start looking at how these phones work and how they get better, they are turning the world into a self-service environment”.
According to a report which surveyed a number of insurance companies, including insurance agency Milwaukee, the main reasons for innovation in their organizations are to improve customer service, compete more effectively and enable growth, which shows that efforts on creativity and innovation are being pursued to deliver real business value and are not being tackled purely for marketing reasons.
And social media is also presenting opportunities for insurers to pursue these objectives. Trawling for information on Facebook, Twitter and other sites can enable underwriters and claims professionals to track individuals’ lifestyles, experiences and habits, letting them see, for example, if a policyholder claiming to have a serious injury has just posted a photo of himself or herself dancing.
“There is tremendous opportunity for innovation in the insurance industry. The business value is there, and it is enormous. Next-gen technologies are making it possible to pursue a big vision, by taking small manageable steps one at a time,” says Deb Smallwood, founder of Strategy meets action.
But not only the ubiquity that mobile devices offer will impact the insurance industry. Insurance agency Milwaukee experts have been discussing the power that expanding accessibility and availability of data on consumers and businesses will have on premiums.
“For instance, as electronic health records (EHRs) and health insurance exchanges drive standardization and transparency of health information, some life and health insurers will begin to price policies by analogy with telematics: customers’ premiums will rise and fall with key health indicators. And carriers that manage data effectively will price risk better and gain market share”, says Clark Troy, Research Director of Aite Group.
