INSURANCE BARTENDER
DIGITAL PROCESS AUTOMATION: TRANSFORMING THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY Insurance used to be seen as a long, drawn-out, paperheavy process. But Digital Process Automation (DPA) is changing all that… Thanks to digital transformation across other industries, customers now expect instantaneous responses from their agents and insurers, whether they’re applying for a new policy or making a claim. But the insurance market is full of stringent regulations, so it’s not as easy to digitize. In addition, the myriad of legacy systems that agencies and insurers have built up over the years stifles innovation as they try to modernize and keep up with the impending threat of insurtech start-ups. DPA allows the people, applications, distribution partners and information/data across your insurance organization to communicate and operate more seamlessly. By integrating systems and eliminating silos, your employees are provided with the single view of data they need to make decisions and perform services efficiently throughout the customer journey, from onboarding through to underwriting, binding coverage, renewals and processing claims. Some of the areas we see process automation are rapidly revolving around the following areas. 1 – Customer Experience (Intake, prefill, quoting, proposals, issuing, billing and more) 2 – Underwriting 3 – Policy Administration 4 – Claims 5 – Compliance 6- User Experience/Operations/Workflows Many businesses, for example are turning to an automation tool called Zapier that lets you easily create workflows that involve common web apps and services. Zapier uses a simple trigger and action for creating commands, akin to “if this happens, then do that”. This is one example of a solution that exists to connect the technology innovating the insurance ecosystem allowing the users and customers to save time and focus on the work that needs most of your attention. Let’s look at a very simple and easy example applicable to an insurance agency. Many agencies have a form on their website used to collect quotes. Outside of sending you a notification when someone has clicked 12 | APRIL 2022 |
wisconsin INDEPENDENT AGENT
submit, there isn’t a lot of integration or efficiency for the agency. You likely have an Agency Management System (AMS) or a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software program that helps you manage your customer data and interactions. With Zapier acting as the go-between for these programs, you can connect these two applications/ systems together so when someone fills out a form on your website, it automatically (through Zapier) uploads into your AMS or CRM. Overall, the potential for automation in the insurance industry is limitless. Across different geographies and sometimes even within the same company, various processes and workflows are in various stages of digitization, and many can be at least partially automated. Automation is the lever that can help transform your operations, radically elevate your employee satisfaction, and improve your customer’s experience. But where to start an automation program? What are the areas most suited for end-to-end process automation in insurance? These are the questions we are hearing from our agents and carriers. Many insurance agencies and companies are very cautious when implementing technologies, but they must redefine their strategies and goals, delivering innovative technologies to their client and their workforce. The IIAW and Catalyit can assist your business in this process should require assistance on your process automation journey. Before automating any process or implementing any new technology, consider the following steps: 1. Comprehensively evaluate your agency/company to identify procedures/workflows that can be automated. his way, you can start transforming small areas of your business to move toward others of greater importance. Make sure there is consistency and continuity in the procedures/workflows you are looking to automate. This is a must before moving forward. 2. Identify business goals so that you automate those tasks that benefit the company most. For example, if your goal is to improve customer service to increase
