INSURANCE BARTENDER

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 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

retention, then you could focus on automating the renewal process with a focus on the customer and user experience.

3. Illustrate the automation of the process you want to transform. Establishing which tasks you are going to streamline should allow you to map the automation of your workflow.

4. Identify and train key employees. Involving the right employees is vital. Key personnel who are open to process improvement and process automation must play an important part of the transformation. Your success depends on it.

5. Review your company’s existing technology stack. You may be surprised to learn that your existing automation system has some process automation built into it that you aren’t currently utilizing.

6. Create a culture of innovation and communicate. It’s equally as important to effectively communicate to the rest of your team (non-early adopters) and ensure they don’t feel excluded or displaced by technology. The company will need to train staff on automating flows, leading the team toward more strategic tasks. To successfully do so, employees need to feel empowered by the changes you are gong to make and understand the benefit to not only the customer, but themselves. This starts with having a culture of change and innovation.

7. Identify and review automation solution providers who offer products (and services) that align with your automation strategy.

8. Establish goals, objectives and assign responsibilities. Determine expenses and set a budget. By setting the objectives you hope to achieve with automation, you will be able to measure the expense and return on your investment. 9. Finally, we reach the stage of implementation of the digital process automation solution. When I was growing up and my father was teaching me to hunt, he used to say, “aim small, miss small”. Same applies here. Start small and scale from there. No need to roll out a new technology solution across your entire business. Start with a business unit, line of business, a niche market and go from there. Don’t forget to monitor its performance and evaluate its success.

When looking for automation tools, businesses should ensure they have an architecture that allows integration with other platforms (AMS), technologies and applications to expand the possibilities of business process automation in the future. In addition, the automation solution must be scalable and flexible to the company's workflows and customers. Routinely evaluating key performance indicators and the metrics around DPA solution will help you check and adjust along the way.

It is normal to face challenges when automating processes/workflows in a company. Don’t be afraid to FAIL. Its your First Attempt In Learning. Most of the greatest companies have achieved their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure. Thankfully, you have the IIAW and Catalyit as a strategic partner to help you succeed.

To learn more about Catalyit visit www.catalyit.com. Don’t hesitate to contact me if the IIAW can be of any assistance in helping your business achieve digital processing automation success. E-mail me at Matt@iiaw.com.

CEO, IIAW

• 8 cups water • 2 family-sized tea bags • 1/2-1 cup granulated sugar • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda • 1 1/2 cups Chambord Liquor • 1/2 cup vodka • mint leaves, raspberries & lime slices

1. Bring water to a boil and pour in a pitcher. 2. Add the tea bags, cover and let steep for 15 minutes. 3. Remove tea bags and add the sugar and baking soda. Stir until the sugar dissolves. 4. Add in the Chambord and vodka. 5. Let the tea cool. 6. Pour into the ice-filled glasses. Garnishes with raspberries, lime slices & fresh mint leaves.