Consumers have become accustomed to high levels ofpersonalization online. Retail sites greet them by name, offertailored product recommendations and track their order history.Online banking posts purchases in real time and even helps accountholders track the charges against their family budgets.

It's not surprising, then, that consumers now expect acomparable level of personalization from their insurance carriers.This is particularly true for the number one reason policyholderscontact their insurance carriers—with questions, comments andrequests regarding their billing statements. 

It's crucial for companies to resolve questions about billingand payments as quickly and efficiently as possible. That level ofservice is an important way for insurers to differentiate theirbrand. Billing systems are no longer just a matter of internaloperational efficiency; they can play a critical role in supportingsales, customer service and retention.

Working with insurers on replacing and modernizing billingsystems, we are seeing increasing demand for flexibility in bothtechnology and billing processes. A growing number of insurers areexploring ways to offer policyholders highly personalized featuressuch as mobile access, multiple online billing options andconsolidated viewing of their premiums across all policies,including life, health, homeowners, auto, umbrella, and more.

By removing billing system limitations, carriers can improveoperations and customer satisfaction, reduce maintenance costs andeven attract new business. So what do insurers need to create asuccessful billing program? Here's a look at several new approachesand examples of how organizations are using them to take billing tothe next level:

1. Consolidate Billing Systems—All of Them

Too many carriers maintain separate billing systems for eachline of business or subsidiary. This results in multiple IT supportteams across the enterprise, driving up training and maintenancecosts, and inhibiting the development of billing best practices.Reducing redundant costs for systems and IT support can oftenjustify moving to a single consolidated solution. Add on thepotential customer service and brand enhancement benefits, and thebusiness case becomes truly compelling.  

For large multiline companies, the number of billing systemsthat could be consolidated is staggering—personal and commerciallines, life and health, claims recovery, membership fees, agentreceivables, and external vendors—and the benefits they stand togain are very compelling.

2. Give Customers What They Want, AsFast As They Want It

Customers want options in the way they are billed and the waythey make payments. Insurers can gain competitive differentiationby offering a multitude of billing and payment options—options thatcan be deployed in weeks, not months. 

GEICO, which has been recognized by Celent as a Model Insurerfor Advanced Customer Billing Options, configured its billingsystem to increase the number of billing options it could offer tocustomers. The carrier can now rate, quote, and process allpossible billing scenarios in under one second, while displayingthe correct premium to the penny.

Today's customers not only want choices in billing and paymentoptions, but also easier access to all of their policyinformation—any way they want. They expect real-time access, inseparate or consolidated views. They also expect to be able to settheir preferences online with an easy-to-use interface. Equallyimportant, carriers must be able to keep the information providedthrough each channel synchronized—mailings, CSRs, websites, mobilealerts or agents—so policyholders always have consistent,up-to-date views of payments and premiums due. 

Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, for example, moved to a centralbilling system to offer personalized billing plans to each of itscustomers—an important service for farmers who might have more than100 commercial and personal lines policies to manage. As an addedbenefit, the company's new billing software, with its consolidatedview of the customers' policies, made it easier to cross-sell toexisting policyholders, the source of about 80 percent of newbusiness.

Technology changes rapidly—and so do customer preferences andexpectations. Insurers need to be able to offer new options as theybecome available. For instance, most insurers are under pressure tooffer online and mobile options for billing, payments andself-service—and that pressure is steadily increasing. A trulyflexible system can support today's emerging apps, such as thosefor collecting payments and bill presentment through smartphones,tablets or other mobile devices, and leave the company wellpositioned to take advantage of the next wave of technology. Agentaccess to client portfolios, policy and billing via mobile devicesenables agents to reply to customer inquiries anytime and anywhere.Billing questions still rank among the most frequent customerservice requests.

3. Tailor Your System to Support NewStrategies

The ability to tailor systems can be the key to executing newbusiness strategies. For example, carriers can't offer personalizedpayment plans and custom EFT scheduling if their back-officesystems don't support these features. Legacy billing systems, infact, are often barriers to entering new lines of business andmarkets.

One national carrier, Federated Insurance, replaced its30-year-old billing system with a new system that supports splitbilling and other capabilities aimed at helping large companiesmanage coverage for multiple businesses. Federated, whichspecializes in commercial insurance for midsized companies, now hasthe ability to deliver more customized services, helping it pursuelarger commercial accounts with more complex billingneeds.

4. Take Advantage of New DeploymentModels

While moving to a single enterprise billing system canstreamline processing and dramatically reduce system maintenancecosts, it can be a difficult, risky and lengthy process. Opting foran alternate deployment option, such as a hosted solution orSoftware as a Service (SaaS) deployment, can greatly mitigate thesefactors.

A growing number of carriers concerned about the costs andimplementation risks of moving their billing solution are showinginterest in hosting options including cloud-enabled deployment withpay-per-usage pricing.

With these new deployment options, carriers can eliminatecapital expense and the operational disruptions that come withlengthy implementations. Ongoing maintenance is no longer an issue,and continuous enhancements prevent technology obsolescence.Insurers can reap the benefits of modern billing systems sooner,introduce new billing plans faster and lower overall costs.

As the barriers to accessing a modern billing system fall, thesame features used by top national carriers to help drive newbusiness and increase customer loyalty are now within reach ofany-sized carrier.

Achieve Your Business Objectives

In today's rapidly changing world, a modern billing systemenables insurers to achieve business objectives faster. In the nextfew years, as new billing and payment technologies are embraced byconsumers, insurance companies with outdated billing programs willbe seen as slow and inflexible, which are universal turnoffs tocustomers, potential customers, and agents.

The bottom line is simple: Investing in a modern, flexiblebilling system more than pays you back.