What are some best practices insurance carriers are using tomanage the rapidly evolving mobile technologies?PropertyCasualty360.com asked several leading analysts andconsultants for their views on what insurance carriers need to doto gain better control of their mobile users—both internal staffand policyholders.

Analysts such as Craig Weber of Celent; Karen Pauli ofTowerGroup; Frank Petersmark of X By 2; Gerald Shields of Robert E.Nolan Co.; Mark Breading of Strategy Meets Action; StephenApplebaum of Aite Group; Kimberly Harris-Ferrante of Gartner; andEllen Carney of Forrester Research responded with their thoughts onthe subject of best practices in mobile technology.

Craig Weber, CEO of Celent

Beyond the obvious advice—you should be thinking about mobile,because your customers are—it's hard to generalize about mobilestrategies. Companies can leverage mobile in all sorts of ways, andit's a rapidly evolving space. But I believe clear best practicesat this point include:

• Avoiding analysis paralysis. The temptation is to think ofmobile apps as having the same clock speed as more typicalinsurance apps. Theydon't. Get moving.
• Building some internal capabilities. There are unique aspectsto mobile UI design, real-time integration, and getting value fromthe data streams that come out of mobile app development. Ifyoudon't have the skills in-house, you'll probably face constraintsas your understanding of mobile business models evolves.
• Develop clear use cases that mobile can address. Are you aimingyour app at neurotic customers who check their policy valueshourly? Or at people actively involved in a purchase (includingagents)? Or at your best customers, with whom you'd like to developdeeper, more lasting relationships? You're better off addressingany three specific use cases well than 15 poorly.

Karen Pauli, research director,insurance, TowerGroup

Leading insurers are partnering with technology providers thathave specific and focused mobile competencies. This comes from therealization that it is not realistic to keep up with therequirements around the rapidly evolving mobility space,particularly in terms of such things as security and platforms.

Some insurers believe that internal development of mobilecapabilities is how to keep younger IT workers engaged, but for themost part that is allocated resources to a sandstorm of continuallyshifting skills and competencies that the majority of insurerscannot afford.

An adjunct to this is that when insurers are choosingtechnologies that have a functional relationship to mobilecapabilities, such as core billing, claims, and policy admin, orcustomer communications, one of the key qualification points shouldbe the vendors' articulated mobility strategy.

Insurers cannot adopt core systems that are architected around a“nothing prevents it” capability. It must be with a vendorthat can state and demonstrate a studied and purposefularchitecture that supports mobile adoption offunctionality.

At this juncture, very few vendors can afford to ignore mobilityand those that do, should generate warning flags at insurers.

Frank Petersmark, CIO Advocate, X By2

The adoption of mobile technologies by the insurance industrycontinues to be a double-edged sword. On the one edge, mobiletechnologies and the family of capabilities aroundthem—consumerization, BYOD, mobile apps, social media, etc.—presentsignificant opportunities for insurance carriers to expand theirproduct, market, and customer service capabilities. On theother edge, the business technology platforms of most insurancecompanies are ill-equipped to effectively manage such things.

Dealing with savvy consumers in a mobile world is the newreality for insurance companies, and among those taking up thechallenge there are some emerging best practices.

• Many insurance IT divisions are starting to reorient themselvesaway from rigidly structured applications and organizations andtoward a more holistic portfolio of integrated services andapplications, and more collaborative organizational structures thatlead to the more rapid response times and flexible platformsrequired in the mobile world.

• Insurers are paying much closer attention to their back-endcapabilities, particularly data, security, and infrastructure, allin an attempt to facilitate the integration of mobiledata—structured and unstructured—into their core systems.
• Carriers are staffing for social media interaction withcustomers for customer service, marketing, and even damagecontrol. Helpdesks are being turned into social media hubs,with the ability to communicate and respond via chat, email,Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• Many insurers are now accepting the BYOD model as part of thenew mobile paradigm, and are adjusting their employee policies andplatforms to accommodate.

Those insurers oriented toward the new mobile world will usetheir sword to their benefit and the benefit of theirpolicyholders, agents, and employees. Those who don't willsee that sword used against them.

Gerald Shields, IT practice director forRobert E. Nolan Company

Adoption of mobile technology by customers, business partners,and employees is rapidly outpacing carriers' capabilities. Best practice carriers are responding by developing a comprehensivestrategy covering the full range of mobile technology issues beyondjust “what applications to put on mobile devices.”

This strategy must guide important decisions such as: platformselection, consolidated development (e.g., single app deployed tomultiple platforms), securing data, BYOD policies, and how mobileand web apps should work together.

The first step, as always, is to clearly understand businessvalue, business requirements, and priorities. We are helpingcarriers implement a framework that addresses all the componentsnecessary to successfully build, deploy, and support mobiletechnology, devices, infrastructure, developers, testing, andmaintenance—with a focus on business results and long-termsustainability.

Mark Breading, partner, Strategy MeetsAction

One of the best mobile technology practices in insurance is whatI call capability bundling. In the early stages of building custommobile apps, it was typical to focus on a single purpose—thingslike agent locators, first-notice-of-loss, and financialcalculators. These apps helped insurers gain experience, but thedownload and usage statistics were often low.

Mobile device users typically download apps that they plan touse frequently. Some of the early insurance apps were, by theirvery nature, low usage apps. For instance, once you have located anagent, you usuallydon't need that app again. And no one reallywants to think about needing an FNOL app.

Increasingly, insurers are bundling related capabilities thatdeliver more value. The results are more downloads and usage.

For example, some individual apps allow policyholders totrack vehicle maintenance, arrange for a rental car, submit anFNOL, locate a towing company, contact an agent, and get new carinformation.

Not all of these capabilities are purely insurance transactions,but they are logically associated with the insurance needs ofpolicyholders. Bundling related capabilities is a win-win approachfor both customers and insurers.

Stephen Applebaum, senior analyst,property & casualty insurance, Aite Group

One of the many innovative uses by carriers of mobile technologythat I have seen lately involves online auto damage repairestimating. Several early stage entrepreneurial web-basedcompanies have come to market offering auto repair estimates tousers who submit smartphone photos of vehicle damage.

These online estimating services enable users (includingpolicyholders, agents and adjusters) seeking an auto damage repairevaluation to generate detailed, accurate estimates using a simple,user-friendly online tool with little or no auto body repairexperience.

Users can determine if repair damage exceeds the deductible andobtain quality referrals for nearby auto body shops within theirmanaged network of qualified and reputable auto body shops. Auto body shops benefit from the speed, accuracy and ease ofuse of the tool and the referrals.

The service is most attractive to insurers in the case of lowvalue (under $1,500) auto damage claims, which represent themajority of auto damage claims. Several large auto insurancecompanies have begun testing programs in partnership with thesecompanies in which they refer policyholders reporting low leveldamage during the first notice of loss process to the onlineservice in order to get a quick initial estimate before determininghow to proceed.

Because consumers have been increasing their collisiondeductibles to reduce insurance premiums, a large percentage of lowlevel auto damage claims now fall below the deductible so areferral to a quality repair facility is a valuable and welcomeservice to such vehicle owners.

For carriers, the potential for savings in terms of fieldadjusting staff and internal claims handling staff is significantas is the opportunity for improved customer satisfaction.

Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, vice president anddistinguished analyst, Gartner

Mobility is becoming widespread within the p&c insuranceindustry. According to a Gartner study conducted in 3Q11,approximately 50 percent of p&c insurers in the US and Canadawere investing in mobile technologies and devices at year-end 2011,with an additional 31 percent of insurers planning investments in2012.

Many insurers are facing hardships around mobile strategydevelopment and launches. The key to success is focusing oninitiatives which produce solid returns on investments, proactivelyassessing speed of mobile adoption, and ensuring existing systemsand IT staff is sufficient to support mobiledevelopment/maintenance.

While customers may have greater visibility and appeal at firstblush, most will find greater returns on investments targetingmobility with distributors and partners who are demanding greaterdevice support. Additionally, many companies are exploringbring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies for both employees anddistributors which will demand mobile support as a result. Both aredriving forces behind mobile deployment.

Core systems (e.g., quoting engines, policy, claims and billing)must support real-time access for transactional needs. Companiesrunning legacy systems will find mobile enablement difficult anduser expectations unmet.

Modern core systems with real-time processing engines and portalsupport are essential. Furthermore, companies will need mobiledevelopment teams within the IT department to build mobileapplications and/or extend portals to mobile devices.

Staffing may be lacking or expensive to train/recruit, leadingsome companies to outsource mobile projects to IT servicescompanies. Mobile maintenance is ongoing and must be up to speedwith changes in consumer electronics, therefore an expensive skillset for many mid-to-small insurers.

Ellen Carney, senior analyst. eBusiness andchannel strategy, Forrester Research

Usability testing is an area that's overlooked in a lot ofmobile strategies, but it will be critical in moving mobile frombeing fun experiments to delivering real business impact.

Usability testing ensures that customers can find the contentthey need and functionality to help them execute the tasks theyneeddone.

Begin by placing popular and critical elements on the openingscreen. Test page layouts for specific onscreen placement, theformatting of lists and search results, and the balance of text tographics.

Anddon't forget to think about your usability testers—if youhave employees that fit your mobile customer profile—they are oftenwilling to provide unvarnished opinions into what you couldhavedone better.