Insurance industry leaders have little doubt that investing in digital improvements is absolutely critical to business growth, but legacy systems and processes often prevent them from fully implementing new technology, a new survey suggests.

The survey of 113 insurers, brokers, wholesalers and other insurance industry employees by Genpact and ACORD found that most respondents believe that their organization has not fully reaped the benefits of digitalization.

More than three-quarters say that they can't deliver the full value of digital solutions to their customers because they cannot "optimize end-to-end customer experiences" between the website and back office support structures.

Replacing legacy systems

One of the most common barriers to truly transforming the business via digital solutions is the persistence of legacy systems that employees continue to rely on instead of newer approaches. In fact, 80 percent say that while the organization is currently undergoing upgrades to their system, the implementation is hampered by fragmented leadership that is conflicted about replacing legacy systems for policy administration and agency management.

In addition, many respondents say that there simply isn't enough talent on hand to get the organization to fully embrace digital strategies.

Similarly, many of those polled say that there isn't enough money to make the necessary investments in digital infrastructure.

The great majority of those polled say that digitalization has had at least some positive effects on business. The most common improvement, cited by 82 percent of respondents, is the effect digital solutions have had on the cost of serving customers.

Far fewer, however, believe that going digital has improved customer loyalty (56 percent) or that it has boosted the company's single view of the customer (44 percent).

Set up company for growth

"The insurance industry needs to move beyond just 'fixing' legacy systems," says Scott McDonell, senior vice president of insurance at Genpact. "This remains a critical concern; however, process transformation through the front, middle, and back office is what drives a superior customer experience and sets up a company for growth."

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