Billing and the insurance customer experience have become a priority because customers' increasingly sophisticated expectations just can't wait. (Photo: iStock)

Billing has always been a crucial part of the customer experience. In fact, billing self service was one of the first implementation points for Interactive Voice Response (IVR), then web, and now mobile technology. It makes sense given how frequently a bill prompts customers to consider, if only for a moment, the value of their relationship with a product as well as its cost.

When it comes to insurers, however, their ability to keep pace with state-of-the-art technologies has suffered. Generally speaking, there are two main reasons why:

Siloed legacy systems; and
Insurers' history of being product-centric, which stands in stark contrast to today's customer-first imperative.

Now, two decades since the founding of PayPal, and several years into the customer-first revolution, insurers are yet again revamping their billing systems with new capabilities that make it easier to do business with them online, anywhere, and anytime customers want.

Billing and the customer experience have become a priority because customers' increasingly sophisticated expectations just can't wait. And it has become possible because modern application programming interfaces (APIs) solve insurers' systems integration dilemmas through openness and low-code configurability, and thus ease customers' frustration.

Here's a look at connectivity and configurability, and why their absence is prompting some insurers to replace billing and other core systems that are just a few years old.

APIs: Delivering on customers' changing expectations

Because of their openness and configurability, new insurance billing systems, and especially those deployed in the cloud, can offer the capabilities consumers have come to expect from all of their online shopping experiences, such as:

Real-time access to their billing and account information;
The multitude of self-service options through the channel of their choosing;
The opportunity to select from a growing variety of payment methods and services; and
The ability to view and manage all of their policies and services across multiple lines of business in one place

Configurations for different user types

There are many different types of internal and external customers (insureds, customer service representatives, agents, brokers, adjusters, etc.). While they need largely similar data, they need it for different purposes and have different workflows. To address the needs of these different users, insurers are turning to digital experience platforms.

Digital experience platforms (DXPs) let you configure user interfaces designed to support the specific needs of these various types of users. Then, the DXP connects to the core billing system through the right set of APIs so they can view, enter, or edit as appropriate. That eliminates the need for custom code in the core billing system. As a result, the combination of DXPs and APIs reduces implementation efforts and time-to-value, while simplifying maintenance and upgrades.

Evolving payment options

Credit cards were just the beginning. Insurers need to continue adapting to a rapidly changing ecosystem that includes payment solutions like PayPal, Zelle, Venmo and others. While that sounds simple enough, consider that those services are available through various browsers, on PCs and Macs, and through apps for Android and iPhone.

Of course, there are multiple versions to consider, and also the operating systems. Web-based personal financial management services, like Mint, and digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ether soon could enter the mainstream.

What makes the connectivity between those payment methods and the billing system secure and doable? A library of robust APIs.

Supporting diverse ecosystems

For a hundred reasons, it's not uncommon for insurers to own and maintain several policy administration systems. It's also not unusual for those several PAS to feed a single billing system. That's ideal from a maintenance and training perspective and can make for a better and more consistent customer experience. It also can be a real challenge from an integration standpoint, unless the billing system can, again, expose the appropriate APIs, which eliminates the need for custom code to connect the billing system to the policy system.

This goes for integrations with InsurTechs, partners, and distribution channels, as well. Insurers partner with them because they offer valuable experiences and products. But to leverage those capabilities, insurers frequently will need to integrate them with their core tech systems in order to make them scalable, and of course, create bills and collect customer payments.

What's next?

Not long ago, the idea that customers could service their own accounts with a smartphone — rather than over the phone through a CSR or even by mail — seemed like a moonshot to insurers anchored to legacy systems. Sadly, even some newer solutions lack the openness and connectivity — the APIs — necessary to offer the conveniences customers have come to expect from other shopping experiences.

Now, as in the past, the challenge is the billing system itself. It's not a lack of vision or desire on the part of business or IT. But insurers have a responsibility to their customers and stakeholders to keep pace with the consumer expectations and offer complete and contemporary customer experiences. And, finally, the technology is available for insurers to make that real.

Rita Iorfida (riorfida@eisgroup.com) is vice president of Product Strategy — Financials at EIS Group. She has more than 30 years of experience in the software industry, spanning full product lifecycle; customer and professional services; business development, and product management. For the past decade, she has provided insurance software solutions for personal, commercial, and benefits insurance markets, with a concentration on billing, commissions, and financial systems.

These opinions are the author's own.

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