Upon examining the issue of innovation in insurance—particularly in the eyes of North American consumers—the insurance research and advisory firm Celent concluded that their research upheld several assumptions about the service functions provided by insurers and challenged other long-held views.

With mobile technology, one of the areas where most insurers are looking to become innovative, Mike Fitzgerald, a senior analyst in Celent's insurance practice, found that a long-held belief that the use of mobile systems is generational seems to be false.

"All age groups and customer types are looking at using mobile," he says.

The home computer and the work computer remain the top forms for service by insurance customers, but Fitzgerald points out that mobile technology comes in a strong third.

The assumptions that the Celent survey challenges were:

The greatest opportunity for mobile service lies with tech-savvy consumers and mobile platforms should be designed and marketed to this group.
Young people want to receive customer service only on the web.

As for the conclusions the Celent survey upheld, Fitzgerald reports they are:

Consumers have and use a variety of technology options in their service interactions.
Users have distinctly different preferences concerning customer service that vary based on the type of transaction for which they seek assistance.
Consumers seek service methods that offer maximum convenience, ease-of-use, and speed.

"What came across with this study is a continued focus on mobile development for customer service," says Fitzgerald. "It's not just for the look-up type things; people want to have self-service on mobile platforms."

Over the next year, Fitzgerald believes it will be interesting to observe how the mobile interface works out, particularly touch screen or voice response on a mobile platform.

"That helps with some of the data input or prefill services that companies provide," he says. "Those are ways the platforms can be improved and get around data input problems."

Insurers are investing in informational mobile services rather than transactional, according to Fitzgerald.

"It's going to be a continued area of focus for the next year," he says. "When people figure out how to do more transactions—creative ideas that come from solving that problem—is anybody's guess, but it will remain a focus. Certainly customers will continue to look for it."

Tablets might prove to be the next battleground for customer self-service innovation because of their form might be more successful and meet more needs, explains Fitzgerald.

"My vision is you have a tablet that plugs into a docking station," he says. "That could replace what we traditionally think of as the home PC. I see it surrounded by equipment that makes it look and feel like a PC so you can pop it into your cradle and use a full keyboard and a full monitor and wirelessly connect to your printer. It won't be the tablet alone."

Fitzgerald maintains the convergence of what you can do on a tablet and the speed in which they operate is more about peripherals.

"What peripherals can keep you productive in terms of storage, memory, and speed?" asks Fitzgerald. "There is no advantage to having a tower next to your desk anymore."

Special Reports /

Innovation Important—Even for the Young at Heart

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