Due to rising consumer expectations, new technologies and the widening workforce skills gap,insurance agencies and companies are pressured to evolve their business models to meet the industry's new demands. While the industry promises growth, nearly every role within the company, from customer service representatives to actuaries, will be impacted by the evolution of technological capability.
Insurance companies are modernizing their systems, moving away from legacy computer systems to implement automation, self-service features, and access to real-time information to meet customer expectations. Big data, predictive analytics, online chat and even email have changed the way that insurance professionals conduct business on a day-to-day basis.
Because of this, all operational insurance workers must be technologically savvy and improve their communication skills to better serve their clients with the help of these new systems and modalities. Technological evolution has prompted the necessity of transferrable and universal business skills that cut across all facets of the industry.
Cross-Cutting Skills:
The College for America Workforce Strategy Report, "Six Insurance Jobs Affected by Growing Customer Centricity and New Technology" details the changing responsibilities of six key positions—customer service representative, insurance sales agent, business analyst, claims adjuster, examiner or investigator, insurance underwriter and actuary—and the involvement of technology in their daily work function, and the effect that technology has on the demand, job outlook, wage and education requirements for each.
Click through the following slides for the profiles of six key insurance positions and the technological impact on the role.
Customer Service Representative
2012 Demand: 289,000
2012-2022 Projected Increase: 8%
Median Wage: $30,580
Education: High School Diploma
Phones are no longer the only mode of communication for customer service representatives, as email, online chat and social media have come to the forefront in recent years. These modalities are perpetuating a greater need for written communication skills, as well as active listening, to establish a sense of connectedness between the representative and client.
But customer service representatives are also continually being fed customer data from across the Internet within their business systems (collectively known as big data). Customer service reps must learn how to use the right information to inform and engage with their customers with products that will likely be of interest to them.
Insurance Sales Agent
2012 Demand: 346,000
2012-2022 Projected Increase: 12%
Median Wage: $48,150
Education: Associate's or Bachelor's Degree
For insurance sales agents, knowing how to use predictive analytics and customer segmenting technologies are important in identifying prospective clients, as well as what kinds of services prospective (and current) clients will need.
Business Analyst
2012 Demand: 42,300
2012-2022 Projected Increase: 26.2%
Median Wage: $79,680
Education: Associate's or Bachelor's Degree
Technology not only impacts the role of a business analyst, but it is primarily the driving force for an increased demand within the next several years. Because the role is ushering in upgrades as organizations shift from legacy systems to new platforms, the number of business analyst positions in the insurance industry continues to rise.
Claims Adjuster, Examiner or Investigator
2012 Demand: 208,000
2012-2022 Projected Increase: 6%
Median Wage: $59,960
Education: Bachelor's Degree
As insurance agencies shift from paper-based claims to paperless systems, claims staff have greater access to the information they need to facilitate claims processing. However, this information needs to be accessible, meaning that they need to be able to easily navigate databases and computer systems.
At the same time, many insurance companies have implemented cutting edge technologies to empower clients. Smartphone apps, in particular, have changed the way that clients report losses, calculate liability, estimate damages and retrieve more information about their claims. This self-service model has alleviated some of the manual tasks that were previously performed by claims staff, but the instantaneous nature of new technologies have increased customer expectations to have their claims settled more quickly. Moving forward, claims staff must rely on the speed and automation of the modern computer systems to maintain client satisfaction.
Insurance Underwriter
2012 Demand: 95,300
2012-2022 Projected Increase: -7%
Median Wage: $62,870
Education: Bachelor's Degree
As automation continues to proliferate throughout the industry, the number of underwriters is projected to decrease because some of their functions are becoming computerized. Underwriters may want to learn responsibilities of other positions within the company, and perhaps pursue higher education so that they can shift into a different role should their role be eliminated.
Actuary
2012 Demand: 13,000
2012-2022 Projected Increase: 22%
Median Wage: $93,680
Education: Bachelor's or Master's Degree
Predictive data analytics and large data sets help actuaries improve the precision of product pricing and risk assessment. Moving forward, actuaries should learn how to use more complex data dashboards.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.