In this age of increasing regulation, automation and profit pressures, insurance carriers can't lose sight of what makes the industry tick: helping people.
It sounds trite, but when you ask agents what they like best about their job, it's working with customers to solve their problems. Agents don't want to be collection agents, sales people or IT administrators. They want to be educators, guides and advocates for their customers.
But the push for speed, convenience and cost savings promised by automated technologies, artificial intelligence and robo-advisors threaten the concept of agent as friend and advisor.
The question is, should we care? Do people even want a human touch in insurance? And, can carriers afford to continue to invest in human interaction when advanced technology and automation is becoming so accessible?
The answer is yes to all, but getting there will require carriers to be realistic, attentive and somewhat creative in how they balance the automated and human elements of their business. The power to create more agent "heroes" than casualties is in their hands.
The hard part is how — especially when customer feedback can be conflicting and the potential business benefits of automation are hard to resist. Customers clearly want to be able to do some tasks by themselves, but don't want to be abandoned when they have more complicated needs.
A recent CEB TowerGroup Insurance report showed that while 40% of the consumers it surveyed prefer to conduct research on insurance-related products online or via a mobile app, 63% prefer to speak to an agent when it's time to make a purchase.
Guiding customers through their options and addressing their fears are the core value-add services that agents perform. This is the work that machines and automation can never fully displace, and that carriers must continue to value, even as efficiencies are gained through robotics and automation.
At the same time, data complexity is increasing. When 80% of agents surveyed for a Celent report admit that they are having trouble analyzing data fast enough to meet customer demands, it's clear that these technologies can play an important role in empowering both customers and agents.
How can carriers use the promise of artificial intelligence while balancing it against product and data complexity and the customer's emotional needs? Here are four things to keep in mind:
1. Use machines for enhancement, not replacement
In other words, use machines for the things they do best, not as a wholesale replacement of your human workforce. Focus your IT investments on providing agents, underwriters and customer service respresentatives with better data and tools that free them up from mundane administrative tasks. The result will be faster, better decisions and smoother customer service, along with a more productive — and happier — agent army powered by the best automated weaponry.
2. Play to the strengths of your human workforce
Human judgment is the missing link in today's artificial intelligence and robo-technologies, and it is critical to the decision-making process.
Only so many factors in policymaking can be reduced to a set of pre-established rules. The experience and judgment of an agent — often in collaboration with an underwriter — is essential to understanding customer needs, properly gauging risk, and making the right policy decisions.
3. Help your agents be more than just salespeople
Agents are playing an increasingly vital and diverse role as the variety and complexity of policy choices proliferate — particularly for complex personal lines and commercial customers. They are not just policy brokers; they are educators, guides and confidants. Not only do buyers want them to play these roles, but you do too because they equip your agents to drive sales, increase up- and cross-selling, and inspire enduring loyalty to your brand.
4. Don't rely on demographics alone
Millennials may be driving the demand for automated self-service digital offerings today, but their insurance needs will inevitably evolve and become more complex over time. They'll eventually need more detailed and nuanced policies and, consequently, the more sophisticated guidance that only a human agent can provide.
But even as millennials age and seek guidance, their expectations will differ from previous generations. Agents empowered by artificial intelligence and the data required to anticipate need and action will be key to making and keeping this connection.
5. Remember: Insurance is a relationship business
While customers may be more than willing to explore and compare options online, when it comes to more complicated decisions about policies and claims, only a real person will do.
According to a survey conducted by Allianz, 69% of baby boomers and Generation Xers said they do not trust advice found online and prefer to build personal relationships. These are fruitful opportunities for you to use your network of agents whose empathy, knowledg, and support can strengthen customer relationships for the long term.
Make no mistake about it, there's a war going on in the insurance industry. Disruptors are shaking its foundation with robot warriors poised to take down the establishment. But long-standing carriers can survive and even thrive in this new future if they enlist and empower their partners — the agents — in defending the true reason of why they are here: To help people make good decisions, feel cared for and get back on their feet after loss. After all, isn't that what heroes do?
Lisa Woodley is vice president of digital experience at NTT Data Americas, an IT services company.
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