While digital tools provide consistency and efficiency to insurance processes, humans bring a healing touch. (Photo: ipopba/Adobe Stock)
"I love my bots because they don't have mood swings and are available 24/7," gushed a customer experience head during an industry round table recently. That set me thinking: the pandemic-induced reset of corporate history into BC (before COVID) and AC (after COVID) is truly a point of inflection in terms of the digital wave sweeping across the customer experience landscape in the insurance industry, and a year and a half into the pandemic, the accent has now subtly shifted from digitizing the physical to humanizing the digital.
At the onset of the pandemic
Clichéd as it may sound, necessity is the mother of invention. When contact centers had to be shut down, carriers ensured uninterrupted servicing via a seamless switch to digital servicing modes. Bots, customer portals, mobile apps and a plethora of other digital assets came to the fore for services across the spectrum (listed below), from policy issuance and claims to renewals.
Policy issuance: While this is the core product of the industry (every customer gets a policy but not every customer files a claim), the digital enablement of distributors by carriers, given that insurance is a push product, and, therefore, distribution-led, went a long way in terms of seamless issuance of policies to customers.
Claims: The claims process is the moment of truth in our business. Carriers have enabled automation & self-service across various products. In the unfortunate event of a car crash, customers no longer need to wait for physical inspection but can upload photographs of the car and get payments in minutes.
Renewals: The holy grail in the industry is the retention of the hard-won customer. In this context, the usage of data (given the higher customer digital footprint of late) has led to a frictionless renewal experience for good customers. Just click and pay is the norm.
Customer servicing: While contact centers were shut down, bots took over. Customers can get the same quality of servicing via the array of digital assets available.
Emerging into the new normal
On a philosophical note, while we spent the last year and a half knowing a lot about life but very little about the virus, given its various mutations, whenever the status quo morphs into the new normal, the future is likely to be exciting. Some aspects, such as work from home, digital servicing, will stay on. On some other aspects (conversational sale), the status quo ante is likely to be restored. Given below is a quick look at some of the salient features on this front.
'Phygital'
The fulfillment in our industry is, by its very nature, physical. For example, in the claims arena, while the processing can be digital, the fulfillment has to be physical. If there is a car crash, the car has to be repaired in a workshop! If a person is hospitalized, he has to be treated physically. So, the "phygital" (physical + digital) mode is expected to be the dominant one.
Touchless UI / UX (user experience)
The pandemic made all of us very wary of touch. Nobody wants to press the button in the elevator or the key in the ATM with his raw fingers! In this context, various carriers have deployed measures, ranging from a simple scan of bar codes to integration with a voice at the other end of the spectrum, to ensure a touchless user experience. This trend is likely to continue.
Rise of voice as a platform
The evolution of platforms continues to be an interesting arena! While we have moved from human voice (contact centers) to email to text-based servicing, the rise of voice (tech-enabled as opposed to human) gives rise to an array of services. For instance, if a customer checks for the nearest branch of a carrier using digital map services, a bot can pop up and prompt the customer for digital servicing, thereby obviating the need for a physical visit.
Video is the new book
Given the rapid shortening of attention spans, the use of bite-sized videos is gaining traction, be it in the form of video SOP's (standard operating procedures) for customers and partners or the use of video as a communication tool for self-service at the customer end in the form of quick "how-to" videos. Firms have also set up virtual branches wherein customers can interact with customer service representatives over a video call.
Conclusion
Since there is a born-again focus on empathy and a healing touch, the road ahead is a combination of the best that both man and machine can offer in their unique ways. While digital tools bring consistency and efficiency, humans bring a healing touch. As Elbert Hubbard said, "while one machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men, no machine can do the work of one extraordinary man! "
K V Dipu is president & head of operations and customer service at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, which is ranked No. 8 amongst the global top 100 digital insurers. He has led numerous industry leadership, digital transformation and innovation projects at Bajaj Allianz as well as at GE Capital, where he worked for nearly two decades prior to his move to Bajaj Allianz. Dipu is an award-winning industry leader, speaker and writer. He has won numerous accolades and is a certified lean six sigma black belt. During his distinguished career spanning over 25 years, his forte has been combining digital transformation & innovation with deep domain expertise & six sigma rigor to redesign the business model for strategic impact.
The opinions expressed here are of the author.
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