The early days of my career in insurance were spent with a carrier in the IT department, where "speed-to-market" was the mantra keeping us focused on developing new products. The goal was to develop and deploy these products as quickly as possible to maximize market opportunity and gain market share before our competitors had a chance to catch up with copycat offerings.
Since those early days, I've had the opportunity to work on all sides of the speed-to-market technology equation. Having worked with a vendor when tools- and rules-based systems were still in their infancy, I've seen the carrier community embrace these systems and leverage them to take advantage of the deep functionality sets, configurability options and all the flexibility that the new technologies offer.
With these new capabilities, carrier IT departments can now develop and deliver new products much more quickly. The rapid industry adoption of tools- and rules-based solutions has made these systems mainstream offerings, affording carriers a wide range of product options.
Crossing The Channel
While developing and getting new products into the system has become a much more efficient process, getting those products in the hands of a carrier's multiple distribution and service channels is quite another challenge. Each user channel requires a unique and high-quality experience. Each has its own capability and process requirements, security needs, user rights, functionality, varying languages, currency and more. With a wide range of stakeholders that include external users (agents, brokers, consumers) combined with all of the internal carrier users (adjusters, customer service reps, call centers, claims professionals, management), what's a carrier to do?
Now that the back office systems are in order (or at least in better order) carriers are turning their attention to the outward-facing user interfaces-the presentation layer, if you will. With the ongoing challenge of multiple back office systems (policy admin, claims, billing, rating, etc.)-some old, some new-still commonplace in most carriers, the complexity of managing the user interfaces is only exacerbated.
Some carrier CIOs are hiring small armies of Java and .Net programmers to focus on the user interfaces, but carriers need to be sure to build a team that is experienced in front-end applications and all the related interface, security, performance and constantly changing Web nuances. And, there is the always-present risk of losing these much sought-after IT professionals, tempted away by attractive job opportunities.
There also is a plethora of vendor solutions with a focus on delivering a quality "user experience," often limited to each vendor's respective application, which typically only supports a single channel-agency/broker submissions and communications, call centers, consumers, etc. Much like the age-old problem of siloed back office systems, a similar problem is brewing as multiple front-end point solutions create silos of users, resulting in significant maintenance challenges.
However, carriers don't need to be destined to repeat their siloed past. Just as tools- and rules-based systems simplified product development and delivery, these same concepts can simplify the user presentation layer and accommodate the variety of users and multiple distribution channels.
By focusing on the user experience, this new layer of application, the presentation layer, can handle all the user and interface challenges such as Web delivery, security, multiple languages, differing browsers, mobile devices, etc. There is no longer the need to tackle this same set of challenges for each and every core application. Changes or enhancements made to the presentation layer, essentially affect all the back office systems without having to take the time and effort to retrofit changes to each system.
Whenit comes to delivering the ideal user experience, the European market is further along than the United States, with many European companies hiring presentation layer, architects who specialize in delivering effective and efficient user interfaces. While an architect of core systems uses rules-based offerings that focus on functionality and data, the presentation layer architect looks to rules-based solutions that focus on usability to make the interface intuitive for every user, regardless of the user's discipline.
Whether delivering products to multiple distribution channels, providing a single view of the customer to the customer service representative, or reaching the consumer directly, the presentation layer manages the needs and preferences of each user type, while shielding the users from the complexity of multiple back office systems. From the user standpoint, they are accessing a single system with a customized user interface, regardless of the patchwork of old and new systems behind the scenes. How much simpler could the user experience be?
With customer service quickly becoming a competitive differentiator for carriers, the user presentation layer is now a critical component to delivering the highest-quality services. As technology advances, as mobile devices become more commonplace and as tech-savvy generations flood into the workplace and consumer market, easy access and simple-to-use technology are what is expected, rather than a nice to have. Those carriers that address the presentation layer today will gain the advantage, while others will be looking at their presentation layer later in order to play competitive catch up.
Wendy Corman is president, North America for Farmington, Conn.-based edge IPK.
