While the insurance industry was an early adopter of mobile technology for basic communication functions, it has lagged in developing and implementing internal and customer-facing applications.
Strategy Meets Action's most recent report, "The Mobile Technology Universe: Current Usage and Future Opportunities for Insurers," finds that a mere 15 percent of insurers utilize custom mobile apps for employees (captive agents, adjusters, etc.) and 13 percent offer apps for business partners, such as independent agents and third-party adjusters.
Similar numbers are seen with regard to customer-facing apps: 22 percent of insurers have deployed sales-oriented apps (product information, quotes) while 18 percent have deployed service-oriented apps (claims, inquiries).
These comparable numbers reflect the fact that app experimentation has thus far been privy to top-tier insurers, generally those bringing in $1 billion or more in claims per year, according to the report.
