The image of the insurance company as warren of paperwork has persisted because the paper itself has persisted.
A new
The report notes that while traditional channels such as physical mail and phone are still heavily used for communications with intermediaries and policyholders, communicating effectively via e-mail and Web are now critical capabilities for insurers. Based on a survey of 77 insurers, the report reveals that close to a quarter of insurers plan to have strong mobile capabilities within 24 months. Moreover, the report finds that while paper volumes are still high for policy issuance, billing and commission statements, only two-thirds of insurers report “heavy” use of physical mail in these communications with policyholders.
Interestingly, the phone remains a highly popular means of communication especially during the underwriting process, with more than half of insurers report heavy usage of both the phone channel and e-mail channel during underwriting, according to the report. Since the new technologies are more likely complementing than supplanting the older ones, the report foresees insurers having to juggle multiple channels for some time.
“Different elements of insurers’ communications are shifting at different speeds, and older channels are not going away,” notes Matthew Josefowicz, partner and managing director at Novarica and lead author of the study. “This creates additional burden on and confusion for insurer CIOs, who are required to invest in supporting new channels without being able to shutter older channels.”
