Mobile devices are swiftly taking over the world. Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc. reported earlier this year that it expects mobile phones to overtake PCs as the most common Web-accessible devices worldwide by 2013. And by 2015, Gartner says that smartphones will overtake the PC as the most common primary device for Web access. Given these stats, insurers should be cognizant of the way the wind is blowing when it comes to developing or refining their mobile strategies.
Gartner also warns that this shift means that many websites will need to be reformatted or rebuilt. Because mobile device users typically make fewer "clicks" on a website than PC users, any websites not optimized for smaller screen formats risk reduced customer interaction and fewer transactions. This could be a serious problem for insurers that have finally embraced the Web as a sales, service and interaction channel.
Given Gartner's ominous prediction of lost online customer engagement opportunities, insurers should be looking to marry their social media and mobility strategies. With social media's ability to enable insurers to have direct contact with their customers, a blending of the two strategies could negate any potential interaction losses.
Ellen Carney, senior analyst with Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass., already has seen a number of carriers beginning to merge the two. For example, she says, insurers are using Twitter to send weather alerts, especially recently with Hurricane Earl, to peoples' mobile phones.
"Insurers will do this to show consumers that they're acting as their protectors," Carney says. "Another added benefit of this interaction is if they help people be safer on the road, they'll see fewer claims. We're going to see more types of user-friendly applications like this. Insurers recognize people are tuning into to the news via Facebook and Twitter, and are going to take advantage of that on mobile devices."
Allstate Insurance Co., Northbrook, Ill., designed its mobile application strategy around extending connectivity to customers, and delivering relevant, useful information via the mobile device.
Roger Tye, Allstate's director, consumer engagement, says that the company's social media and mobile sides work very closely together. "It really just goes back to the consumer," he says. "People are on Facebook, so we have social aspects to our mobile apps. We're very much thinking of the two as linked. Since mobile is the way that customers access the Web, and social is what people are using when they're there, it's now harder to pull them apart than it is to link them."
The key for Allstate is making sure it can connect with existing customers in ways that are relevant to them. "Life is constantly changing," Tye explains, "and so too is the way people interact-it's changed dramatically. [The Nielsen Co.] says that 45% of people will have smartphones in the U.S. by Q3 this year. Morgan Stanley says that by 2014, mobile will eclipse desktop, so it's become this new mass medium, and we need to be there and have ways to interact with our audience."
Tye believes insurers shouldn't worry about developing apps for mobile use versus website functionality, and should instead concentrate on giving users as many capabilities as possible via their mobile devices.
"The phone has become an extension of the person," he says. "It's important to focus on their ability to get to websites and mobile-optimized websites."
Mobile apps also will evolve for carriers' own needs, specifically, in claims, which should see development in the year ahead.
"It's about extending the use of mobile devices past just your sales force and getting it more deeply embedded in your claims operations," says Karen Pauli-Bradshaw, research director, insurance with Needham, Mass.-based TowerGroup. "The real trend next year will be about not mandating the device, but about creating apps that aren't device-specific, but device-agnostic. Some forward-thinking carriers are already doing this, but it's just starting to expand and grow."
However, Forrester's Carney is astounded that claims adjusters are still not fully leveraging mobile technologies in the field. She acknowledges that she has seen adjusters often use tools that have the friendliest form factor, such as clipboards and paper, and then go back to the office and use their tablets to do the rest of the work.
Further, Pauli-Bradshaw notices a disturbing trend among insurers that think once they develop a claims app for a certain type of tablet, they're finished. "Technology is going to be evolving so quickly that you can't just look at it on a project basis-it should be viewed as a strategic direction for the long haul."
