I’m a child of the 80s. Some might say I'm a Generation Xer, some might say I'm from Generation Y, others might describe me as a Millennial. Regardless of what you call me, if you're going to sell me something, it better involve technology.
You see, my life revolves around technology. I grew up with computers, just like a previous generation grew up with TV. I use a branchless bank. I stream my television content. I use social media to communicate with my friends. I don't like paper. Technology makes my life easier.
So you can imagine as I looked at career possibilities, I never saw myself working for the insurance industry. I hardly knew anything about it actually, except that it didn't seem like an industry that was very innovative or technologically advanced.
What I do remember was sitting at my insurance agent’s desk watching him use an Oregon Trail-looking application. And recalled the many times I had to send a fax to change my policy. Or had been directed to call the insurer’s corporate headquarters to file a claim and in the process repeat my member ID over and over during the same conversation. Or not being able to know the impact that a change to my policy would have on my bill.
But I've been watching over the last several years as an entire industry re-evaluates itself and rethinks how it does business and markets itself to me—a member of the next generation of consumers. But there’s still a long way to go. I’d like to see:
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For me and my generation, these will be welcome developments for a couple of reasons.
First, we’re digital natives. There aren’t too many facets of our lives that haven’t gone electronic. For me, my church giving and insurance may be all that remains. Although insurance has been a bit slow on the uptake, it’s truly gratifying to see an entire industry take my generation seriously, incorporate our needs into their overall strategies, accommodate to our lifestyles, and view us as something worth investing in.
Second, now that the industry has begun to reverse course and is upping its technology game, my generation has another employment option, which we most likely would not have considered otherwise. No, it’s not true that we all want to work at Apple or Google, but we do want to invest our considerable talents in an industry that has interesting problems to solve and, more importantly, an environment that shares our enthusiasm and trust for technology.
I look forward to watching technology shape insurance innovation. Who knows—maybe this is the year experiments like usage-based insurance will become a reality. The battle for the hearts of my generation is on. Only the tech-savvy carriers and agents will triumph.
David Ollila is responsible for client development at X by 2, Inc., an application and data architecture consultancy, in Farmington Hills, MI, specializing in insurance technology transformations. He can be reached at dollila@xby2.com.
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