Top 10 Mobile Insurance Trends

March 4, 2013 11:50 AM

Technology in the hands of businessmen

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In new reserch, Strategy Meets Action offers insurers 10 of the most pertinent mobile business needs. This comes on the heels of SMAs annual Insurance Ecosystem research, which tracks IT spending plans and this year highlighted mobile as a key area, with 42 percent of property/casualty insurers and 27 percent of life and annuity insurers increasing spending in 2013. The trends are broken up into two groups, the first is related to content, and the second, technology.

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Business Capability Bundling

Insurance apps that provide one narrow capability, such as a rate quoter or an agent locator, have not met with great success.

Mobile Payments

Mobile payment services such as Square and PayPal are becoming well known and growing in usage. Insurers that distribute through agents should consider providing such a method for collecting payment on-the-go.

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Location-Based Services

Location is rapidly becoming important for many industries. In the context of insurance, the ability to provide insureds with real-time location-based risk information and advice is an emerging opportunity.

Hand holding mobile smart phone with success chart on screen. Isolated on white.

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Usage-Based Insurance (Telematics)

Although early initiatives in North America have concentrated on leveraging mobile driving data for premium discounts, the model is likely to evolve to include a wide variety of value-added services.

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Mobile Advertising

With little tolerance left in consumers when it comes to pop-up ads, etc., its become a question of how to approach the space.

Male shopper clicking photograph of product's information at supermarket

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Rich Media (HTML5, Image Capture, etc.)

Individuals are demanding visual, colorful, and animated interactions with computing and mobile devices. Every industry should be considering both the customer experience and the entertainment, or 'wow' factor, in the capabilities they provide to their customers.

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MDM/BYOD Mobile Device Management

Insurers are faced with determining how to best integrate personal mobile devices into the companys IT ecosystem while maintaining the required levels of security and privacy especially when employees are dealing with customer information.

Modern metallic notebook computer with metro icons on display isolated on white background

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Mobile User Interface Design

The traditional design approach for back-office transaction systems or websites won't work. Designers must consider the interaction modalities available for mobile devices (pinch, swipe, tap, voice command, etc.), and the device form factors (screen size and shape).

Cloud computing technology service concept: business office laptop or notebook, tablet PC computer and modern black glossy touchscreen smartphone with blue sky and clouds on screen isolated on white background with reflection effect

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Cross-Platform Enablement

The ideal approach for insurers creating apps is to write once, deploy everywhere, but to achieve this, enlisting help is required.

Tablet Proliferation

Tablets are a natural extension for the many and varied insurance professionals working in the field.