Customer service

Why the worldwide commercial auto manager has her eye on Uber, driverless cars, and more.

Any given application may be the only point of contact a customer has with an insurer -- so it's important to take their experience seriously from the start.

Everyone is talking about the digital experience, but what does it really mean to go digital?

Insurers have strived to keep pace with consumer technologies and ever more-sophisticated expectations around the customer experience, and now carriers like USAA are banding together with Google Compare and other insurance aggregation sites to offer consumers a new way to shop for and purchase auto insurance.

Professional services company Towers Watson has agreed to acquire Brovada, a Canadian insurance technology business best known for the BrovadaOne platform, an application for integrating and automating interactions between insurers, and their agents and brokers.

Insurance core systems technology company Insurity Inc. now offers integration with Social Media Risk Scoring, predictive analytics technology from tech firm Social intelligence.

The Canadian insurer is allowing customers and advisors to opt for voice recognition over manual password entry in the contact center.

Allstate’s Drivewise Mobile application now features Allstate Rewards, which safe drivers now can use to earn points for deals on merchandise, gift cards and local offers, regardless of whether they have an insurance policy with Allstate.

The company’s new Prime initiative releases unbound web quotes to independent agents.

Members of the IAT Insurance Group have implemented the electronic signatures application in an effort to improve internal processes, ease of doing business for independent agents, and delivering a better customer experience.

The idea that someone could tarnish a brand name by cyber- squatting on, say, Vodafone.sucks, ManchesterUnited.sucks or LloydsBank.sucks led to a flurry of registrations by the companies themselves. To take control of their trademarks on this domain, firms had to cough up around $2,500 per year.

The health insurer is offering American Well telehealth services to its members.

By asking the right questions, and offering the time to understand and explain coverages to consumers, independent agents are creating value to consumers, says Bill Wilson, CPCU and associate VP of education and research for Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. In the second part of this exclusive interview, Wilson discusses Google Compare, the differences in policies, and how insurers can differentiate themselves in a crowded field.

In the week since the release of the Celent report “Machine Intelligence in Insurance: Designing the Aware Machine,” I have been involved in several fascinating discussions around a new level of personalization in insurance.

Novarica president and CEO Matt Josefowicz says that recent carrier developments prove that 2015 was a banner year for insurance leadership in technology.

Clements Worldwide, provider of international car, property, term life, health, specialty and high-risk coverages for expatriates and international organizations, has deployed a direct-to-consumer portal using ISCS’ SurePower Innovation. The insurer completed the implementation of the policy, billing, claims and underwriting components of SurePower Innovation last year.

As direct sales, online comparative raters and insurance aggregators gain visibility in the U.S. market, independent agents continue to offer value to both consumers and insurers, says Bill Wilson, CPCU and associate VP of education and research for Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. In the first part of this exclusive interview, Wilson discusses trends in insurance distribution, the differences in claims experiences and the fact that not all policies are created equally.

Answering these questions can help carriers determine their paths given changing customer needs and a more competitive landscape, according to “Capturing the insurance customer of tomorrow,” a white paper from Accenture.

The insurer, which produces as many as 10,000 documents per day, deployed Xpertdoc’s CCM solution to streamline and update their billing processes, enabling control over document content and design, Xpertdoc said.

Latest version of insurers' EACCESS portal features policyholder capabilities in addition to agents.