Here at BrokerIQ, we believe that technology in insurance is the future of our industry.
With over 60 Insurtech companies here in Ireland alone, it’s clear to see why there is a heightened interest and investment in the area.
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We have isolated the 5 reasons why we know tech is here to play a major role in our advice industry, as well as how you can truly benefit from these advances.
The Rise of Technology in Insurance.
Like ‘The Terminator’ arising from the raging flames or the final scene in ‘Endgame’ (no spoilers here folks!), technology has crept up on us here in the insurance industry, and in some cases, quite unexpectedly.
In the past, the fax machine was revolutionary. E-mail was life-changing. But now, with smart devices, online communication and storage platforms and the increase of online insurance brokers, it’s impossible to ignore the inevitable; tech is here to stay.
And, to be clear, this is no bad thing.
Technology has not only begun to revolutionise the insurance sector, but it has also transformed our world forever. Gone are the days of filling in long, arduous paper forms when applying for well, anything. Communication techniques are unrecognisable from what they were 20 years ago.
Even how we expect to be entertained has evolved in the form of Netflix and Amazon T.V.
The Digital Transformation
There’s no doubt that digital transformation has begun.
Source: FinTech Global
A tsunami of capital is pouring into the InsurTech industry. It’s fairly evident investors are seeing this section of the global economy as untapped and ready to bring forth true value and profit.
Although the insurance industry has always been quite traditional by nature, reverting to paper and pen time and time again, it is important now for all involved to sit up and take notice of what’s swirling all around us. Tides are changing!
Otherwise, there is the risk of being left out at sea without a paddle!
Insurance Software Companies
Since the Pandemic, we have seen many more technological advances to help modernise the insurance industry.
Check out a few of these Irish and UK-based tech companies below, that could be of great benefit to you and your company.
Insurtech companies such as:
- ‘Cushla’: Cushla is a mobile app that lets you store your healthcare data and share it with your healthcare practitioners.
- Managemy: With ManageMy no-code platform, you can create your own digital insurance customer ecosystem, increasing revenues through new opportunities to engage and reducing costs via digitization.
- Onlineapplication: OnlineApplication helps lenders (banks or otherwise), loan officers, and brokers facilitate a smooth & transparent customer journey in less time and at a lower cost. Built-in compliance, communications, biometrics, audit, workflows, and business intelligence means that you can focus on what matters most – “building relationships”.
- Geoinsure: Geoinsure’s Quote Video platform is a new and innovative SaaS platform for personal lines and commercial lines insurers. Enabling your customers to capture photos and videos of their cars, homes and businesses using their smartphone, providing a visual record for risk and fraud assessment either using AI or visually by an underwriter.
- ‘Piprate’: Piprate is the leading blockchain-based data exchange platform for the insurance industry, enabling the secure transfer of data between parties.
The secure data transfer protocol uses cutting-edge blockchain and cryptographic technologies to make data exchange more secure and efficient.
And;
- ‘Gatepost’: Gatepost offers an innovative approach for collecting verified information from your customer.
This mobile-first technology captures the required risk and rating data from official documents the applicant possesses.
For car insurance, they can obtain proof of identity, address, previous insurance, driving experience, car ownership, mileage and much more.
As well as providing verified underwriting data during the quotation stage, Gatepost helps automate the document validation process after the policy is bought.
All welcome components to our new way of working. These are powerful offerings from the tech sector to help brokers carry out their work more efficiently and effectively.
Broker Tools
However, some tech companies have gone one step further.
There are now Broker tools, available to all-sized companies, that offer a whole new perspective on how a standard work day of a broker might look.
These tools have changed the trajectory of our industry, setting it on a course that will safeguard its future, particularly from insurance robots that would have swallowed them up whole.
Tools such as:
Insurtech Company, our own, ‘BrokerIQ’:
BrokerIQ is the only software that sits between the broker and the client.
The Customer Engagement platform was built specifically for mortgage and insurance brokers to communicate and share documents whilst giving clients a place to upload and access all of their financial data – all in one digital wallet.
BrokerIQ offers brokers an array of features, not seen in our market, from sustainability, PDF direct upload, private and secure chat features, safe, online storage of policies and documents, automated policy renewal reminders, branded automated messages and both a broker and client app.
Everyone loves an app!
It’s your entire day wrapped up in one online space. Essentially offering a bulletproof customer retention system for those who have onboarded with the platform.
- Insurtech Company, EPayPolicy :
Has also put its name into the hat.
Is a payment processing solution designed to help businesses in the insurance sector collect credit card and ACH payments from policyholders. The centralised dashboard enables administrators to track transactions, access electronic receipts, control user permissions, and check transaction status in real-time.
A real asset to the sector.
There is no hiding from the fact that technology is here and that we are all benefiting from its offerings.
If you need a little more encouragement and convincing on the matter, check out these 5 reasons why we believe that tech will continue to play a substantial, if not essential part in the insurance sector of the future.
The need for instantaneous gratification.
Generation Z, the future customers of the insurance sector, has only ever experienced satisfaction, without delay. Customers expect almost instantaneous answers to their questions, short waiting times for their policy estimate and an app to have full access to EVERYTHING within moments.
This need for speed is not necessarily a bad thing, as it is forcing companies to offer more customer-centric products that meet their needs fully.
This can only ever be a positive thing.
You can be sure that competitors also know this and are making changes to their systems and apparatus as a whole.
The rise in hybrid style working environments.
The Pandemic.
The complete overhaul of work life as we know it, for all industries.
A new world of Zoom, Teams.
The world has learned a lot since March 2020. The absolute necessity for the technology to communicate with loved ones was invaluable. But it also made working from home, for a lot of people, very ‘do-able’.
Many have reassessed the nature of their work life and how, for many, the long, monotonous morning commute, sitting in a cramped office space and eating on the go, wasn’t something that they wanted from life.
Countless have rebalanced their work-life flow. They feel that they can achieve almost, if not all of what they could achieve in a business environment, from the comfort of their home.
Full technology integration has offered these people this choice.
For those of us in an advisory industry such as insurance, it was evident pretty early on who had begun the process of integrating software into their normal practice.
And who had not.
However, all was not lost for these individuals and companies who hadn’t dipped their toes into the unknown… i.e. new software.
Very often, due to the nature of how these tools and platforms were built, the integration setup was quick and painless.
These amazing tech companies not only offered a superior alternative to the now outdated way of offering insurance, but they had support teams, onboarding teams and help centres available to offer guidance when needed.
The transition to tech was sweet and simple.
Technology has offered the broker options to have a more hybrid style of work, from both home and the workplace.
This is not to say that technology can replace the human connections so often needed in our industries. Trust is crucial for many during the journey of purchasing and maintaining products.
New automations and programs simply enable and elevate the broker to a new level of excellence and value.
Future leads and clients will expect nothing less.
The world now functions online. Particularly in business. If brokers aren’t offering a slick website with all the bells, future leads will simply bounce on through, looking for a place where the ‘window dressing’ is much more hip.
Essentially a firm or business’s webpage is a potential client’s first impression of a company. If it’s lacking in branding, depth, options, security, detailed information on what the values of the business are, blogs, product overviews, contact options and team members available to connect with, you can bet your bottom dollar the new lead will be gone within a millisecond.
They simply click the next result for ‘Insurance brokers Near Me’ and do not give you a second thought.
Having a strong online presence instils a perception of professionalism. That the firm and its staff are reliable and experienced in what advice and products they offer.
People are beginning to expect regular and consistent social posts on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and even TickToc.
Updating clients on what’s new in the company, how changes in legislation may affect them or even changes in the financial markets, all generate the notion that the company or broker is current, keen and passionate about their sector and the value they can add to others lives.
“We’re all living more digitally – enriched lives, meaning that our technology expectations as customers are continually rising – and clients will expect the same level of digital capability, tools and services from their financial advisers.”
Michelle Golunska, chief executive of Sesame Bankhill Group.
Promotes sustainability resulting in less waste.
The welcomed rise in our awareness of the carbon footprint left by human impact also plays its part in the popularity of technology in insurance sector.
Through the reduction of travel normally associated with the selling of insurance products as well as the almost complete eradication of paper formats, tech offers a much greener outlook for our industry.
In a recent study, it was revealed that Generation Z (those born somewhere between 1995 and 2010) is searching for more sustainable brands and products to purchase as opposed to those that have a larger carbon footprint.
In research recently carried out by First Sight in conjunction with the Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, It was noted that Generation Z, a more tech-savvy generation, are more aware of the environmental impact of business and will more often than not, choose a business or product based on its sustainability, rather than its brand name.
Source: First Sight
This study also revealed that Generation Z is having a massive influence on the thinking and decision-making of other generations. Even impacting Gen X’s and other groups’ choices, with increases in their purchasing decisions in relation to sustainability compared to several years ago.
Being an environmentally aware business offers Gen Z and increasingly other groups, a ticked box that so many see as non-negotiable. It’s a key selling point that is fairly easily achieved and is of benefit to all.
A win, win situation!
Improves workflow for brokers resulting in more value for clients.
It goes without saying that tech just makes things easier. For those brokers that have adapted and incorporated a form of insurtech into their business, they will undoubtedly only report good things.
“Since using the BrokerIQ, system we have been able to engage with clients more frequently and much more securely. With the BrokerIQ system I am able to get notifications from the app when a client is due, giving me the opportunity to get in touch with clients and get their deal renewed. It looks very profressional and keeps our business up to date with being able to get their information in a matter of seconds”
Jonathan Cowan
Technology in the insurance industry, like in any industry, is designed to help.
Many of these software programs offer automations of systems, from email sequences, social media campaigns, policy renewal reminders and much more.
By carrying the workload and in some cases, removing it from the broker’s hands completely, tech tools have offered back the gift of time to our industry.
Brokers now have the freedom to offer their customers the value and service they deserve through what they do best; imparting knowledge and expertise to those most in need of it.
Technology for Insurance Brokers is here to stay.
There’s little to argue about here.
As the world continues to modernise, the insurance industry, although some might say, a little late, has joined the tech game.
New startup companies and some of the more developed platforms are offering brokers a wealth of value and practicality with their creations. The insurance sector is beginning to avail of the significant shift technology has brought to their working lives.
Customer-centric business models are proving to be the most successful way forward in our industry and its core, running parallel and scaffolding our talented brokers and their work efforts, is;
Technology.