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Core
Topic
Industry Applications: TPSS: Touchpoint Systems and Strategies
Key
Issue
How will evolving bank priorities and focus drive touchpoint architecture
and design?
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As
competition skyrockets in the insurance industry, insurers are evaluating
existing and emerging strategies to maintain competitiveness. A
key to this evaluation is the identification of methods to support
customer acquisition, enhance customer relationship management (CRM)
and promote business efficiency. Technology plays an important role
in meeting each of these goals. As a result, in 2001, insurance
organizations will upgrade their technology infrastructures and
incorporate new technologies that will assist in traditional and
e-marketplaces.
Gartner
has identified eight key technologies that will be essential to
insurance providers in 2001. Each should be evaluated as to its
relevance to the industry segment, distribution model and business
model of the insurer.
- Data
management and application technologies.
Financial services providers (FSPs) increasingly want more-detailed
information on their customers (e.g., a complete listing of their
products, life events information, transaction patterns, channel
preferences). This cannot be accomplished without efficient and
up-to-date data procedures and the application of data analytics
to mine customer data for patterns. As insurers arm themselves
for growing competition, data will be the foundation for customer
service for effective cross-selling and higher service quality.
- CRM
solutions. Insurers will continue to evaluate CRM solutions
that include front- and back-office components. These solutions
will enable all sales and service channels to have data access
via a central vehicle.
- Legacy
enhancements. Most insurance organizations spent substantial
amounts of resources on making their legacy systems year-2000
compliant. As a result, most are not looking for replacements.
Under this condition, insurers must determine ways to Web-enable
their systems to support new initiatives.
- Personalization
and customization technologies. Insurers will continue to
move from mass-marketing tactics to providing personalized service
delivery. No matter what channel used (e.g., call center, agent,
Internet), customers will have highly personalized interactions
based upon increased customer knowledge (obtained in the data
management projects). Marketing will be relevant to their personal
needs.
- Internet
technologies. The Internet will be used to support revenue-generating
e-commerce projects and business efficiency throughout the enterprise.
Web sites will evolve into sales channels, while at the same time,
the Internet will be used to support traditional sales (i.e.,
agent, brokers). Service delivery will be enabled via the Internet
as carriers create self-service capabilities. The Internet will
extend outside an insurance organization to enable interaction
and communication with key business partners and the supply chain.
- Knowledge
management solutions. Knowledge management will assist insurance
organizations in recording key business processes and rules to
maintain corporate knowledge.
- Enhanced
contact centers. As sales channels expand for insurers, the
call center will begin a transition. Existing centers will take
a path toward becoming modern facilities that support multimedia
communication. Centers will be able to deal with incoming calls
more effectively and turn inquiries into opportunities to cross-sell
and gather additional customer information. Customer service representatives
(CSRs) will have to be supplied with more-advanced technologies
that provide scripting information and service and sales flags
(often available through CRM solutions). Eventually, the call
center will be integrated into the Internet channel to provide
more-advanced online support. Online insurance customers can interact
with CSRs through technologies such as call-back features or interactive
chat.
- Claims
automation. As insurers attempt to maintain costs, their focus
will include evaluating the claims process. Internet processing
will be examined so that systems operate more efficiently. Systems
will be Web-enabled so that individual policyholders can submit
online claims directly to their insurers. The workflow of the
claims process can be checked by the policyholder via the customer
service Web site. Claims professionals will also adopt new technologies
to assist them in their daily operations. Claims adjusters can
take digital photographs of damage and append them to internal
documentation.
Bottom
Line: Insurance providers must adopt new technologies to support
sales, service and business efficiency. Companies that do not update
their technological infrastructure could be at risk of failure through
2005.
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