How Technology is Steadily Changing the Shape of the Insurance Industry

on January 28, 2018 at 4:32 pm

At one time, files were stacked heavily on insurance brokers’ desks and the everyday workers involved in underwriting policies or answering customer queries on their insurance premiums. With the introduction of databases and computer filing, emails and automatic underwriting software, things became a lot easier.

In 2018, many of the roles occupied by insurance workers do not exist. This is in part due to their job specifications simply becoming obsolete. While apps and other developments are making auto insurance more accessible, the demands and expectations customers have when contacting companies and brokers have also changed. While modern advancements have made it easier to process documents and receive quotes and premiums, many customers still demand human interaction, to a point.

The aspects where customers are happy to embrace the technological evolutions of sorting car insurance are pretty obvious. Rather than running through a painstaking process of answering question after question with a slow-talking broker, they can simply run through a simple, multiple choice process online. By ticking boxes and answering basic questions, many can be approved for insurance and quoted within a matter of minutes.

Those who are referred or declined will generally be the only percentage of people who will demand a human explanation as to why they have been refused cover or offered a price which they feel is excessive. Call center agents will then be required to contact lower-level underwriters in order to feed information back to customers, at least when an application is made via a major company.

For many others, however, this technological revolution offers a simple and exceptionally convenient option, in comparison to those of decades ago. The entire process of applying for insurance is so much easier, as mentioned above. Even at the stage of comparing prices, online comparison tools allow you to enter information which will retrieve a series of relevant companies offering initial quotes.

When it comes to accepting an insurance company’s offer, there are generally apps which are available to you which hold the entire catalog of pertinent documentation, all within a few clicks. If you are pulled over by the police, you can simply show the officer your policy slip, making the requirement to hold on to paper an antiquated concept. Home insurance customers now have the opportunity to itemize and submit an inventory to a company without having to spend upwards of 45 minutes on the telephone.

Things go even further, as immobilizers and hi-tech alarms for vehicles have improved to the point of significant advancement. Telematics, the hot topic in motor insurance, allows companies to assess multiple levels of information and tracking data which can determine the level of risk a customer will be to that insurance provider. With a number of financial benefits in terms of premium reduction offered to those who take part in telematics, the prospect of an increase in drivers using this technology is almost guaranteed.

While the days of coffee-stained files, envelope licking and hour-long conversations regarding premiums well and truly behind us, the next decade’s advancements should make even 2018 appear old school.