| |December 20189CIOReviewOne of the pain points experienced by consumers is the lack of transparent information on various products when buying insurance, which is where fintech can help. Selling insurance through online can help providers deliv-er transparent information to consumers, but also digitize the entire underwriting process using the latest technol-ogy. Online or digital platforms enable insurance provid-ers to capture and store rich, insightful and reliable con-sumer data, and run them through automated algorithms powered by machine learning, data analytics, predictive modelling, etc. All of this is data is critical to efficiently personalizing products through underwriting them with the help of customer-specific data, but also for provid-ing the right advice, or even assisting customers with processing claims. The benefits of adopting fintech or insurtech, then, are not limited to customer acquisition or retention, but also help reduce costs for insurance companies. It has been seen that digitizing back-end processes can reduce costs by up to 10-fold as compared to insurance providers that rely entirely on mainframe-based technologies and data-bases operated by physical agents. Managing large vol-umes of data from multiple sources can be made easier through end-to-end digitization, wherein sales persons and managers can access data remotely to assist customers better and ensure the best pricing of tailored products. Another main issue is to align your operations using your technology to have a straight through processing af-ter you originate a policy. So, everything claims admin-istration and management over how that process can be streamlined using the available technology. Enhancing the customer experienceFinancial service companies understand the demand for mobile. According to PwC's FinTech Survey, there will be a substantial growth in customers using mobile appli-cations by 2020, and customer-centricity will command a higher position among the key focus areas of fintech. In order to serve consumers better, insurtech players are increasingly adopting the marketplace model. Through partnerships with established insurance companies, such marketplaces are driving major changes in the customer experience and lifecycle. By employing automation and analytics, these marketplaces offer customers a view of personalized products and services from multiple insurers, multiple options with policies to meet their requirements, in a single window. Thus, by partnering with fintech and insurtech pro-viders or marketplaces, insurance companies their lever-age their technological capabilities to deliver such value propositions like: · Seamless connectivity and customer journey: Using AI and automation effectively can help create customer touch points like chatbots that can serve as a primary interface for customers, thus simplifying their journey. Chatbots can assist customers with their queries and act on them, by accessing and analyzing the data they pro-vide. From the discovery of products to giving them spe-cialized advice on selecting products, chatbots leverage deep learning and analytics all through the customer jour-ney, while sentiment analysis models can identify when to connect them to a human agent for further assistance. · Personalized products: Yet again, AI and automa-tion can play a critical role in personalizing insurance products and policies for customers. This will offer them the flexibility to choose the best offers from among vari-ous insurers. Incumbent legacy insurance companies are still play-ing catch-up with both new fintech/insurtech players and older competitors who are already using technology to proactively target a new generation of digital native con-sumers. However, besides upgrading their technology and back-end process, they also need to define their mes-saging strategy to convey their value and the relevance of their products/services, especially if they operate in a specific segment with high competition. At the same time, a technology-driven and customer-centric approach will be crucial in positioning these incumbents as a fu-ture-ready companies equipped to lead the charge of rev-olutionizing the insurance industry through digitization and fintech.
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