Insurance Whitepaper Mobile Empowered Future for Insurers 04 2011

8/3/2019 Insurance Whitepaper Mobile Empowered Future for Insurers 04 2011

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Business On The Move A

Mobile Empowered Future

for Insurers & Partners

mCommerce is emerging as the fastest growing

channel for doing business today. Mobile Channelsare becoming a highly differentiated channel in many

industries. The uniqueness of the channel presents

opportunities as well as challenges for industries

including insurance.

This paper first discusses mobile trends and adoption

patterns across industries and geographies and then

considers specific application areas in insurance. Thepaper later touches upon the phased approach

insurance companies can take to m-enable (mobile

enable) their organizations and the key

considerations that will help them meet their mobile

channel aspirations as part of their larger multi

channel distribution agenda. The paper concludes

with a spotlight on mobility for sales force and talks

about a proof of concept for mobile agentapplications that we at TCS have conceptualized to

substantiate our research findings.

White Paper


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About the Authors

Matthew Palmer

Matthew Palmer is Head of Strategy & Innovation, for the UK and

Europe Insurance Practice at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an IT

services, business solutions and outsourcing organization which

works with leading insurers such as Pearl, Sun Life Financial, Aviva

and Axa. Matthew joined TCS in June 2008. Prior to this Matthew

spent six years working for Aviva, where he held numerous seniormanagement roles, including leading the IT Strategy and

Innovation team for the Life and Pensions business unit. Prior to

this Matthew spent six years at The Post Office where he held IS

Strategy and Architecture management positions. Matthew

started his career with National Westminster Bank where he spent

five years in the retail banking department.

Sabitha Majukumar

Sabitha Majukumar is Research Analyst in Strategy and

Innovation, for the UK and Europe Insurance Practice at TataConsultancy Services (TCS), an IT services, business solutions and

outsourcing organization which works with leading insurers such

as Pearl, Sun Life Financial, Aviva and Axa . Sabitha joined TCS in

July 2000. Prior to Strategy & Innovation, Sabitha had been part of

Consulting and Relationship Support, Competency Development

and Assets and Offering development teams within Insurance

Practice where she played the role of domain consultant and

analyst for many TCS insurance engagements across the globe.

Before that she had been part of project teams as insurance

business analyst for large financial services organization in UnitedStates


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Table of Contents

1. Introduction 4

2. Mobile Trends and Adoption Patterns 4

3. Mobility in Insurance 6

4. Insurance m-enablement Approach 8

5. Key Considerations for Insurers for m-enablement 8

6. Spotlight - Mobile Applications for Insurance

Sales Force 10

7. Introducing mAgent 11

8. Mobility - Summary of Insurer Considerations 11


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Introduction

mCommerce is emerging as the fastest growing channel for doing business today. Mobile Channels are

becoming a highly differentiated channel in many industries. The uniqueness of the channel presents

opportunities as well as challenges for industries including insurance. Mobile devices such as

Smartphone and Tablet PCs are recent phenomena but they are being adopted heavily worldwide.

Consumers are increasingly becoming mobile and connected via these devices and want to do business

through this emerging channel. There is an increasing interest to use these devices to engage with banks,

retailers, and more recently their insurer carriers.

Many challenges that once hindered efficient & effective presentation or delivery of transactional content

through mobile devices are now diminishing, thanks to emergence of more advanced and sophisticated

devices (multi functional devices like Tablets and Smartphones), platforms, standards (worldwide cellular

standards), networks (faster, more secure ones). Advancements in mobile technologies have changed

many of the consumer and enterprise skepticisms about this channel that had developed in the recent

years. Interactions that shifted from offline channels to internet are now shifting to these handheld

devices primarily due to ease of use and familiarity of the device. We expect users to naturally expect

more complex functionality to be made available in their devices from providers across various industries

This paper first discusses mobile trends and adoption patterns across industries and geographies and

then considers specific application areas in insurance. The paper later touches upon the phased approachinsurance companies can take to m-enable (mobile enable) their organizations and the key

considerations that will help them meet their mobile channel aspirations as part of their larger multi

channel distribution agenda. The paper concludes with a spotlight on mobility for sales force and talks

about a proof of concept for mobile applications for agents that we conceptualized in our labs to

substantiate our research findings.

Demographic, geographic and industry trends will continue to influence the development of more

complex mobile applications. Though initial adoption is being driven by certain demographics,

geographies and industries (information industry followed by banking, retail, insurance etc), usage is

expected to become consistent across all these dimensions.

When it comes to devices, currently the marketplace is overwhelmed with multiple devices and multiple

platforms. iPhone & Android has become leaders of the Smartphone revolution replacing Blackberry,

who were dominant until recently. Tablets are gaining significant interest and are expected to become

influential in the enterprise mobile arena

Mobile Trends and Adoption Patterns

4


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Research Snippets

n 43% of firms in North America and Europe are planning for apps in Tablets , Forrester Research

n 80% of Fortune 500 companies are already adopting or piloting iPhone /iPad, Applen 49% of enterprises have embraced a multiplatform mobile strategy, having more than one platform as

their Enterprise Platform , Forrester Research

n Mobile Banking will become a must-have when opening a new account; Banks in developed countries

will harness the power of the app and the Smartphone to provide their customers with an improved

and personalized service experience , Juniper Research, 2011 Predictions

n Mobile Banking will displace online banking for routine interactions, Forrester Research

n Social Networking, Blogs Tops in U.S , comSCORE

n US mobile demographic breakdown is between 18 years and 54 years age, comSCORE Europe

represents the largest market for enterprise mobility in the world, The European enterprise mobilitymarket is projected to cross the $50 billion mark by the year 2012. , Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

n There will be 103.9 million mobile payment users worldwide in 2011, with the Asia Pacific taking the

lead, Gartner Research

n The demand for mobile banking apps is growing quickly in Canada, which is behind many European

and Asian countries in the use of Smartphone for banking and buying, CTO - Central 1 Credit Union

Slow but steady adoptionacross industries inCanada

NA leads in adoption inSocial networking

Will be a major consumerof information,

transaction and dataintensive applications infuture

Enterprise adoption moreProminent in Europe

APAC drives mobilemomentum predominantlyin banking.

Is expected to adoptmobility for moretransaction basedbusinesses in future

General adoption age across geographies: 18 - 54Enterprise adoption age: 25 - 44


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Mobility in Insurance

Insurers across the globe continue to be under pressure to grow business revenues while controlling

costs. Improving the perceptions of customers and sales force about Insurer products and services will be

a top priority for insurance companies in this environment. Those who can help their agents, customers

and prospects, conduct business in their preferred channel will have a major advantage in the coming

years. The industry is as competitive as ever and to be in the game and lead it, insurers are expected to

seek every opportunity to enhance sales via improved distribution capabilities and channel experiences.

While continuing to leverage existing channels including face-to-face and mail channels, insurers will

look to add new channels to attract and retain specific customer segments and intermediaries.

Insurers are slowly picking up with banks and other industries in offering mobile devices to their

customers and sales force. Download rates of mobile insurance apps are very high though usage is low.

Usage is slowly and steadily picking up in many markets especially for activities such as first notice of

claims and bill payments. Many top players in the industry are either evaluating or developing mobile

channel capabilities as part of their larger business and emerging channel strategies. Increasingly, mobile

technologies are being seen by many insurers as important to improving their relationships with

customers and intermediaries.

Many insurers are still looking for simple applications that require little integration. This situation will

soon change with further advancements in mobile platforms. We believe that insurers will continue to

establish their mobile footprint by providing simple applications like alerts, branding tools but will

subsequently move on to more complex applications such as new business processing, policy servicing,

and complex management dashboards

Insurers who have tested the waters of mobile technologies feel, there is a strong positive user

experience impact across Intermediaries & Executives (details illustrated below).With Tablets invading the

market, these user groups will be able to perform more complex tasks using their mobile devices than

the relatively simple ones they perform with the hand held devices today.

Uses mobile Laptops,Blackberriesand iPhones

Tablet adoption onthe high for complextasks in recent times

Strongest positiveimpact due to usage ofmobile devices

Uses StandardLaptops, Blackberriesand iPhones for simpletasks

Uses Standard laptopsfor Complex Tasks.

Tablet adoption onhigh for complex tasks

Strong positive impactdue to usage

Uses StandardLaptops, Blackberriesand iPhones

Tablet adoption is onthe rise

Positive impact due tousage

Uses StandardLaptops, Blackberriesand iPhones

Marginal increase inTablet usage in futureexpected

Some positive impactdue to usage

SeniorExecutives

Sales ForceMarketingExecutive

OtherEmployees


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P&C Insurers lead in usage of mobile technologies in the sales and distribution functions. Many have

embraced mobile technologies in a variety of business processes including distribution management,

marketing, sales, new business and claims. It is expected that as user confidence and comfort factor

increases with existing apps, more complex apps will evolve. Tablets will further encourage introduction

of more transaction based and data intensive applications in future.

Traditionally, Life Insurers have been slower in adopting emerging technologies. The Life, Pensions and

Annuity business is still very much advisor driven. Advisors & agents still rely on standard laptops and

laptop based applications during customer interactions. Smartphone form factors provide limited

support for transactions like illustration, customer portfolio management etc. With the emergence ofTablets that can behave in a similar way to standard laptops, this situation is expected to change. More

insurers are expected to come forward to offer complex functionality, including new business submission

and customer portfolio management, for their sales force through these Tablet devices.

Insurance Adoption - Consumer Focus

Mobile functionality has started to become an influencing factor in insurance shopping decisions

functionality that an insurer provides for mobile sales/service is becoming one of the deciding factors for

consumer choice of their provider. Other industries are setting customer expectations in the mobile

space that creates a similar expectation for such capabilities to be offered by their insurers as well. Todays

consumers want a combination of traditional channels complemented by internet based and mobilemethods. Consumers will increasingly expect real time access to their policy or claims data irrespective of

their physical location.

Insurance Adoption Sales Force Focus

Agents will expect insurers to deliver functionality and information in mobile devices for them to become

more productive. They expect applications to seamlessly integrate with workflow and business process

management systems, to be easy to use, and accessible from multiple types of devices.

The provision of applications in mobile devices will become a differentiator for insurers as independentagents start comparing the apps, tools and features from various insurers in mobile devices.

ProspectStage

Quote & NewBusiness

PolicyServicing

Claims

Indicative Wish List Across Value Chain

IndicativeQuoteFunctions/quotecomparisons

Safe drivercampaigns

End to endtransactionalcapabilities

Intermediaryconnect

Bill payments

Simple/ComplexPolicyChanges

First Notice ofLoss - imageuploads,accidentchecklists etc

Integration tothird parties

Connect tolocal repairshops

Connect toroadsideassistanceservices

OtherSupportActivities


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Insurance m-enablement Approach

Key Considerations for Insurers for m-enablement

Organizations need a phased and structured approach to introducing mobile apps in their business

landscape. A structured approach like the one depicted below will enable insurers to adopt mobiletechnologies that can help the efficacy of their business operations. . This approach will help them

identify the core strengths of the technology and pivotally define how the technology can help drive

continued business growth and improvements in customer service. It will also help identify the business

processes which are suitable for the mobile channel. This kind of disciplined approach will help define the

required investment, anticipated ROI and benefits, priority of implementation, schedule, effort, solution,

implementation process and training. The biggest and most notable advantage is to identify any risks

along with mitigations that may come up like security, data integrity, changes in business processes,

mobile user mindsets etc while transforming to a mobile organization.

Insurers who have already made considerable investment in web enabling their core applications and

progressing in the right direction with respect to their multi channel integration programs will have a

clear competitive advantage in the coming years. These foundational ecommerce components will

enable them to accelerate their m-enablement journey. Insurers will have to invest in promotions to

attract customers and sales force initially to the mobile channel. To boost adoption and continuous usage,

they should ensure their systems are fully integrated with the front, middle and back office data layers.

They will also have to give major consideration for usability design in their mobility strategies to cater to

different user types, device types and their usage patterns.

Marketing& LeadManagement

Sales

CustomerAccountManagement

CustomerService

OtherRequirements

Indicative Wish List Across Value Chain

Consolidatedview ofcustomerdemographics,relationshipsetc

Predesignedsegmentbasedcampaigns

Simple/complex features -quote, priceaggregator,new business,policyservicing etc

Proactiveanalyticsdriven sales

Real timeaccess tocustomerportfolios &transactioninfo

Real timecollaboration

Real timeintegrationwith insurerssystems forpayments,billing etc

Segmentbasedcustomerservice drivenby analytics

Corporatenews withaggregatorRSS feedsbased onmarket andindustryintelligence


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Spotlight - Mobile Applications for Insurance Sales Force

Introducing mAgent

Customers, agents and brokers will want to work with insurers who are easy to do business with. Along

with customer satisfaction, todays agents and brokers also consider the technology and tools that an

insurer offers to do their jobs efficiently and effectively. To meet the expectations of their sales force, we

expect insurers to deliver functionality and information in mobile devices to agents/brokers so they

become more productive while on the move.

How insurance companies respond to the increasing demand from their sales force will define their

standing in the market. It is clear that insurers who provide the right tools and technology for their agentswill gain a clear edge over their competitors in the coming years. Same is true with customers too. The

solutions insurers offer to their sales force is also transferable to customer needs. In response to this

demand, insurers will need to consider providing versions of web based applications for mobile handheld

devices with either limited or full functionality, that enable the sales force to work effectively when they

are away from their office. They will need to consider building apps that offer complex insurance

functionality within the limitations of mobile Smartphone and Tablet form factors.

Note: Though the agent expectations with mobile apps are almost the same as web apps/agent portals, it is

noteworthy that same level of user experience and capability cannot be met for complex transactions

involving intensive data entry and data intensive displays (like account receivables, budgeting etc)

mAgent is a proof of concept mobile application that helps address mobile enablement considerations. It

is a mobile agent application that combines the power of collaboration, ease of use and ubiquity of

mobile devices. It demonstrates optimal usability, seamless integration with broader insurance

capabilities, data storage & security and transition from simple to complex transactional capabilities. It

intends to prove the practicality of mobile technology in day-to-day insurer operations. As such, it tries to

remove the hype from the subject, which can often prevent implementation. It is noteworthy that the

principles behind mAgent solution are transferable to the customer community in a self service mode


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Indicative list of capabilities include but not limited to:

Presentation of multiple carrier products, prices and features

Integration of policy data to perform policy servicing transactions

Lead management and ability to manage client appointments

Useful features like product catalogue, corporate news etc

Indicative Benefits include but not limited to:

Faster quote to policy conversions

Elimination of paper transactions

Improved agent productivity, job satisfaction & efficiency

Reduced costs such as mailing/customer interaction/call center etc

Improved reach to newer market and customer segments

A brand image that helps get closer to their tech savvy agents

Insurers and Agents should be ready to support customer and agent needs, to do business with them

through multiple channels 24X7 including mobile and should have robust channel integration strategies.

Insurers and Agents will need to consider building more complex mobile applications to aide their sales

process than the current simple mobile applications being developed (such as product catalogues,

calculators and so on) to meet the consumer and producer expectations

Insurers and Agents have to ensure that all services offered to customers are consistent and equally

effective and supportive any service being provided in the mobile app should be viewed as a

complementary, equally valuable channel for making a claim or payment which sits alongside the

companys portfolio of client services.Ease of use and convenient self service are must haves while developing apps for consumers and

independent agents. Companies need to consider the needs and demands of each type of user whether

customer or agent or claimant or prospect and include features that make their life easier.

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Mobility - Summary of Insurer Considerations


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correct at the time of publishing. No material from here may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded, transm itted, posted or distributed in

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other applicable laws, and could result in criminal or civil penalties. Copyright 2011 Tata Consultancy Services Limited TCSDesignServices

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Insurance Whitepaper Mobile Empowered Future for Insurers 04 2011

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