5 Key Insurance Trend Predictions in 2018 (and how Livegenic can help)
“As an industry, we have been talking about technological evolution for a long time. In 2018, the combination of competitive conditions, availability of cost-effective technology, and numbers of independent agents striving for growth and better client service creates the perfect storm to drive significant acceleration in agent digital transformation.”
- Jason Walker, Smart Harbor
This quote comes from a recent trend analysis report, published by Smart Harbor and shared by Property & Casualty 360, which outlines the five key insurance trends for the coming year. For the industry, these yearly trend predictions are important. They help plan development efforts, and offer direction as to where a company’s focus should be.
For the insurtech space, though, it's especially interesting. If this list is a map of places insurers want to go this year, insurtech startups are building the vehicles to get them there. It's a journey we're excited to take together. Here are some of the places we'll be going in 2018.
Prediction 1: Always-On Infrastructure
When a policyholder gets a fender-bender on Friday evening, they don’t want to wait until Monday to file a claim. If an insured has a question about their policy at midnight, they shouldn’t need to wait until the next morning to talk to a representative. In our tech-centric world, more policyholders than ever are expecting always-on support, whether it’s from their agent or from their carrier. Digital Infrastructure can help policyholders even when agents, adjusters, and inspectors can’t. This means interactive websites, 24/7 chat, automatic quote generation, client portals, and mobile apps.
Our Approach: Insureds are never more engaged with their policy than after they have a loss. When the worst happens, policyholders have high expectations of their service. For Livegenic, we see these expectations as tremendous opportunities for carriers. By providing Livegenic’s comprehensive, easy-to-use self-service platform to their policyholders, carriers get both customer-centric benefits (like increased satisfaction), and company-centric benefits (like shorter cycle time and lower per-claim costs).
Prediction 2: The Open-Access Ecosystem
The shift from closed-loop to open-access ecosystems is fast approaching, but many agents and TPAs still have to deal with multiple carrier websites, vendor management platforms, and CRM systems. Historically, these applications have been closed, preventing the free exchange of data between the various programs in an agent or vendor’s toolkit. In 2018, this walled-garden approach to ecosystem management is becoming less and less acceptable to many the industry. Forward-thinking carriers, vendors, and insurtech companies have already seen the writing on the wall, and are focusing on making sure their products integrate with as many other parts of the ecosystem as possible.
Our Approach: Thanks to our roots in the software development world, the Livegenic platform was built from the ground up to be easy to integrate with; offering full APIs that allow us to integrate with CRMs, claims management platforms, and remove the barriers to success for our customers and clients whenever possible. In addition to our back-end software integrations, we focus on supporting the end-user with a combination of easy-to-use workflows and attractive, straightforward design.
Prediction 3: Paperless is finally here
Though the technology has been around for nearly two decades, Smart Harbor predicts that 2018 will finally be the year that the stragglers finally adopt e-signature and other e-document tools. This increase in support for paperless management marks a broader shift in the industry, and represents a notable step towards an all-digital mentality.
Our Approach: As a paperless platform from the very beginning, Livegenic has already fully-embraced the benefits of an all-digital ecosystem. Our platform allows for capturing, uploading, and managing documents in any situation; whether it’s claims inspectors using Livegenic Enterprise to document large losses in the field, or policyholders using Livegenic MyClaim to collaborate with their adjuster in real-time.
Prediction 4: Increased access to sales analytics will grow the relationship between carriers and agents
Smart Harbor predicts that greater access to sales analytics will cause the relationships between carrier and agents to evolve beyond the outdated “provider/seller” framework. Carriers can provide the infrastructure to train and develop individual agencies and improve their digital capabilities, and in turn the agents can deliver valuable consumer data that drives sales and marketing.
Our Approach: Sales analysis comes from data that’s gathered from as many sources as possible. Just as agencies and carriers benefit from getting access to each other’s data, Livegenic offers another valuable source of information: customer interactions. Recorded collaboration sessions give a first-hand look into an insured or vendor’s experience with their carrier; and thanks to numerous data reports and dashboards, the Livegenic Platform provides insurers the ability to quickly analyze and share these results.
Prediction 5: The Industry embraces AI
Artificial Intelligence is here, and you’re probably already using it in one form or another. From smart chatbots that provide 24/7 support, to machine learning that can automate entire workflows, the initial discomfort around AI seems to have dissipated, and now the only question is how far can we push it?
Our Approach: At Livegenic, we’re already exploring numerous applications for Artificial Intelligence in claims; including visual analytics, automated self-service guidance, and others. With visual analytics, we’ll be able to use pictures and videos to automatically estimate damage and costs for simple claims. By automating parts of our existing workflows, we can reduce the time spent managing and monitoring claims, making our platform faster, more efficient, and easier to use.
The insurance space is primed for an explosion of innovation and new ideas. With the old barriers to success coming down, and the support for InsurTech growing by the day, the industry is on the cusp of great change. We’re looking forward to continuing this forward momentum, and are excited to keep forging new solutions this year, next year, and beyond.