A recent survey of insurance agencies and carriers conducted by Vertafore, ACORD and Ovum, revealed that 40 percent of those surveyed want to use mobility to meet the expectations of their producers who use mobile devices. This is a narrow approach because they are neglecting to pay attention to the previously mentioned trends.
Meet clients’ needs
What can (and should) insurance agencies do to not only empower producers, but meet client needs? To start they need to look at what the endclient wants and also what he or she may get from the competition, including: convenience of service; best value for the money; and dependability of the agency/agent. While mobility cannot improve the price of an insurance policy a client must purchase, it can impact consumer expectations of convenience and dependability (available through mobile apps), which can help professional, independent insurance agencies compete (especially with direct writers). Clients expect to file an insurance claim, look up their certificate of insurance, view their auto insurance card and other functions when it is convenient for them. Once you take note of what the end-client wants, then it is time to evaluate your agency operations to determine the gaps to meet client needs. After doing so, it will boil down to access to key client and insurance information. The good news is some agencies have begun to do this and are looking to technology to help them close this gap. However, they are leveraging generic solutions that are taking a software product designed only for a desktop or laptop and trying to have the same productivity as you would expect from a native smart-phone application that is designed specifically for a mobile user. What this translates into is an inefficient mobile producer who is wasting time culling through irrelevant and difficult information.
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Once an agency completes the prework involved with determining the viability of mobile technology. It is time for it to seek a technology partner that has the same target in mind—meeting customer needs as efficiently as possible. An agency needs to be careful in selecting a technology partner that is just that, a partner thinking holistically about the agency’s needs not about making the sale of a desktop app stuffed in a tablet. The mobile solution whether it is built as a native app or as an HTML5 application, must be designed specifically for the needs of the producer, underwriter, principal or other job functions needed to meet client needs. The solution’s user interface also needs to be designed to work well on the plethora of smart phones, phablets and tablets on the market today.
Other considerations
What else matters beyond satisfying the top-of-mind client need? No matter the coolness of the device or the functionality of the app, there is one thing all consumers will not tolerate—identity theft. The compromise of financial information is not only a deal-breaker for an existing client, it can have legal implications, and you can forget about positive word-of-mouth for the agent and agency. Most consumers can access their bank accounts on a mobile device, so they are used to an assurance that there are security measures on the backbone of the application. The same must be true of any mobile insurance application that an agent uses. Agencies must make it a top priority to ask the technology vendor about its security infrastructure and data architecture to make sure customer data is secure. If the vendor says that consumer data stored on a mobile device is unencrypted, that is not the application for you. Also, what happens if a producer leaves the agency? Do you want the producer to be able to take client data with him or her on a mobile device? The mobile application should connect to a core server that has security protocols in
Professional Insurance Agents/Spring 2013
place, where client data can be controlled from the home office in the event that a mobile device is lost or stolen or an agency needs to restrict access to a former employee.
Technology will continue to evolve
Hopefully, you can understand the need for mobile technology and the major considerations agencies and insurance agents need to think about when meeting client needs. Like the Internet has evolved, so will mobility into things like augmented reality glasses, bendable screens, 3D visualization, haptic feedback, new forms of inputting data and ubiquitous connectivity. As the insurance-buying class expands with millennials, social media will no doubt play a role in how you market to and communicate with your clients via mobile devices. No matter the technology, professional, independent insurance agencies and technology vendors need to look at the needs of the client and the needs of the user to better service, sell and advise the end-client. A technology vendor will not tell you how to sell insurance, but it should equip you with the tools and best practices to be successful anytime and anywhere. Snyder is vice president of mobility & innovation at Vertafore and focuses on the development of new SaaS mobile products for insurance professionals. Pew Internet study, 2012, http://on.mash.to/W62fTB 2 StatCounter Global Stats, November 2012, http://slidesha.re/ SIa1NS 1