TECHNOLOGY AS THE NEW NORMAL
ing annuity and life insurance in
2018 is an “outdated application
and underwriting process, result-
ing in additional time and costs,
and undermining sales” vi . A smart
brokerage will recognize the areas
of business that can be made more
efficient through technology, thus
allowing for more time and resourc-
es to be spent cultivating personal
relationships and pursuing new ad-
visor leads. With almost half of the
American population uninsured or
underinsured vii , there is a huge need
for more advisors and a huge un-
tapped market segment that no pro-
cess or strategy so far has been able
to reach. Used to its fullest poten-
tial in automating and streamlining
operations, InsurTech could be the
solution that closes this gap.
The true potential for gaining
an edge over competitors in such
a competitive industry lies in the
delicate balance between adopting
technology and preserving your tra-
ditional sales and marketing strate-
gy. Even with the growing presence
of technology in insurance, it is as
important as ever to maintain an
emphasis on building strong person-
al relationships at every level of the
industry. It was noted earlier that
consumer trust among all business
types has been in decline. More spe-
cifically, a 2014 EY Global Consumer
Insurance Survey found that North
American consumers trust insurance
companies less than supermarkets,
online shopping sites, and even
banks viii . EY infers that this low trust
“has been caused by weak relation-
ships with insurers,” and draws the
conclusion that “consumers want
more frequent, meaningful, and per-
sonalized communications” ix .
How can brokerages give their
advisors the attention and resourc-
es needed to provide this level of
service to existing clients, though,
while also increasing recruiting ef-
forts to serve the uninsured and
underinsured half of the national
market? By using efficient technolo-
gy to reduce the busywork that goes
into operations and relationship
management, leaving more time to
focus on the relationships that tech-
nology cannot replace. This is the
future of insurance.
FOOTNOTES
DeMers, Jayson. (2018, May 9). “How Brands Should Be Working To Fix The Consumer Trust Crisis”. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2018/05/09/how-brands-should-be-working-to-fix-the-consumer-
trust-crisis/#6a1eceba554c
i
ii
CompTIA. (2018, January). “IT Industry Outlook 2018”. https://www.comptia.org/resources/it-industry-trends-analysis
iii
iv
v
Deloitte Center for Financial Services. (2017). “Fintech by the numbers.” https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/financial-services/us-dcfs-fintech-by-the-numbers-web.pdf
“Fintech by the numbers.”
Fintech by the numbers.”
vi
Deloitte Center for Financial Services. (2017). “2018 Insurance Outlook.”
vii
“2018 Insurance Outlook.”
EY. (2014). “Reimagining customer relationships: Key findings from the EY Global Consumer Insurance Survey 2014.” https://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-2014-global-customer-insurance-
survey/%24FILE/ey-global-customer-insurance-survey.pdf
viii
ix
“Reimagining customer relationships: Key findings from the EY Global Consumer Insurance Survey 2014.”
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