Policyholder Interactions 101

Insurance enterprises, by their very nature, are extremely complex organizations.

Layered on their complexity is the diversity of products (e.g. P&C, life, health) and distributions systems (e.g. independent agents, direct, brokers).  Line of business leaders in insurance organizations juggle very different goals:

Marketing focuses on increasing market share with the right product messages and the most competitive programs.

New Business focuses on closing new business and increasing the wallet share of the existing book of business

Policyholder Service focuses on improving policyholder satisfaction with better efficiency and lower cost

Claims focuses on quick response and fairness to both the company and policyholder

Underwriting focuses on capturing profitable business and shedding undesirable business.

Producer Development focuses on training existing agents and recruiting new talent.

As seemingly different (and sometimes conflicting) as these individual goals can appear, they all share an elusive goal: Improving the outcome of every interaction to improve or increase ‘something.’

If Marketing can improve the relevance of their messages and the accuracy of their programs – they win.  If New Business can reduce the sales cycle for new business and pinpoint subtle opportunities within the existing book – they win.  If Policyholder Service can reduce the steps taken to find the right answer, they win.  If Claims can identify gaps in coverage and new business opportunities, they win.  If Underwriting can see the whole picture and focus on the profitable targets, they win. If Producer Development can leverage the knowledge base to get new agents up and running faster – they win.

While their journey towards reaching that common goal (improved interactions) may commence down very different paths, a common desire to:

Create a consistent message

Increase agent knowledge

Understand and leverage multichannel customer interactions

Increase efficiency

Reduce costs

make insurance organizations ideal candidates for a technology platform that creates a single view of multichannel customer interactions and informs every business unit with relevant content delivered at the time of need.

In the coming weeks we will explore how the different insurance lines of business and operational areas can benefit from a true multi-channel policyholder interaction strategy.