The relentless pace of the digital age is constantly on the change insurers' strategies. However, for over a decade, two constants have been the need: 1) for a customer-oriented mindset and a pair of) for adapting quickly to an increasingly fast-paced world.
As carriers have tried to believe new methods for doing business, one of the greatest recent developments at the corporate level is Experience Design having a seat while dining.
Why?
For starters, Experience Design has hard-won expertise and plays an important role within the customer experience and brand architecture. Additionally, Experience Design teams are great at solving problems and often have experience doing this in multiple industries. Instead of trying to puzzle out after strategy planning exactly what the future could be, involving Experience Design will help carriers define it in the outset.
Building on existing strengths
Although some industries are further ahead in digital capabilities, design and customer experience than insurance, most insurers do have some real strengths. First and foremost, they tend to have a very solid understanding of their clients. Moreover, they've extensive experience adapting services and products to changing market conditions.
See also: In Search of a New 'Dominant Design'
However, digital has profoundly changed the way carriers communicate with customers and how quickly and sometimes they need to act. New technologies have amplified the need to listen more closely to customers and respond to their demands in weeks and months instead of months and years. Almost all carriers can perform a better job using the insight they possess and quickly turning it into something actionable, for example more flexible and adaptive products and much more frequent and meaningful interactions with customers (and on their terms).
Always on
What makes this change in focus hard for most insurers is that they've historically operated in a stop-start, point-A-to-point-B manner. But, in a digital environment, constant improvement is now the general rule. Recognizing that actually work gets done but is never really finished is a major transfer of thinking for the industry.
See also: How to Redesign Customer Experience
In response, leading carriers are no longer searching for a big launch but they are incrementally improving products, even when they evolve into something quite diverse from their original form. This continuous cycle of launch, learn, change and relaunch is how Experience Design excels. As carriers increasingly involve creative solutions and obtain better at employed in the always-on business cycle, their product offerings and relationships with customers will improve.
