We all know that digital technology has changed, and continues to change, how people shop for, buy and employ products or services. Power has shifted in the company towards the customer. All companies must adopt the digital technologies that create the interaction that consumers now demand and expect. But is digital readiness more of crucial for some industries than others?
What if you are in an industry that sells a product that many people don’t really even are interested, own or use…that individuals probably wouldn’t even buy if they didn’t have to…a product that was confusing and mysterious? Heck, one which isn’t a “product” whatsoever? Should you be a business that suit this description and you lagged behind in digital readiness, how long do you think you’d last if a new competitor arrived and used digital technology to actually make the experience of buying, owning and taking advantage of the merchandise you sell more desirable to customers?
Well, this is the squeeze insurance industry finds itself in. Satisfaction ratings using the industry vary – they’re so-so in the U.S. and pretty poor within the U.K., according to research commissioned by Majesco inside a report titled “Assessing the caliber of the client Experience ,” for example – and few customers actually switch every year, but loyalty, if you're able to refer to it as that, is driven more by inertia than a true feeling of satisfaction and emotional connection to one’s insurance provider. Quite frankly, it’s a royal pain to shop for and switch insurance, and most individuals are willing to put up with minor annoyances – until they get pushed too much.
The company that may best remove or reduce the pain of purchasing and owning insurance stands to reap a huge market of consumers who are tired of receiving treatment poorly by the insurance industry, compared with the new benchmarks set by Amazon and Apple.
This is not new news. But the good news is that most leaders in the insurance industry have it. They know they have to act, and they're. Three-quarters of respondents inside a cross-industry survey by MIT-Sloan on digital strategy said that digital technologies are vital that you their companies today, and 93% said they'd make a difference within the next 3 years.
The issues are easy to talk about, but it’s hard to actually make digital transformation in any industry or company, not only insurance. It’s not just implementing new technology. Additionally, it requires strategy, leadership, culture, resources and technical capabilities. The MIT-Sloan survey discovered that a lot of companies have been in the early or developing stages of digital maturity. Even the ones that were within the innovative “maturing” phase couldn't be truly regarded as fully mature.
Majesco surveyed its insurance customers within the third quarter of 2021 to get a better understanding of the insurance-specific promises and challenges that digital capabilities are presenting them, which are profiled in the report “Digital Readiness in Insurance.” The customers overwhelmingly agreed that digital capabilities are the foundation for the future which this was the largest driver of the digital strategy work. While their current priorities for digital transformation are focused on specific internal business operations like billing and payments and e-service for customers and agents, they a minimum of are aiming at increasing the experience of their two most important stakeholder groups: customers and agents.
Despite these good intentions, many of these insurers reported that these operations are presently only weakly supported by digital technologies. Most said there is little concern within their companies about the strategic priority of implementing their digital strategies, but they are encountering barriers with regards to integration of systems and the capacity and capabilities of the organizations and technology.
It’s great that Majesco’s customers recognize the expectation to enhance the expertise of looking for, buying, owning and taking advantage of insurance. The mandate for any compelling digital experience, and also the necessity to compare themselves with companies like Amazon, are the first steps around the digital journey. Where are you?
