Insurers are constantly striving to improve their operations, provide better experiences for customers, and minimize risks. Perficient insurance experts were interviewed for Forrester’s report, “The Top Emerging Technologies In Insurance, 2024,” and discussed technologies expected to emerge in the insurance industry over the next five years, considering them now, and in the short-term, medium-term, and long-term future.

Perficient’s Inclusion in Forrester’s Recent Report

Perficient, specializing in digital transformations, proudly acknowledges the thought leadership of Brian Bell and Monica Gernert quoted in Forrester’s report, “The Top Emerging Technologies In Insurance, 2024.” The report explores the potential of innovative technologies with “…particular emphasis on generative AI (Artificial Intelligence), as it not only delivers benefits now but also underpins technologies such as autonomous workplace assistants, embedded AI, and edge intelligence.”

Monica Gernert, a project manager, and insurance expert at Perficient, provided a critical perspective around genAI that’s quoted in the report. She underlines the necessity for insurers to establish a solid foundation comprising document digitization and a robust data fabric to ensure success with these technologies stating, “GenAI outcomes will only be as good as the data.”

Brian Bell, Perficient’s Insurance Principal, who was also quoted in the report, highlights the significance of another emerging technology: critical event intelligence. According to Forrester, critical event intelligence is defined as an “Intelligence that uses real-time data from sources such as social media, blogs, news feeds, online forums, IP addresses, latitude and longitude, and device GPS to assess potential threats from location-specific events, especially for physical risk.” Brian’s quote emphasizes the potential of critical event intelligence within the industry, stating, “This is where the rubber hits the road. This kind of intelligence proves the noble purpose of insurance.”

Addressing AI Bias in Insurance

While emerging technologies such as AI have undoubtedly brought numerous advancements to the insurance industry, it is essential to acknowledge that their broader adoption may also bring challenges, as highlighted by Forrester: “Bias, hallucinations, privacy, and security.” And, while AI itself doesn’t inherently produce bias, models trained on biased data can exacerbate certain prejudices in decision-making processes.

Traditional life insurance underwriting, typically relying on factors like age, gender, zip code, smoking status, and marital status, has already contributed to narrow risk definitions for insurers. Going forward, addressing bias at its root in data collection and promoting inclusive practices are imperative for ensuring equitable outcomes in the insurance sector.

Read More: Perficient to Lead Discussion on Bias in AI at ISITC Securities Operations Summit

Success in leveraging these technologies hinges on addressing current data gaps, establishing robust infrastructure, and fostering a culture of inclusion and education within the industry.

Learn more about Forrester’s perspective and gain a more comprehensive understanding of the current state of the industry by reading Forrester’s full report: The Top Emerging Technologies In Insurance, 2024.

Unlock Your Potential with Perficient

Our experts are committed to driving innovation and guiding insurers on their digital transformation journey, ensuring they are well-prepared to navigate the opportunities and challenges presented by technologies like genAI.

Interested in learning more? Contact us to learn how to optimize your insurance practice today.

With new risks, shifting market dynamics, and the unstoppable march of technology, the insurance industry finds itself at a crossroads. The imperative for transformation has never been clearer, and this is highlighted in Forrester’s report, The Future Of Insurance.

Embracing Change

The report states, “The business of insurance is in a heightened state of transformation…,” and insurance leaders must proactively “…change their business models, products, and processes over the coming decade to thrive in this volatile environment.” Perficient’s insurance experts, who were interviewed for this report, echo this sentiment, emphasizing the need for insurers to embrace innovation to stay relevant.

A Call for Transformation

• Forrester’s “Six Factors [that] Will Challenge Insurers’ Profits In The Next Decade”:

1. Geopolitical uncertainty
2. Challenging economies
3. Risk protection gap
4. Technological advancements
5. Regulatory changes
6. Climate change

• Embrace Technology Transformation: Recognizing and embracing digital innovation is not just advantageous; it’s essential for survival amidst evolving consumer expectations.
• Better Pinpoint Your Risk(s): Predictive analytics to better target risks, artificial intelligence to identify fraud, and intelligent automation to improve operational efficiency are at the heart of insurance digital transformation moving forward.

Evolution of Business Models

Embedded Insurance represents a rapidly evolving distribution channel, with a significant emphasis placed on adapting insurance distribution to align with consumer preferences. One of Perficient’s insurance experts, Brian Bell, Insurance Principal, further speaks on this trend stating, “It is projected that up to 25% of the total P&C premium could flow through embedded distribution channels by the end of the decade.”

Embedded insurance enables consumers to purchase coverage the moment they are most inclined to do so, thereby broadening purchase opportunities for carriers and partners alike. The transformation potential of embedded insurance offers enhanced convenience and control throughout the purchasing process.

A robust digital strategy and API development plan are imperative for success:

• Partnerships and experiences serve as extensions of carrier brands, necessitating careful cultivation.
• The digital experience demands real-time, frictionless interaction facilitated by robust cloud infrastructure and API programs.

READ MORE: Data, Personalization, and Embedded Insurance

Future of Insurance Product Design

Going forward, insurance products will be characterized by high levels of individualization, holistic approaches, anticipatory measures, and inclusivity. Strategic investments toward smart and innovative technologies like artificial intelligence and generative automations will lead to improved efficiency and elevated customer experiences, particularly within the insurance sector.

Artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a pivotal force within the insurance industry, especially for regional carriers seeking to thrive in a competitive and dynamic market. These insurers grapple with challenges such as customer retention and brand recognition, underscoring the growing importance of AI solutions for their success.

AI brings significant value to insurance practices in key areas:

• Process Automation: AI streamlines tasks like claims processing and underwriting, reducing operational costs and enhancing efficiency.
• Risk Assessment: AI algorithms analyze extensive datasets to assess risk accurately, empowering carriers to offer personalized policies and pricing while mitigating potential risks.
• Personalized Customer Interactions: By harnessing AI to analyze customer data, carriers can deliver tailored recommendations and experiences, fostering enduring customer loyalty.
• Pricing Optimization: AI optimizes pricing strategies by scrutinizing market trends and customer behavior, enabling carriers to offer competitive premiums while ensuring profitability.

LEARN MORE: How Can Regional Insurance Carriers Harness the Power of AI?

Strategies for Success

• Prioritize customer-centricity, operational efficiency, and financial stability.
• Blend automation with empathy to deliver superior outcomes.
• Embrace technology to streamline expenses and drive revenue growth.
• Harness various insurance assets, including platforms, to unlock business value.

Navigating the Future

The business of insurance stands at a pivotal moment in its history. Those who heed the call to transform and innovate will carve out a prosperous future, while those who resist change may find themselves struggling to stay afloat. One thing is certain: the only way forward is through evolution and adaptation.

Unlock Innovation

In navigating the insurance landscape, we believe our thought leaders play a pivotal role in guiding companies towards success. By embracing transformation, adopting agile methodologies, and leveraging innovative technologies, insurers can position themselves as industry leaders in the digital era.

To learn more, download The Future Of Insurance, available to purchase or to Forrester subscribers.

The future of insurance is ripe with opportunities for those willing to embrace transformation. Contact us today to learn more about our insurance offerings.

This blog post was co-authored by: Carl Aridas

In a recent blog post, Perficient’s Financial Services Risk and Regulatory Center of Excellence (CoE) highlighted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) plan to implement a “Robin Hood-like” deposit insurance premium on the nation’s largest banks to recapitalize the agency’s Deposit Insurance Fund.

Since that blog was published, the FDIC has issued an update on its Restoration Plan for the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF). The Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDI Act) requires the FDIC Board to adopt a restoration plan when the DIF’s reserve ratio—the ratio of the fund balance relative to insured deposits—falls below 1.35 percent.

READ MORE: Decoding SVB’s Failure & FDIC’s Special Assessment

In a focused review of the last few years, on September 15, 2020, the FDIC established the Restoration Plan to restore the DIF reserve ratio to at least 1.35 percent by the statutory deadline of September 30, 2028. This action became necessary due to extraordinary deposit growth during the first half of 2020, causing the DIF’s reserve ratio to dip below 1.35 percent. The Plan retained the assessment rate schedules in place at the time.

On June 21, 2022, based on projections indicating that the reserve ratio was at risk of not reaching the required minimum by the statutory deadline, the FDIC Board amended the Restoration Plan. However, a year later, the FDIC projected that the DIF reserve is likely to reach 1.35 percent by September 30, 2028.

In conjunction with the Amended Restoration Plan, the FDIC Board increased deposit insurance assessment rates by 2 basis points for all insured depository institutions, effective in the first quarterly assessment period of 2023.

DIF Balances in 2023

However, despite the increase in insurance premiums, the failures of Silicon Value Bank and other banks led to a decline in the DIF balance. As of June 30, 2023, the DIF balance stood at $117B. Increased loss provisions, including those for the bank failures, combined with robust insured deposit growth, resulted in the reserve ratio from 1.25 percent as of December 31, 2022, to 1.10 percent as of June 30, 2023.

LEARN MORE: Regulatory Risk & Compliance in Financial Services

Despite this decline, the FDIC projects that the reserve ratio is likely to reach the statutory minimum of 1.35 percent by the statutory deadline of September 30, 2028. It’s important to note that these projections don’t assume interest rates will remain as high compared to 2023. This also doesn’t account for the concentration of deposits for some of the largest banks dissipated via restructuring, spin-offs, or competing with smaller banks’ interest rates.

Your Financial Services Partner

For more trusted insight and knowledge expertise, we invite you to view our wide array of Financial Services digital solutions.

Our services expertise, blended with our digital leadership across platforms and business needs, equips the largest organizations to solve complex challenges and compliantly drive growth.

Contact us today!

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer for various industries. One such industry that will be forced to utilize AI solutions to gain a competitive advantage is the regional insurance carrier industry.

By harnessing the power of AI, regional insurance carriers can streamline their operations, enhance customer experience, and make more informed decisions. I hope I can successfully convey some of the opportunities that insurers should explore, yet my list below represents only a sliver of the total possibilities.

Regional insurance carriers, often operating in a highly competitive market, face numerous challenges in attracting and retaining customers, such as a lack of brand awareness and distribution breadth. To overcome these challenges, they are increasingly turning to AI technologies. AI enables these carriers to automate processes, improve risk assessment, personalize customer interactions, and optimize pricing strategies. By leveraging AI, regional insurance carriers can enhance their competitiveness and deliver superior services to their customers. I’m not sure they have a choice to do anything else.

What are Some of the Areas Where Regional Insurance Carriers can Leverage AI?

1. Process Automation

AI allows regional insurance carriers to automate various time-consuming and repetitive tasks, such as claims processing and underwriting. By automating these processes, carriers can significantly reduce operational costs and improve efficiency. For example, AI-powered chatbots can handle customer queries and provide instant responses, eliminating the need for manual intervention. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also frees up staff to focus on more complex tasks.

2. Risk Assessment

Accurate risk assessment is crucial for insurance carriers to determine appropriate coverage and pricing. AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data, including historical claims, customer profiles, and external factors, to assess risk more accurately. This enables regional carriers to offer tailored policies and pricing based on individual risk profiles. For instance, AI can identify patterns in customer behavior and predict potential risks, allowing carriers to proactively mitigate them. This personalized approach enhances customer satisfaction and reduces the likelihood of fraudulent claims. The mix of different types of new data sources and AI will be a powerful combination that today is in its infancy.

3. Personalized Customer Interactions

AI-powered systems enable regional insurance carriers to deliver personalized customer experiences. By analyzing customer data, AI algorithms can identify individual preferences, anticipate needs, and offer tailored recommendations. For instance, AI can suggest additional coverage options based on a customer’s lifestyle or provide real-time updates on policy changes. This level of personalization not only enhances customer satisfaction but also fosters long-term loyalty.

4. Pricing Optimization

AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data, including market trends, competitor pricing, and customer behavior, to optimize pricing strategies. Regional insurance carriers can leverage AI to dynamically adjust premiums based on risk factors and market conditions. This enables them to offer competitive pricing while maintaining profitability. For example, AI can identify patterns in customer behavior and adjust premiums accordingly, incentivizing safer driving habits or healthier lifestyles. This flexibility in pricing helps regional carriers attract and retain customers in a highly competitive market.

Conclusion

In conclusion, regional insurance carriers are increasingly leveraging AI technologies to gain a competitive advantage. By automating processes, improving risk assessment, personalizing customer interactions, and optimizing pricing strategies, these carriers can enhance their competitiveness and deliver superior services. AI empowers regional insurers to streamline operations, reduce costs, and provide personalized experiences to their customers.

AI will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the future of regional insurance carriers and carriers today are learning about its vast possibilities that go far beyond content creation capabilities and focusing more on what firms like Salesforce can provide, such as true customer data platforms.  

Throughout history and across cultures, women have been forbidden from opening bank accounts, owning property, and taking out loans.

Fortunately, most societies today don’t legally bar women from partaking in these tasks, but the ancient history of shutting doors on women seeking greater financial control has left an undeniable gender gap in the world of financial services and a lingering, detrimental attitude that money management is a man’s job.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we can recognize the financial services industry’s progress in forging more equitable attitudes and practices while still acknowledging that it still has far to go in its journey toward greater inclusivity.

Here are some ways that financial services institutions can continue to work toward bridging the gender gap:

1. Promote the advancement of women into leadership roles

According to research conducted by Mercer, about 46% of employees in the finance sector are women; however, only 15% occupy executive positions. Many factors contribute to this statistic, such as the historically male-dominated workplaces of many financial services institutions that lead to male-oriented workplace culture values. This exists in tandem with the inequality in numbers from the bottom up (i.e., 84% of finance professors are men). Another issue is the common “broken rung” women experience when trying to move up from an entry-level role to a managerial role; a woman who holds an entry-level role is far less likely than her male counterpart to be slated into a managerial position.

Successful institutions must intentionally work to mind this gap by investing in the education, training, and mentoring of women. Not only does including more women in c-suites give businesses a better public perception, but it helps deter decisions from being made under rigid “groupthink” mentalities, which in turn contributes to higher profits. According to Forrester, companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 21% more likely to have above-average financial returns.

2. Consider women more mindfully in marketing efforts

When determining your target audience, it should no longer only be older, wealthy men. In fact, a 2021 study by BNY Mellon showed there would be an extra $3.22 trillion of assets under management from private individuals if women invested at the same rate as men. Not to mention, as of 2020, women control two-thirds of consumer spending, hold 40% of total global wealth, account for 40% of entrepreneurial activity worldwide, and are the main breadwinners in 49% of U.S. households.

Firms must more thoughtfully consider the different assets, behaviors, and financial needs of women when executing their marketing tactics. And they must do so with an intersectional approach – what may be true for one woman is not for another. One-size-fits-all marketing is no longer sufficient to remain competitive.

3. Examine how your institution’s products and services support women

Keeping in mind that women are 30% less likely to have sufficient access to funding for entrepreneurial efforts, eight times more likely than men to look after sick family members (which can prevent them from working and getting paid), and typically have 30% to 40% lower retirement account balances than men – how are your institutions’ products functioning to help women maneuver these challenges?

One example of an institution building products and services with women in mind is JPMorgan Chase. The firm developed a Curated Coaching for Entrepreneurs offering that provides free small-group coaching to female entrepreneurs as part of its Women on the Move initiative.

Goldman Sachs has a similar initiative called 10,000 Women. This program strives to provide “women entrepreneurs around the world with business and management education, mentoring and networking, and access to capital.” As part of the initiative, Goldman Sachs developed a free online business education program available to women globally. The program has 10 courses in topics including business finance, digital marketing, and innovation strategy.

Gone are the days when a company could just add some (traditionally) feminine branding and call its efforts toward gender inclusivity sufficient. Gender diversity is an essential component of delivering elevated business strategies. It helps attract and retain better talent, enhances creativity, and improves ROI.

In our last blog, How Embedded Finance is Changing Purchasing & Borrowing Behaviors, we looked at embedded payments and loans and why companies would want to offer (increased sales, lower inventory, processing costs, data gathering) these bank-like services. In this blog, we’re going to stay in the world of finance, but pivot to embedded insurance. 

Embedded Insurance 

Similar to how we defined embedded finance in the first blog in our series as “the placing of a financial product in a nonfinancial customer experience, journey, or platform,” we define Embedded Insurance as any insurance that can be purchased within the commercial transaction or platform of another product or service.  

Just as we noted in the first blog that history doesn’t repeat but it rhymes, Embedded Insurance is not an innovation, but it is insurance being delivered through a different platform.

Recall flying back in the 1970s, when airlines began offering life insurance at the airport to folks before they boarded their flight. If they did their job poorly, dependents would get paid. Consumers often want to protect themselves on large purchases. Car rental companies offer insurance at the counter, even though the rental companies are not insurance companies themselves. Furniture sellers often offer protection for a premium on the products they sell.  Apple makes significant profits selling insurance on their phones.  i-Insurance anyone?  

Insurance does not have to be on physical items, like furniture, iPhones, or personal well-being. Having a teenage daughter who is on the ski team, I recently learned that ski passes can have personal injury protection added to them. Having a teenage son, I also learned that ticket insurance can be added to rock concert tickets. Not sure if this means he gets paid back if he doesn’t like the concert, but I’m sure that this online feature was not offered when I used to wait in line to buy concert tickets.  You know, back in the old days when we walked to school uphill, both ways in the snow. 

Conclusion 

While Embedded Insurance is not a new product offering, the methodology to offer the insurance is. In this blog, we reviewed how non-financial firms can offer their customers insurance protection on their purchases. If you would like to have Perficient strategize and help deliver digital dominance on your firm’s embedded finance journey, reach out to us here. 

Whether you’re an insurance carrier or a broker, change is here and change is about to accelerate beyond the prior few years when our world was modified in ways none of us had ever seen.

Embracing Change

I’m sure this isn’t the first opinion piece you’ve read where someone has laid out the trends that you must follow to be successful in your business. I can’t tell you the exact trends that you must follow because I will never know your business as well as you do. All I can do is hopefully lay out some ideas and concepts to help you and your teams make the decisions that are best for your organization and your specific challenges, whether they be in customer experience, innovation, claims, data usage, etc.

The financial media will tell you that we are in a recession or heading full steam ahead into one, but I’m going to tell you that now is a great time to focus on growth. Our economic history is filled with case studies of firms that came out of recessions stronger and as more dominant players in their industries. How did they achieve such success through adversity? They attacked, they adapted, and they didn’t sit still.

Carriers have a tremendous amount of data – years ago, we were told that “data is the new oil.” Although there are most certainly dollars in the data, this is the old paradigm. The new data paradigm focuses on using data to prepare for the future.

When you look at how much of a budget is used to analyze the past rather than predicting the future and designing and innovating on future endeavors, you might be surprised. Research has shown that number for some to be around 98%. Flipping that investment just a little will multiply the benefits you get from your data.

Digital Transformation

Of course, you’ve heard all about digital transformation, but if you ask the ten people to define it, what will they say? The list may be akin to a version of Digital Buzzword BINGO.

The key is that after a decade we may be nearing the end of the digital transformation era as we’ve come to know it. We often hear from senior executives at Insurers that are looking to digitize their businesses that their biggest investment payback doesn’t conjure up the images of massive teams backing up the bus doing transformation work.  They see greater success with making changes in the way that they conduct business in the little everyday tasks to make it more seamless. Such changes must occur at the right speed for policyholders, business partners, and employees. Basically, executives are looking for more targeted point solutions that teams can adjust to at their own pace.

We all know that businesses need to be technologically up to trend to maintain a competitive edge. However, we also must consider how we can keep a human touch alongside this continuous technological advancement.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

When a customer is doing business with a firm, consider the extent to which simplicity is a factor in the interaction. How are your systems set up to provide customers with seamless experiences? Are they able to do business without too many clicks and without too many decisions and frustrations? Customers are favoring simple user experiences more than ever. Many expect the experience with you to be as easy as the Uber trip they just took, so they come to you with challenging expectations. One tool that, if used correctly, can help simplify experiences is artificial intelligence (AI).

AI has its pros and cons, but we’re still in an age where people like to have human service providers as an option, and human employees greatly impact perceptions of businesses. I’m usually not an unreasonable person, but my list of “to-do’s” includes looking at other options for my home internet because my current provider’s chatbot lacks a humanized customer service approach, making getting my questions answered frustrating and far too drawn out. My service provider embraced technology with the intention to provide better customer experiences, but it easily takes ten minutes just to get through the “who I am” part of the process, and their service remains full of friction throughout.

Measuring Reputation and Brand Perception

Often, one of the hardest things for a business to measure is reputation and brand perception. There are many different types of customers, and they come with a diverse set of expectations for their institutions.  Your policyholders and partners are all very different and come to you to conduct business with different expectations.

For example, some policyholders may seek insurance options that are just not feasible as part of purchasing or service experiences.  They want carriers to meet them where they are and to be made to feel important.

The end user isn’t thinking about all the work you’re doing in the background to modernize, innovate, and disrupt to win in your marketplace. They’re thinking about what they need now and if you can provide it for them. That “now” may also occur infrequently. We all know that the lights and the systems must remain on and running. Some of those systems may be on-prem and some may be in the cloud, but as your client, they just want to be able to hit an easy button and have confidence that an institution they’re doing business with has their back.

As new products and services become more and more reliant on technology, your business’s ability to reduce friction while realizing value from your automation investments is critical. Some of these initiatives will be sure bets and some will be a higher risk with the potential for a big payoff.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the road to standing up to new technology is not always a smooth one. Creating a digital experience that can be seamless for a diverse variety of users will remain a challenge for the next decade. Businesses must continue to optimize processes and build a moat around themselves by offering reliable and effective customer experiences.

Whether it be omnichannel, opti-channel, or a witch’s brew of things we haven’t even thought of yet, what is certain is that when it comes to new approaches to engaging with your policyholders and partners, the trend is that change is going to be constant and relentless. Taking a pragmatic and execution-oriented approach supported by partners that feel the same way will reap great benefits.

Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida’s gulf coast and Georgetown, South Carolina, on September 28, leaving countless businesses and homes — if not wholly destroyed — drowned with flood water and without power. The Insurance Information Institute, an industry-funded research group, estimates that Ian has caused at least $30 billion in damage.

Now that the storm has passed, residents are scrambling to assess damages to their homes and businesses and, if insured, begin the claims processes with their insurers. Here are some ways insurance companies can step up for everyone in their communities (those they serve and the uninsured) in the wake of natural disasters.

1. Community outreach

Insurance companies can partner with, volunteer with, and/or donate to organizations such as the American Red Cross, Convoy of Hope, Feeding America, Midwest Food Bank, and Habitat for Humanity.

2. Set up customer care sites

Carriers can set up tables at local businesses so that representatives can be more accessible to customers who may have questions or need in-person assistance with their claims processes.

3. Allow multiple channels for submitting claims

. Due to power outages, many may not have as many means of communication as they would in standard times. Insurance companies should make it as easy as possible for customers to submit claims through text messages, phone calls, emails, websites, and mobile apps. Live customer service representatives should be easy to reach through each channel, should customers have any questions during the process.

4. Practice financial flexibility

Offer extensions on payments and expedited disbursements to policyholders. Customers will remember these gestures, and an empathetic approach, or lack thereof, can make or break a customer’s experience.

Our insurance team is just returning from InsureTech Connect (ITC). What a great week in the desert! ITC is one of the, if not largest, industry gatherings of insurance carriers, solution provers, implementation partners, and startups. Over 2,400 companies were in attendance, and it was said that there were over 8,500 attendees present this year.

I felt very fortunate to be in the company of thousands of like-minded professionals seeking to digitally transform an industry that’s focused on protecting people, businesses, and the things they care about most.

Roaming the convention floor, I found several exciting paths the industry is headed down and how it aligns with our view of digital modernization:

• Data is everywhere. Data and analytics remain key investment areas for insurance operations. Data-led companies assess the impact of decisions and adapt more rapidly while advanced analytics and data science allow companies to make predictions and test them against real-world results. This was evident with innovative applications for underwriting, customer service, and claims management. At Perficient, we are helping our clients deploy high-value insights quickly to deliver decisions with agility and speed.
• Personalization remains a key focus area of differentiation. We’ve discussed for quite some time the need for our industry to increase its focus on product and experience personalization. It is no longer okay to simply be the industry leader in experience when consumer expectations are set by cross-industry experience leaders like Amazon, Apple, and Google. Businesses and Individuals engage with companies that demonstrate authentic knowledge of their relationship. Our capabilities in journey science are helping to build on a strong data foundation above and develop successful experience makers to deliver integrated, seamless, tailored experiences.
• Embedded Insurance is a rapidly evolving distribution channel. Shifting insurance distribution to meet the consumer where they choose to interact was a big focus at this year’s conference. Breakout sessions on the topic and embedded platform technologies abound. It has been estimated that as much as 25% of the total P&C premium could be driven through embedded distribution by the end of the decade. Embedded insurance allows consumers to purchase coverage at the moment they’re most likely to buy it while expanding purchase opportunities for carriers and partners. At Perficient, we believe embedded insurance has the power to transform insurance by providing convenience and control in the purchasing process. We also know that a robust digital strategy and API development plan are required to be successful:
  • Partnerships and experiences will be an extension of carrier brands, so they must be carefully cultivated.
  • The digital experience requires real-time and frictionless interaction delivered by robust cloud and API programs.

Our team left the conference a little bleary-eyed and tired after three days of taking all this in,  but we’re excited for what the future holds. Meeting with like-minded insurance professionals from across the world provides inspiration for where the industry is headed.

The goal for Perficient’s insurance practice is to help our partners modernize, innovate, and disrupt to win in the increasingly competitive insurance market. And as a global leader in digital transformation, we’re excited to be part of this industry transformation and look forward to helping our customers leverage these capabilities to truly differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

In our previous blogs, we’ve documented how insurance is a complicated product for the traditional commerce process. Let’s recap what we’ve covered:

• It’s a product mandated by the state, financial institutions, and professions for many parts of life – driving, homeownership, rental, professional liability, and others. But it’s not a product that most of us enjoy shopping for in our daily lives.
• The consumer journey involves complicated terminology and morbid situational analysis increasing the aversion to shopping for many of these products.
• Purchasing can involve many channels, from online to working with agents commissioned on what they sell. Can the consumer really feel confident in their purchase decision?
• Insurance is one of the few purchased products that one hopes to never have to use – fulfilling a claim means something bad has happened.

All of this combined makes the insurance industry one of the 10 least trusted domestic industries. As a whole, it’s amazing that the consumer ever gets to the shopping cart at the end of the journey.

But what if these conditions actually created an opportunity for carriers to differentiate themselves in the commerce process? What if they supported the customer journey to help consumers feel empowered and enlightened with their purchasing decisions? Rather than focus on conversion at the point of purchase (the cart), carriers can support the journey to purchase and build consumer loyalty through transparency, personalization, and confidence.

Over the next series of four blogs, we’ll lay out a four-step approach to building a commerce strategy beyond the shopping cart. We’ll go over the following:

• Your Commerce Strategy – Creating a vision and definition of what digital commerce means to your organization​
• Understanding Your Customer – Focusing on customer obsession by understanding your customers’ needs, wants, and expectations​
• Gaining Internal Commitment – Harmonize the internal buying and selling of products and services to the digital-first expectations of the customer​
• Technology Enablement – Finally, aligning your technology approach to the needs and wants of the business to enable your people and customers​

Follow us as we embark on this journey of understanding the commerce process. For more information on enhancing your commerce strategy with the assistance of rising insurance trends, download our guide, Commerce Experiences and the Rise of Digital-First Insurance, and connect with Brian Bell and Beth Duerr on LinkedIn to engage with them further on the growing relationship between commerce and insurance.

Recently, Digital Insurance issued the findings from Keynova Group on the 2022 Mobile Insurance Scorecard.  While mobile has long been a part of the carrier offering – pay a bill, get an ID card, file a claim – this survey reflects the evolution of insurers from transactional into personalized servicing.

I’ve long advocated that personalization includes three essential elements: 

1) Know Me – Data & Analytics Relevant to the Customer

2) Learn About Me – Preferences and Interactions

3) Tell Me – Authentic, Relevant Brand Messages and Experiences

What strikes me about this year’s leaders (including GEICO, State Farm, Nationwide, Progressive and USAA) is how these elements are appearing in their mobile capabilities:

• • • Claims chatbots create predictive options and expanded vocabulary – leveraging data and honoring preference interaction.
    • Expanded services such as gas and parking locators offer enhanced value by displaying need-based information.
    • Liberty Mutual and GEICO integrating telematics into the app itself is a brilliant way to engage insurance consumers beyond the traditional app interactions bill pay and claims.  By integrating driver data, app usage will increase, and the carriers have even more opportunity to promote personalized recommendations through this expanded traffic.

This survey highlights the progress the insurance industry is making on its digital transformation journey.  Personalization is but one key element of this, enabled by technology and implemented using design thinking.  It’s exciting to think about a future where insurance is seen as a true partner in protecting and preventing risk, not just as a formality that must be dealt with when you’ve had an incident.  Leveraging technology in a personalized user experience is a critical way we will make this come true.

Perficient’s offerings enable insurance companies to innovate and deliver products and services through superior and personalized mobile, online, phone, and in-person experiences. We also help them achieve enterprise-wide operational excellence.​ Feel free to reach out to me if you’re interested in learning more.

TD Bank Group recently announced its Q4 2021 earnings were up 31% from Q4 2020, despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. On its earnings call, the company elaborated that this in part was due to its dedicated, people-oriented approach to business.

TD emphasized that this elevated focus on the customer experience has proven essential to their business strategy and that they are continuing to invest in marketing and technology to ensure their preparedness for continuous growth.

“As always, we will stay focused on our long-term strategy and continue to execute on our enterprise priorities, delivering more value for customers across our distribution channels, leveraging our data, analytics and AI capabilities to elevate the customer experience, transforming the way we work to achieve better, faster outcomes,” said TD Bank Group President and Chief Executive Officer Bharat Masrani.

When I asked Kevin Colletti, a digital strategist at Perficient whose past roles included head of digital strategy at ING (now Voya), what set companies like TD Bank apart from some of its competitors, he said, “It comes down to a few things that fall under what we at Perficient call ‘journey science.’ In the most simple terms, journey science encompasses research, analysis, strategy, and experimentation – everything that you need to identify opportunities to improve the customer experience.”

On February 2, Perficient’s Colletti will moderate a webinar that will feature GM Financial and Adobe. GM Financial will share how it continues to focus on the customer, while Adobe will discuss what all financial services companies can do to become “experience makers.” We’d love for you to join us.