It’s all about immediacy in this world we are currently living in. We don’t want to have to spend hours on the phone to call centres or wait for people to call us back with ridiculous quotations. We want what we want and we want it now!
This goes for everything including the insurance industry. With the help of technology, start-ups are changing the game and becoming an unbelievable threat to large insurers. Technologies such as mobile apps and customer data analysis are being used by smaller insurers to disrupt the sector and gain a competitive advantage.
Consumers prefer getting their information online in the comfort of their own home or office. Although the immediacy factor plays a role, consumers want to utilize the technology they have access to and do their homework in order to ensure that they get the best deal. Comparative websites are making this easier for consumers to have access to different insurers’ offerings at the click of a button.
So how is technology in fact aiding in the consumer/ insurer experience? We find out…
Data-driven Technologies
One of the biggest disruptors of the Insurance industry is data-driven technologies.
For Insurers:
Data-driven technologies are giving insurance companies the ability to better analyze data providing them the opportunity to determine risk to a level close to perfection. What does this mean for premiums? More accurate price of insurance for consumers, premiums will be fair which means lower risk consumers will pay less for insurance.
For Consumers:
Consumers want instant communication, feeding this instant gratification we crave and this will be able to happen with data-driven technologies.
Claiming Using Technology
I’m sure many of us don’t even realize that our insurance provider has an app and have yet to install It. Take a second, go ahead…download it, it will be worth it. The reason we say this is that we don’t realize how many extra services our insurance provider offer until we can instantly use it.
For example, claims. So many of our providers actually offer in-app claims submission. This means you don’t have to go call your insurance provider, send multiple emails, get them to call you back and so on. You can take pictures in the app, enter other drivers’ details, take down other information like dates and details of the accident and submit the claim immediately. And that’s that, amazing!
Many providers also allow you to “call” a towing company or roadside assistance without actually calling but simply sending an in-app message. To read more click here
- Jax du Plessis is an author at MoneyPanda