Breaking Down the New Silos

Insurers have spent a good deal of IT time, effort and budget over the past decade on developing and maintaining back-end systems for core insurance processing — quoting, policy, billing, claims, etc. For some, in-house technology teams have developed custom systems; others have turned to third-party vendors for packaged solutions. For the most part, each of these systems does its job and might do it very well. But many insurers are left with an environment of siloed systems that support different functions or different lines of business. Silos don’t end on the back end: each of these systems comes with its own version of a user experience, resulting in replication of the back-end silo problem on the front end.

Insurers are now becoming painfully aware of the shortcomings of front-end silos. Consumer expectations have changed with the adoption of the Internet and its ubiquitous availability and easy access to information and function. Insurance customers are looking for that same ease of use when it comes to buying insurance or obtaining service. Add to that the expanding use of mobile devices, and expectations just ticked up another notch or two.

Portals: The New Silos

That’s not to say the insurance industry has remained stagnant when it comes to supporting users. Carriers recognized the move to the Internet a few years back, but distribution of insurance was still primarily through the agent and broker channel rather than direct to consumer. As a result, the agency portal solution was born to extend the back office system and the user interface to the agent/broker channel. This new breed of software application was written in-house, purchased from a vendor specializing in agent portals, or acquired from a solution vendor who offered an agent portal as an extension to their insurance package. It would seem that the problem was solved. But, was it really?

Like the siloed back-end systems and the siloed front-end user interfaces, agency portal solutions are typically tactical in nature. Unfortunately, they do not solve all current requirements of delivering to the Internet and the growing desire for mobile access. In fact, if the industry continues down its original agent portal path, it could produce yet another layer of silos. Haven’t we learned this lesson enough times?

For the most part, agent portals support Web only, limited browsers and limited functionality. In addition, getting changes to market is a tedious process, requiring the dreaded code changes and careful management of new version distribution and control. By the time these changes reach the agent or customer users, they are often already out of date and in need of additional modification. Today’s popular social networking sites have set a new standard in delivering optimal customer experiences, and have significantly influenced insurance buyers and agents. Users expect ease of delivery of information and functionality that goes beyond what carriers have been able to provide through traditional agent portal offerings.

So how do carriers become agile at delivering capabilities and responding to the high expectations and ever-changing requirements of the agent and/or the customer? How do carriers continuously provide optimal user experiences to a wide range of demographics?

UXP Technology

A technology strategy that effectively separates the “front end” from the “back end” is a good place to start. By separating presentation from core functionality, the carrier is better able to control the user experience while leaving transactional processing and data storage to continue to perform effectively within the core system. Carriers might want to investigate new user experience platform (UXP) technologies, designed specifically for this purpose. These technologies are designed to be device-, browser- and language-agnostic, providing the flexibility to configure, deliver and change the user experience quickly and easily.

UXPs focus on the presentation of information and access to function, so they take on the heavy lifting of the delivery. Therefore, carriers who use UXP technology do not have to worry about the flavour or version of browser the customer or distribution channel may be using, the language in which they would like to communicate or the device being used. The UXP identifies these attributes and then translates to the most appropriate experience for the user.1 Imagine the nightmare of trying to support every potential combination with traditional portal solutions. UXPs enable the carrier to respond without being hindered by a user’s needs and preferences, even as they change.

Forget the saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” If carriers aren’t preparing to respond to what they don’t know, they might very well find themselves at a serious competitive disadvantage. What will users want tomorrow or next year? Who will those users be? What new revenue channels will a carrier need to support? What new product requirements and access to processing will be required?

Carriers can’t always predict where the business will go, but some things are predictable. For example, people will always seek the ideal user experience.

To this end, access to multiple, disparate back-end systems will be required. Consumers will demand more information in a variety of formats.

They will want to see a portfolio of information in a single view. They will also demand what they want from service and the product provider’s Internet offerings, further raising the bar for our notoriously slow-moving industry.

Is your head spinning yet? It’s not as overwhelming as it sounds, assuming that carriers take advantage of new technologies designed to tackle the user experience. However, if they continue down the path of a one-off user interface or agent portal, the problem will only get worse over time.

Insurance carriers have options should they wish to keep up with changing demands for quality user experiences. For carriers that opt to continue to develop software, an ongoing acquisition of the right skills and technology, as well as a process to keep up with the never-ending change, will be required. The challenge here is the delivery cycle and resource acquisition can be long. The same problem-prone model exists for vendors who provide an insurance software application. At the same time carriers are busy delivering and maintaining user experiences, they also need to continue support for a multitude of core functional systems — an ongoing need that frequently drains the organization’s resources in and of itself.

It may not seem like it, but user experience delivery is a huge undertaking today. The scope is broader than it appears at first glance and the effort to support and deliver change requires carriers to sustain an incredible pace. Portal development might continue to work for carriers that have a contained set of channels. But for carriers looking to expand, or for those that don’t know what the future holds, evaluating alternate approaches and technologies for the delivery and support of the optimal user experience may be in order.

End Notes

1 A‘user’ includes an insurance buyer, seller, claims adjuster, customer service representative or virtually anyone requiring access to a carrier’s systems and functionality.