Struggling to Embrace Digital Innovation? Twenty minutes is all it takes.
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As an industry, insurance is not widely regarded as innovative when it comes to digital technology. Customer engagement models, omnichannel communication and self-service capabilities that are becoming standard in other sectors have not yet been fully embraced by the insurance industry.
Analyst firm Celent asked consumers to rank industries in terms of their ability to deliver a great shopping or service experience via smart technologies. The results of the survey revealed that insurance companies rank near the bottom of the list (only marginally beating out the government and traditional retailers without web sites). Insurers seeking to thrive in an environment of changing customer expectations must find ways to shift their approach and embrace digital innovation.
How effective is your strategic planning process at promoting digital initiatives and innovation? What would happen if you could step out of the traditional committee-based planning cycles buried in endless meetings discussing cost-benefit-analyses and long PowerPoint presentations?
Imagine the following industry scenario:
- You work for a multiline insurance carrier offering a broad range of property/casualty and life insurance products.
- You distribute products through both captive and independent agency forces.
- You’re a member of a cross-functional team representing sales, marketing, operations, technology and actuarial.
- Prioritize your top five projects for the year and justify why they made the list and their benefit to your organization.
Sound like a typical annual planning project? Now, here’s the twist: you’ve only got 20 minutes to complete the exercise and prepare a short presentation to peer groups who have been given the same or similar versions of the exercise.
This was the scene at the recent Operational Excellence in Insurance conference, featuring Tom Scales, Research Director at Celent. This workshop highlighted ways in which insurers can improve their digital transformation journey in order to retain policyholders and attract new business.
The workshop consisted of senior leadership from a mix of large insurance companies. The attendees were split into teams of three or four members, each assigned a scenario similar to the one outlined above. Interestingly, the groups quickly engaged in the exercise and each was able to develop a priority list of their top recommendations within the 20-minute time constraint.
The resulting recommendations may surprise you. Then again, maybe you already know the answer, but the same focus on risk-aversion in products has inhibited decision-making and innovation. Here are a few of the key observations shared by the participants:
“We know that developing a digital strategy is important, but we find ways to discount or…
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“Companies overthink things when it comes to their digital strategy. We get caught up with justification of the expense; but if we don’t do something, someone else will.”
If you’re interested in shaking things up and promoting creative thinking in your planning process, check out Tom Scales’ report. He provides excellent suggestions as to how to embrace new ideas and stay competitive in a world where technology and nontraditional insurance competitors are changing more than ever before.
Interested in learning more? Get the Celent report now.
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