One of the first factors for insurers to consider is their business processes. One important example is the customer journey, or, how insurance companies interact with their customers.

Insurers are battling poor customer perceptions as their products are considered to be a ‘grudge purchase’ or necessary evil (e.g., to legally drive your car, take care of your family, etc.). Historically, two critical interactions drive these perceptions: policy renewals and claim submissions. If insurers want to improve their customer relationships, it is vital to shift away from this narrative and strive for a more helpful brand image. For example, by offering bespoke products to meet customers’ unique needs.

To build this new image, insurers must abandon the transactional mindset that is prevalent across the industry today and adopt a product mentality instead. Insurers with a product mindset continually learn from customers’ changing needs and pivot their strategy to capture and retain more customers. And so, insurers must embrace three core principles:

Instrumental to the delivery and the success of an insurer's product is, of course, the technology that powers it all. Here, insurers can use an external platform, build in-house solutions, or deploy a combination of the two, depending on their capabilities.

Regardless, digital solutions should be modular, scalable, and extensible. Firstly, a composable and cloud-enabled architecture will provide flexibility, scale, and resilience.  Secondly, using defined API and data strategies can align digital capabilities with business objectives. Finally, process automation, where possible, will also reduce manual effort and accelerate investment returns by building on each of these aspects.

A measured and considered technology strategy that considers all of the above will underpin any successful digital transformation.

The final factor that must be considered to help insurers become digitally effective is their people.

Regardless of the industry, attracting team members with the right mentality, focus, skills, and experience is key to any company’s success. However, as previously highlighted, the insurance industry is not exempt from the clutches of the Great Resignation. Unfortunately, insurance firms wishing to retain and hire technically-minded staff are competing against major tech giants and disruptive startups.

Most tech startups are implementing flexible working environments and fully remote positions alongside eye-catching benefits for those who come to the office. Traditional insurance firms trying to hire will therefore have to offer similar opportunities to compete and appeal to this highly skilled demographic.

Looking beyond recruitment, another way insurance companies can retain their staff is by upskilling employees and unlocking their digital talents. Digital upskilling is often overlooked, yet it is considerably more cost-effective than onboarding new hires.

Besides the cost, upskilling also allows insurance companies to be more efficient, as employees will already have a working knowledge of the business’ pain points and operations. Insurers can even consider training existing team members on low-code solutions to widen the pool of digitally-skilled people and reduce demands on engineering teams.