The insurance industry has made great strides in the last decade to deploy technology to streamline business processes and make it easier for agents/brokers to do business with them. The figure below shows the approximate timeline of the technology categories that have made this possible:
First was imaging and workflow to digitize and automate the application process. Then came the deployment of portal technology, which provided agents/brokers a one-stop shop for up-to-date information about a carrier’s programs and coverages.
Web 2.0 and collaboration technologies began to move the goalposts. Now, it’s the advent of social media that made it possible to truly connect with the agent/broker community. No longer is a portal enough; it’s basically functioning as little more than an online repository of information. Connecting more effectively with agents/brokers requires interactive, collaborative capabilities – exactly what social media and collaboration provide.
We’re starting to see some carriers make use of these tools. In particular, we’re seeing them rolling out social capabilities to serve three distinct communities:
- Agent-Broker – Use social tools to connect agents/brokers with carrier product experts to facilitate quicker access to up-to-date information about the carrier’s products and services, but also to connect agents/brokers with each other to facilitate knowledge/expertise sharing about the carrier’s products. The social tools can also connect agents/brokers with automated tools to speed and improve the application process.
- Internal Employee – Use social tools to connect carrier product experts to facilitate internal knowledge-sharing and improve the customer service experience.
- Customer – Use social tools to connect customers with carrier product experts to facilitate quicker access to up-to-date information about the carrier’s products and services, to connect customers with each other to facilitate knowledge/expertise sharing and peer networking (e.g. commercial customers), and to connect customers with automated tools to make routine policy administration easier and more direct.
Bottom line: If you’re an insurance carrier, it may be time to revisit that agent/broker portal and start thinking about going social – with your agents/brokers, but also with your internal employees and your customers. Social tools provide the kind of interactivity that many of us are now accustomed to in our personal lives via tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. In business communities like those listed above, interactive sharing of information provides business benefits that go both ways: Your agents/brokers and your customers learn more about the products and services your insurance firm has to offer, and you get the opportunity to learn just what your agents/brokers and your customers are looking for – which in turn helps your firm to determine which products and services to develop to meet those needs.
If you do decide to go social, though, we recommend you take a strategic approach, geared toward the enterprise. Point solutions and “one-off” efforts won’t solve your agent/broker enablement challenges, and they certainly won’t allow you to take those capabilities out to your employees or to your customers. But a well-thought-out, enterprise approach will.