The exponential growth rate of technology – all forms of it – has impacted the commercial insurance industry in many ways. As a commercial insurance firm and agent, it’s beneficial to be proactive, not reactive.
While technological innovation can provide challenges – like more informed customers with knowledge and competitors at their fingertips – “challenge” is just another word for opportunity. Let’s take a look at 5 different emerging challenges in the commercial insurance industry.
- Personalized/Custom Insurance Solutions for Startups. Funding is surging for startup companies all around, and many of these startups are fighting to offer the best benefits package they can for their (prospective) employees. A generic insurance and benefits package will often not be enough when your competitor is willing to offer a customized package specific to a customer. Don’t get hedged out…be the one that’s offering that customized package. One size doesn’t fit all anymore.
- New Service Concepts Can Open Doors. Living in a day and age where information is available all the time, being able to offer robo-advisors or other resources available 24 hours per day, 7 days a week will help arm your customers with information that empowers them to make decisions without ongoing and unnecessary consultation. (That being said, it’s important to never lose sight of the human touch, either.)
- Leverage Data and Analytics to Generate Risk Insights. Established, traditional outfits previously possessed a huge advantage over commercial insurance newcomers because they could help clients by using years of detailed risk data. That said, nowadays that isn’t necessarily true. All sorts of real-time data is captured by different sources and is available for use. Nowadays, new commercial insurance providers have significant data as well. So if you’re a newcomer, make sure you leverage that data. If not, make sure you’re staying on top of the changing game of data.
- Enable Your Business With Modern and Sophisticated Operations. “Scalability” and “Flexibility” are two critical features in today’s business climate, and they apply just as much to the insurance industry. Nowadays, it’s important to stay knowledgeable about cloud services and software that (a) might compete with your offerings, (b) might complement your offerings, or (c) might enhance your offerings. For example, automated underwriting is now available for various segments, especially for small and medium businesses.
- Increasing Customer Expectations. This isn’t only true of technologically savvy clients and startups. Continuous improvement is a mantra in all forms of business, and every company is under scrutiny to eliminate unnecessary costs. Don’t let certain commercial coverage be one of those costs. Some of this boils down to managing the relationship and expectations. Never forget that even your oldest client can audit their insurance coverage – it’s up to you to make sure you’re the one performing that audit.
In the end, technology is changing business, and the commercial insurance industry isn’t immune to those changes. These tips can help keep your company thinking about the right changes to make in the face of technological evolution and new types of competitors.
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Travis Triplett is a freelance writer for Insured Solutions. He resides in Louisville, KY, where he lives with his wife and dog. |