InsTech.ie Insights: Data is Every Insurer’s Not-So-Secret Weapon

First of all, having data isn’t the problem. There’s no way to be an insurance provider without collecting lots of data.

Instead, insurers need to ask: 

• “Is this data fluid and easily accessed?” and 
• “Is my data supporting insights that help improve customer experiences?” 

This was the primary focus of another recent panel co-sponsored by EIS and InsTech.ie, and we’ve got the recap of and replay videos for you below.

In fact, if you prefer to just watch instead of read, you can do that right here:

Unused Data = Missed Opportunities

Ian Betley, EIS General Manager for the EMEA and APAC regions, began by saying some insurers classify him as a “longstanding” or “legacy” customer, yet still only communicate with him at renewal time. (Not exactly the best customer satisfaction and retention strategy, is it?)

Insurers compound the problem of infrequent communication when they don’t act on opportunities data reveals. In Ian’s case, age, diet, fatherhood, and earnings make him an ideal target for financial protection products to aid retirement planning, but his carriers aren’t pitching them to him.

In his words, “I don’t feel like a customer. I feel like a policy number.” Carriers need the right balance of digitization and customer-centricity to thrive in today’s insurance market.

Maximizing Data Accessibility Within Your Tech Stack

Maximizing data accessibility is key to finding that balance, as Jac Dunne, CEO of fintech solutions provider Dimply, explained. Insurers that aren’t using data effectively often can’t find it, because legacy core systems exacerbate siloing, redundancies, and errors. 

By contrast, insurers that build seamlessly integrated ecosystems with their partners can find the accurate data they need in real time. Readily accessible data helps shape the personalized experiences insurance customers want, and can also contribute to predictive analytics efforts (predicting renewal or churn rates, identifying risk, and more).

Data Transferability for Better Automations & Customer Relations (Getting the Little Things Right)

Shourjya Sanyal, AVP & Head of Innovation at Unum Ireland and a renowned figure in health technologies, echoed Ian and Jac’s points while stressing a matter he believed isn’t discussed enough: data transferability. 

On the surface, data transferability seems like a simple matter — it empowers things like automated form fill-ins during customer onboarding, billing, claims processing, and other critical operations. But if data is disorganized due to siloing, poor integration, and other problems common to legacy infrastructure, there’ll be problems with transferability. This often results in errors that slow down these key processes, which can frustrate customers and make them lose trust in carriers.

Improving transferability is crucial to strengthening day-to-day customer-facing insurance processes (particularly claims and billing) — the little things that keep everything going. These gains build trust among customers, who may then share data more willingly — allowing you to improve their experiences. Getting better at these operations through optimized data usage also boosts insurers’ chances of succeeding in high-risk/high-reward projects like AI initiatives. 

Ready to Make the Most of Your Data?

If better-leveraging data to improve customer relationships sounds like it’s an initiative that’s right up your alley, watch the full video above. 

If you’re ready to take action on those goals, get in touch to learn how EIS Suite™ helps insurers leverage data more effectively.