The pervasive use of web-enabled and mobile devices, coupled with technological advancement, has given customers and agents more opportunity than ever to directly engage carriers, shop around or switch to a competitor.

As a result, improved accessibility must be incorporated into insurers’ policy administration strategies as a matter of staying competitive — rather than as an area of R&D.

Short-term policy admin strategies that exclude or minimize mobile channels are likely to eliminate the carrier at the early stages of the “buy” decision. In the long-term, carriers adopting a strategy that embraces a consistent user experience across multiple devices will be viewed as customer-focused and easy to do business with. Their forward-thinking strategy will offer them greater insight into their customers’ needs, which will ultimately result in a competitive advantage over carriers taking a siloed approach to access.

Planning for improved accessibility goes beyond simply deciding to “release an app.”

Of course, planning for improved accessibility goes beyond simply deciding to “release an app.” It’s not enough for a policy administration strategy to simply provide information about products and services. Carriers need to offer consistently excellent transactional capabilities to both agents and consumers across multiple access points, starting with a clear plan for servicing different devices and browsers in a consistent and complementary fashion.

Data gathered from these channels can provide tremendous insight into the needs and behaviors of customers, which can then be used to provide individualized assistance, develop new products and offer complementary products and services.

Mobile has been a topic of conversation in insurance for some time. Until recently, it was discussed as something that was going to take off in general … but not in insurance. Who would want to buy insurance on a phone? Well, as it turns out, the reality is that technology and customer expectations are evolving rapidly. In both the short and long term, insurers need to keep up – or face the consequences.