Insurance

Jacob could barely keep his calm.

Jacob, an executive customer experience veteran in the property and casualty insurance industry, had his job cut out for him. His company was once a venerable presence in the renter’s insurance sector. But for the past few years, they have been losing market share consistently to new  (insurance technology companies) players in the market. The brand and customer service were still getting good reviews, but it still did not hold a candle to the sheer agility and speed at which the new insurtech companies operated.

They had recently upgraded their website and mobile app capabilities, enabling new renters and homeowners to apply for policies online. However, their risk review and claim process was still entirely offline and took precious time away from their customers – which drove Jacob and his team up the wall to maintain their stellar customer satisfaction scores.

He realized he might need a better way to integrate the underlying layers of data that his company needs to get their edge on the competition.

Jacob’s pains are relatable to anyone who handles the customer interactions for policy and claims processing at large insurers. Insurance companies and compelling customer experiences are not the terms you might find in the same statement. But in recent times, companies like Lemonade and Hippo have made it as easy to apply for an insurance policy as ordering coffee at Starbucks – immediate, personalized, and ready to go when you are.

How have these companies been able to turn the tables on the veterans of the insurance sector? By harnessing the power of data of the adjacent players in the property ecosystem. Property insurance for renters is complex to process since they rely on a lot of data points involved in computing liability – the location and condition of the property, and the insurance history of the customer.  . These technology-first players have been able to cohesively utilize these myriad data sources to provide personalized options to their customers in almost-instant timelines. But what do you do when your aging infrastructure keeps your organization from reaching the agility of these newer rivals?

Autonom8 is here to help. We can set a strong foundation for your organization to reimagine your customer’s insurance journey.

In insurance, customers would be going through multiple steps in the process to successfully acquire renter’s insurance. The significant steps or milestones for such a  journey would be as below:

Insurance Initiation

Customers are typically initiated into renter’s insurance through partnerships between the property owner or broker for the rental agreement. They could also search for options on their own using traditional online (web/app/chat) or offline channels (phone/agent).

Data Collection for KYC

The customer then submits the necessary identity, financial documents, and property paperwork online or through a collection agent, who routes the documents to the validating channel partners. The customer could also submit proof of material possessions used in the rental property to apply for additional liability coverage in case of loss or damage to the property. Depending on the coverage type available (cash value/replacement value) and the property type (HO-1 to HO-8), the documentation requirements could vary significantly.

Risk Review and Scoring

The customer then awaits feedback and approval from the issuing authority via the risk review team. The risk review team validates the title, valuation, and liability assessment for the property in question considering various sources like crime, weather, and  . It also verifies the customer’s insurance history for claims and delinquencies in payment and credit history.

Policy Issuance

On successful approval, customers are issued an insurance quote with detailed policy documentation and additional declarations to be signed before policy issuance. The customer is given an option to pay online and to set up standing instructions for making periodic premium payments.

First Notice of Loss and Claim Processing

Once the policy is issued and in effect, customers would be informed about the communication channels they can use to notify the insurance for loss or damage to the property and the process to initiate claims. Renter claims have historically been a laborious process. The verification process takes much time between various data sources and leads to a lot of grief and distrust between customers and insurers.

As discussed in the previous section, renter’s insurance policies are primarily an amalgam of data points for assessing risk on the property, location, along with consideration of the renter’s history. It would ordinarily take an army of teams to determine risk offline to underwrite policies and process claims. However, the time required to process all these data points have come down considerably due to the availability of data from multiple online sources. However, not every insurer can work at the speed and level of personalization that entails  analyzing all these data points at scale. Let us understand what effort it takes to underwrite and issue renter policies, and how they leave much room for improvement.

Insurance Initiation

The key to understanding the points of origination of the renter’s journey is that it is a natural expression of their aspirations to move into a rented home. This means many digital insurance cases could be triggered at the point of closing or agreement, which is why established insurers and brokers encourage renters to apply for a policy at that point. However, the typical application process does not personalize the process enough to make the initial quote compelling enough. It also requires multiple back-and-forth conversations to create an attractive offer that captures all the requirements and price sensitivity for the renter.

Data Collection for KYC

The home automation business in the United States has practically doubled in the short span of two years. Neos has shown that they could assess IoT-enabled smart home automation to gauge and personalize insurance quotes accurately. However, not all insurers have the technical prowess to integrate with IoT-driven data sources, which leaves much room for personalization. If that were not enough, many of them are still very reliant on traditional methods of data collection and paperwork, which can tremendously undermine opportunities for pricing, and increase friction between the insurer and customer.

Risk Review and Scoring

Underwriting for renter’s insurance is complicated due to the multitude of data points involved and can take considerable time, but has traditionally relied on historical data to model risk scoring. But rapid   and millennial aversion to home owning have forced insurers to consider changing their forecasting approaches to real-time modeling using machine learning. However, not all providers have been able to scale their risk scoring framework elegantly due to aging tech infrastructure and organizational silos.

Policy Issuance

Insurers typically issue policy paperwork in an issue-and-forget approach, where they seldom engage their customers after the policy is issued, except for reminders to pay the periodic premiums. The newer batch of insurtech startups has exploited this opportunity to create an engaged community of customers. They have been able to educate and upsell the potential advantages of mitigating the risk of their rental property valuables in volatile weather and urban conditions.

First Notice of Loss and Claims Processing

In case of property loss and casualty scenarios, renters are typically stretched between recovering from their stressful valuable or property loss, and providing the insurer appropriate documentation to process their claims. Such claims are usually a game of going in circles, with multiple points of evidence requested by the insurer, leading to an annoying front-line experience. In addition to that, renters are usually on their own when dealing with multiple related parties like service providers. The insurer is not able to provide a compelling claims experience since they are not integrated into this part of the ecosystem.

InsurTech providers have exploited these gaping inefficiencies in the renter’s journey to gain an edge over established insurers. They have also used technology-first innovation by bridging the gap between the multiple set of players in the property ecosystem.

But now insurers with trailing tech capabilities can level the playing field with end-to-end CJaaS capabilities. This is where CJaaS workflow automation players like Autonom8 bring value.

Autonom8 provides the end-to-end ecosystem advantage that you, as an insurer, could use to play at the same level as leading insurtech providers. Autonom8 can reimagine your insurance customer journey workflows, blend in data insights from different technology vendors, and enable autonomous learning capabilities into existing insurance journeys. Let’s have a look at how A8 can transform the existing insurance journey we just outlined in the previous section.

Insurance Initiation

It is important to note that acquiring insurance is an integral part of the rental process. Insurers can bring A8Flow from Autonom8 (A8) to handle this challenge, by seamlessly integrating with digital end-user channels. As soon as customers have finalized their rental agreement online, they can initiate the insurance process wherever they are – through their web chat platform, or any messaging platform like FB messenger or WhatsApp.

Customers need not install a separate application or log into a different website to initiate their digital insurance application. A8’s A8Chat and A8Flow can consistently hold conversation context across multiple customer channels  without losing context. A8Chat can pre-apply all information passed from the rental process to pre-qualify customers, expedite lead generation, and trigger versatile (image or video-based) eKYC processes to authenticate in-place within the chat conversation.

Data Collection for KYC

A8Chat, combined with A8Flow, provides insurers the ability to gather all data they require securely, through conversational channels.. It can also run real-time checks behind the scenes based on zip code and personalize preliminary quotes instantly based on initial customer and property information passed from the rental process through workflow automation. It can also integrate into IoT-enabled API platforms, further refining the quote process, taking into account property conditions, maintenance needs and security.

Risk Review and Scoring

The A8 platform provides the ability to compute a large number of data points from multiple sources like weather systems, IAG, crime data, property intelligence data platforms like Zillow, and all credit agencies to provide an ability to determine and personalize risk scoring down to the individual. This provides insurers with levers of real-time intelligence to offer smarter contracting and underwriting options. Combined with A8iQ, the A8 platform provides autonomous learning expertise to your risk review team, since it allows dynamic modeling of your scoring based on changing market conditions, rather than relying only on historical location and risk modeling data.

Policy Issuance

Instead of just providing documentation on their policies, A8Chat can create a differentiated experience by providing bite-sized product education conversations to customers. An example would be to recommend through chat snippets how they could reduce property risk by using appropriate sensing equipment. Chat insights can also upsell insurance to customers when adding or replacing appliances.

First Notice of Loss and Claim Processing

Due to its ability to gather sensor data from with IoT data sources, A8Flow can proactively detect anomalies in property conditions damage and provide the necessary documentation proactively in case of property loss and damage using workflow automation. It would reduce the need to submit redundant claim documentation from the customer’s end. Additionally, on the customer’s behest, A8Chat and A8Flow could provide the customer proactive support by initiating workflow automation processes on the customer’s behalf to related service providers, thus providing a concierge-like experience to the customer in their hour of need.

Maintained this for keyword relevance.  Let me know if you would like to still replace it for tech accuracy.

If you are an insurer and are looking to overhaul your customer-facing digital insurance journeys, Autonom8 provides an enterprise-grade platform with its suite of products A8Chat, A8Flow, and A8iQ, to completely transform your customer experience.

Are you interested in evaluating A8 as a platform? Schedule a demo with us today!