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As a result of the InsurTech phenomenon, insurance companies are deeply engaged in exploring new capabilities to streamline and improve efficiencies. Every day, advanced technologies are being integrated into insurance practices to help businesses scale and fortify their enterprises, whether that’s through document and workflow management or compliance software. In the second quarter of 2018, insurance technology investments totaled $579 million across 71 deals, according to a survey from Willis Tower Watson Securities.
With the added benefits these integrations bring, insurance companies also need to be more cognizant of the potential implications. Creating a proactive digtal strategy to these tools will allow you utilize them to their full effect without fear of potential complications or compliance pitfalls. Compliance, regulation and big content management will need to be top priorities for companies integrating the latest technologies into their practices to reap the benefits of these innovations without sacrificing security and safety of critical client data.
Ensuring Comprehensive Compliance: As compliance and regulation continue to evolve, process automation technology is a key firm strategy to enable automated compliance, which can help eliminate tedious and time-consuming manual tasks while ensuring consistency across offices. Comprehensive auditing and reporting are the first steps to ensure your organization’s compliance needs are fully met. The right document management systems can help to keep track of policies and processes. Tech-based management systems also improve the regulatory process by tracking your business-critical documents and storing them in a place that is easy to access by authorized personnel.
The usefulness of employing a cloud-based workflow management system cannot be overstated when it comes to compliance. Compliance is often seen as a “have-to-do” type of task but is often pushed to the back burner because of its time-consuming nature. Finding a system that will automate compliance operations not only establishes consistency in your compliance needs, but also—just as importantly—improves efficiency, ultimately freeing your employees’ time to handle client-facing tasks and improving your bottom line.
Enabling Big Content Management: As an insurance professional, you are entrusted with highly sensitive client information and data that, if not handled appropriately, can hinder business operations and shatter your reputation. Recent data from SNS Telecom & IT shows that big-data investments will spike to $2.4 billion in the insurance industry by the end of 2018. While these massive datasets, such as business documents and emails, can be useful, they can also become cumbersome and difficult to manage. This unstructured content should support insurance companies with insightful client data analysis and meeting compliance mandates but requires organization to be effective. Technology is moving data management from paper-based processes to online and cloud-based platforms. These systems help improve access within an organization but open the opportunity for cyberattacks and data breaches if left unattended.
With the right tools and check-ups, however, you can mitigate the risk of these attacks and handle client data more safely than ever before—all at the fingertips of the intended employees. Start by making sure you have the appropriate safeguards in place: Assess where the data is stored and what security measures you have taken and create an emergency response plan. Your content should be organized into a secure digital warehouse that compiles your business-critical information in one place, so nothing is left vulnerable to a potential breach. Additionally, an easy-to-activate emergency response plan can help alleviate customer and employee burden in the event of an unforeseen business disruption.
Selecting Your Vendors: Technology providers are assimilating into the insurance space and steadily introducing the latest and greatest tools to help improve your practice. With all the options, it can become difficult to determine what is a “nice-to-have” and what is a “need-to-have.” One thing to consider is the viability of an InsurTech platform that can help support complex compliance practice and make content of all types accessible. You should also consider your business objectives and priorities (e.g., are you looking to scale or are you looking to integrate AI into your underwriting abilities?) when selecting a potential technology vendor. Engaging with a technology vendor aligned with your objectives and scale as your business grows can be the key in your success.
Selecting safe and secure vendors should be your first consideration, while also considering what will ultimately improve your business’ bottom line and the lives of your clients.
Embracing Your InsurTech Strategy Successfully: Technology is revolutionizing the insurance industry and will continue to influence business operations and decisions for the long-term. However, this new way of operating also raises new requirements and expectations for your business. Your technology strategy should always align with your business objectives while incorporating the needs of your clients and the safekeeping of their critical documents. You should also prioritize digital strategy that supports the ever-evolving compliance mandates and ensures scalable business. With the right tools and processes in place, your firm can fully embrace technology rather than fear it to maximize your operational efficiency.
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