Insurers worldwide are increasingly creating value by using digital tools and technology in many innovative ways. We asked Ugo Di Iorio, RGI Research & Development VP, which are the latest trends for the industry.
“The insurance market” says Di Iorio “is facing the digital revolution in the most disruptive way, therefore the needs and behaviours of customers are changing quickly and technology must strive to outpace them”. So innovating interaction with customers is one of the primary goals of insurance in the new millennium. That is why insurers also need to study other potential clients such as millennials. “Millennials indeed expect a very different experience than Insurers have been able to deliver in the past. Thus, the key to success is to establish a stable relationship with the consumer and to ensure tailored offers”.
Basically, the best strategy is to put the customer at the centre. And technology can help in the process. According to Di Iorio, smart sensors, in particular, can collect important data about customers’ habits. “Smart sensors are built as IoT components that convert the real-world variable into a digital data stream. Information from multiple sensors can be combined and correlated to infer conclusions about latent problems. For example, temperature sensor and vibration sensor data can be used to detect the onset of mechanical failure”, adds Di Iorio.
Predictive Analytics are strategic in order to understand customers and their behaviour. “They are generally used for research activities: improving decision-making processes, improving operational efficiency, creating reports based on Key Performance Indicators. For example, RGI’s recommender system allows Insurers to get more opportunities for Up and Cross-selling, by anticipating customers’ future needs based on the information available on their personal profile”, Iorio says. Cloud computing also has a key role in that because it is “helping organizations to reduce costs, enhance scalability, increase implementation speed and improve applications and business processes”. But the most disruptive innovation is VUI – Voice User Interfaces – and the Virtual Assistants exploiting those interfaces. The popular examples are Siri and Alexa. “RGI has developed new conversational interfaces that introduce an opportunity to interact with a machine using natural language. Which, unlike command line, does not require a user to know commands. Insurers can now provide support and information in a simplified way, managing the customer dialogue expertly, 24/7”, concludes Di Iorio.
