This is article #2 of 7 in the series on optimizing insurance innovation and productivity through AI and cloud communications.
The most competitive businesses in the world are the ones that can act quickly, adapt to changing circumstances, and prevail over their slower-moving rivals.
The topic of business agility came into intense focus in early 2020, when the COVID pandemic triggered massive changes in virtually every aspect of our lives. Demand for some goods and services skyrocketed, while it plummeted to near zero for other categories. The crisis disrupted supply chains, upended operations, and changed the lives of practically everyone on the planet. Companies that could pivot quickly and realign their business models fared much better than their slower-moving counterparts.
Fast forward a few years, and agility remains at the forefront of top challenges and C-suite priorities.Business leaders must constantly contend with disruptive factors such as new technologies, changing customer preferences, and economic volatility. History is littered with failed companies that could not adapt quickly to change. But it’s also replete with success stories—businesses that recognized the need to alter their course and jumped on the opportunity to get ahead of their rivals.
The good news is that it’s entirely possible to foster agility proactively. This is particularly important for insurance leaders, as digital technologies continue to drive fundamental change in the industry. That, together with shifting policyholder preferences, regulatory change, and a host of other factors such as more catastrophic natural disasters, makes business agility more important than ever.
Understanding business agility within Insurance
Agility requires both speed and stability, enabling companies to adapt quickly to new market conditions, customer needs, and technological advancements while maintaining a steady operational foundation. In other words, agility is about moving fast, but not so fast as to create undue risk for the organization.
Business agility requires a growth-oriented mindset that prioritizes flexibility, innovation, and a willingness to evolve. In this respect, agility is very much a cultural phenomenon, calling for buy-in throughout the organization and an acceptance of change as a way of life.
In the insurance industry, agility is particularly important, given the rapidly changing landscape. Insurance carriers face a unique set of challenges, including constantly changing regulatory requirements, volatile economic conditions, and elevated consumer expectations.
To remain competitive, insurance companies must constantly be scanning the horizon for change, then be prepared to bring new products and services to market quickly. That requires leaders in each organization to encourage innovation, foster collaboration, and optimize operational processes, all while maintaining regulatory compliance. Agile insurance companies are better positioned to respond to market disruptions and capitalize on emerging opportunities, enhancing the customer experience, winning market share, and increasing profitability.
How cloud communications foster agility
Cloud-based communications play a pivotal role in enhancing business agility for insurers. By leveraging Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), insurance carriers can overcome the limitations of legacy systems and fragmented communication channels. UCaaS integrates various communication channels, such as email, text, chat, phone, and video meetings, into a single platform that enables teams to collaborate seamlessly and efficiently.
Cloud-based communications solutions offer scalability and elasticity. Organizations can quickly ramp up to meet peak demand or scale back operations (and costs) when that makes more sense, such as during catastrophic weather events. Or perhaps your organization expands into a new territory or extends its coverage to new categories. The company must grow its employee base, agent network, and vendor relationships to meet the new demand. Cloud-based systems allow you to add capacity immediately.
Unlike traditional on-premise communication systems, cloud-based platforms do not require substantial hardware and infrastructure investments. This allows businesses to easily adjust capacity upward or downward without a major financial impact.
Advanced features like AI-driven conversation intelligence further streamline communications by providing real-time insights and automating routine tasks. This level of integration and intelligence enables insurance companies to reduce complexity, improve productivity, and respond quickly to customer needs and market fluctuations, fostering a more agile and resilient organization.
In addition, policyholders have ever-increasing expectations regarding responsiveness — answering calls and texts quickly. Quick responses and faster time to issue resolution are of the utmost importance for policyholders, and a cloud-based communication platform enables routing and intelligent responses to meet customer needs.
Replacing complexity with simplicity
Complexity is anathema to business agility, especially for insurance, an industry heavily reliant on data and regulatory compliance. Legacy processes and outdated technology typically involve siloed databases, redundant workflows, and manual processes, all of which can slow down operations and decision-making.
When employees are compelled to work with multiple disconnected applications, they quickly begin to experience “app overload.” According to studies, 68% of employees toggle between 10 apps in a single hour, with some even juggling even more.
Disconnected communication tools add another layer of complexity and inefficiency. Companies face even greater challenges with app overload when they continue to rely on fragmented communication channels. If a company manages claims, underwriting, and customer service across multiple platforms, for example, that can lead to delays, inaccuracies, and inconsistencies. This wastes time, erodes customer confidence, and undermines effective data-driven decision-making.
Contrast this with a unified approach to communication. Phone, video meetings, messaging, and other media offer a complete picture. Employees have greater visibility into what matters most. Add state-of-the-art AI technology and you get a powerful accelerator for productivity, accuracy, and effectiveness. Top it off with pre-built integration to office apps, CRM, and other productivity tools for an even more transformative impact.
AI-infused UCaaS makes your team more productive. It offers deep insights about interactions with policyholders and partners. It enables frictionless collaboration across departmental boundaries. And with workflow automation, it accelerates the flow of information and improves accountability.
SCM Insurance: a real-world example
When leading Canadian firm SCM Insurance Services wanted to increase agility and improve responsiveness to natural disasters, the company was quick to identify the biggest barrier: a patchwork of outdated legacy communication systems across 120 branch offices throughout the country. Over more than three decades, the company had added offices and acquired smaller organizations, but lacked any systematic approach to communications.
With 60% of SCM’s workforce being based in the field, the organization also struggled to keep mobile and remote employees connected and productive. When an adjuster was out of the office or away from their desk, that led to decreased responsiveness. In cases where a field worker offered their cell phone number to a policyholder, they would often exchange calls and text messages without ever documenting that back-and-forth communication.
With RingCentral RingEX, SCM Insurance Services has unified its systems and removed friction from its claims management processes. The company has a complete and accurate record of all customer communications, regardless of which channel is used.
RingCentral has helped the company achieve its goal of increasing agility. SCM has reduced response times, and can even scale up the number of local phone numbers available to policyholders following a natural disaster. With RingCentral as its UCaaS platform, the company can do that quickly and easily, without a major capital investment. (Read SCM’s complete story here.)
Want to learn more about how AI-infused UCaaS can help your insurance business? Explore our solutions for insurance today.
Originally published Oct 29, 2024