Rising to the Challenge: How Insurtech Partnerships are Helping Mutuals to Innovate

Insurtech partnerships emerged as a response to the growing need for innovation and digital transformation within the insurance industry. As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, mutuals recognize the importance of collaborating with insurtech companies to stay competitive and meet evolving customer expectations.

Let’s explore how insurtech partnerships are helping mutuals to rise to the challenge and drive innovation within the insurance industry.

Front End 

Front-end innovation is all about understanding the customer journey and building an experience that gets rid of points of friction between mutuals and their policyholders. 

There are several ways to go about this, but the end goal remains constant — to make it as easy as possible to do business with your company. Research shows that customer experience now tops the list of factors influencing brand differentiation, overtaking both price and product.

One effective way to revamp your mutual’s front end is through the digitalization of communication channels. In other words, allow customers to interact with you in as many ways as possible – whether from your website, through customer support systems, or even through mobile apps. 

For example, Preferred Mutual recently launched its MyPreferred mobile app. This app allows customers to make premium payments, view policy documents, submit claims, and more right from their phones. This cuts through a ton of unnecessary back-and-forths while helping them make that connection with your mutual as a customer-centric brand. 

Another example is a partnership with communication and collaboration platforms such as Hi Marley, which facilitates conversations between adjusters and customers during the claims process. The main idea behind these types of improvements to the claims process is to innovate without sacrificing human centricity. In other words, integrate digitalization into the claims process but in such a way that you don’t lose that human connection. 

In any case, the takeaway is simple. As more insurers develop apps, websites, and use AI to engage with their customers, those that don’t will fall behind.

Back End 

It is not enough to focus solely on Insurtech initiatives that drive front-end innovations. To remain competitive in the industry, the digitalization wave must wash over the back office system as well. 

If you have poor processes and manual operations then the flow of information between the insurer, the policyholder and the agents is severely affected.

The usual culprit is manual workflows, which make it hard to systematically process documents and extract relevant data. That’s why automation remains one of the most integral aspects of insurtech partnerships that aim to optimize back-office processes. 

Introducing automation to your back office system eliminates the challenges associated with slow, error-prone manual data entry. This allows mutuals to capture and process relevant information quickly and more effectively. 

Some examples of how automation is transforming how mutuals approach their back office processing include: 

   • Underwriting efficiency — There are now AI data platforms out there that automate the acquisition and processing of underwriting data and insights. For example, Maruti TechLabs has developed an AI tool to challenge the inefficiencies of manual underwriting, improve risk understanding, and achieve fairer pricing. 

   • Claims paperwork — Insurtech innovations can enhance internal processes, improve efficiencies and reduce claims cycle time. For example, Duck Creek’s claims platform features collaboration tools that let claims staff in multiple locations make key resolution decisions in real time. 

   • Agent management — Streamlined agent onboarding is another exciting product of insurtech partnerships. Two examples are Insureiq (Acclaim) and Agentsync, both of which offer automated agent contracting and automatic generation of compliance analysis. 

Product Innovation 

What’s important here is to drive product innovation around the emerging needs of customers to promote meaningful policyholder interactions and build lasting relationships. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, every interaction presents a prime opportunity to build awareness and win brand loyalty. 

So how do we generate positive policyholder interactions? 

Partnerships between mutuals and insurtech providers can deliver non-coverage digital services that generate positive customer interactions beyond claims, fostering loyalty and elevating net promoter scores. 

Implementing these digital services, especially those that align with policyholder needs and preferences, can enable insurers to not only improve their offerings but also boost their bottom line.

By strategically leveraging non-coverage digital services and fostering collaboration among mutual insurers, companies can turn customer interactions into branding opportunities and strengthen relationships between policyholders, agents, and carriers.

Property monitoring is one example of an insurtech partnership featuring non-coverage services that extend the relationship with the policyholder. These include smart monitoring IOT systems that empower homeowners to monitor their spaces and most valued possessions.

In closing

Insurtech partnerships have enabled insurers to embrace emerging technologies, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver superior customer experiences. These partnerships continue to evolve, driven by the industry's ongoing quest for digital transformation, the emergence of new technologies, and the need to adapt to changing customer preferences. 

As the insurance landscape continues to evolve, insurtech partnerships will remain a crucial element in shaping the future of the industry.

‍