We live in a VUCA world – Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity dominate most of our endeavors. Insurance is a great example of an industry embracing the challenges and opportunities the VUCA world brings by reinventing long-standing processes and procedures.
By capitalizing on technological advancements, the insurance industry strives to streamline, personalize, diversify, and enhance every aspect of customer experience.
Technological Advancements Reshape the Insurance Industry
The insurance sector traditionally revolved around manual, paper-based processes. Today, it is under significant transformation, driven by technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and data analytics, streamlining and digitizing insurance operations. Notably, digitalization has given birth to a hybrid model, termed ‘phygital’, where:
AI-Powered Chatbots and Virtual Assistance: Manages claims, renewals, and customer grievances efficiently and personally.
AI and Machine Learning: Perform underwriting tasks, enabling insurers to tailor products based on the customer’s risk profile effectively and precisely.
Process Automation: Streamlines policy issuance, claim process, and query resolutions, providing the customers hassle-free experience while boosting operational efficiency and productivity.
Data Analytics and AI: Facilitate data-driven decision-making and product innovation, ultimately encouraging customer-centricity.
Collaborative Ecosystem: The Key to Accessibility
The insurance industry has long recognized the importance of comprehensive collaboration among the government, regulators, insurance companies, insurance/fintech companies, and external agencies. Technologically-driven initiatives like Bima Sugam and ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) are significant steps toward making insurance and related services universally accessible.
Specifically, ABHA enables the healthcare claim exchange implementation — integrating hospitals, insurers, healthcare service providers, and TPAs into a single platform. This exchange ensures seamless information and data flow, which helps reduce claim process TAT, lower fraud, and brings uniformity.
Bridging the Insurance Gap: From Innovation to Inclusion
Insurance industry 2.0 goes beyond technological advancements. One crucial aspect is making insurance inclusive, available, and accessible to every household in the country – a vital objective considering India’s low non-life insurance penetration (~1% versus an approximate global average of 4%).
To achieve this, initiatives like Virtual Sales Offices offered by Bajaj Allianz are surpassing geographical boundaries. Simultaneously, Bima Sugam and Bima Vahak are being deployed to increase the availability and accessibility of insurance in every part of the country.
Increasing the number of hospitals and motor garage tie-ups, instituting an extending bank branch network, and providing insurance services through Common Service Centres (CSCs) are all part of this comprehensive strategy to make insurance universally accessible and increase penetration in untapped markets.
The Future of Insurance
The future of insurance will be a blend of technological advancements and the integration of customer-oriented practices. Advanced techs like Conversational AI, predictive analytics, and blockchain will create a seamless, streamlined, and secure insurance process.
Apart from technologies, an integrated smartphone interface, a higher collaborative ecosystem, and the entrance of more and more insurance firms to boost competition will play a crucial role in defining the future of insurance.
Providing ‘Insurance for All’ by 2047 is a vision we hold dear. The amalgamation of technological advancements with human expertise will create customer-centric products and services, superior customer satisfaction, and give insurance companies a competitive edge.
With the right blend of physical strategies and emerging technologies, the insurance sector is ready to better serve the customer’s needs and improve the country’s financial stability.
