Insurtech: understanding the impacts of insurance automation

By: Lotfi AlSarori

Insurance companies, just like all businesses in the information age, rely heavily on information systems. Whether it is to automate underwriting and claim processing or keep track of their financial transactions, business software brings a lot of benefits to this important financial sector. Business systems are made to facilitate the work of organizations and make them more productive saving them time, cost, and effort. Insurance companies are no exception. 

While Fintech describes the use of technology in the financial services, Insurtech is the intersection of technology in a specific financial services sector, insurance. According to Investopedia: “Insurtech refers to the use of technology innovations designed to squeeze out savings and efficiency from the current insurance industry model.” 

Technology can be used in a varied number of ways in insurance, but in this article, we will focus on the most common applications of information technology for insurance providers. We will look at the main business areas of typical insurance firms, regardless the specific line of business, and the relevant business software that can help them do work more efficiently. 

Policy Underwriting 

Whether you are in property & casualty, life, health, or any type of insurance, defining your products and setting up policies to offer to your customers is vital to your business. A Policy Administration System (PAS), aka Policy Underwriting Solution, provides insurance staff with the ability to create their insurance products and services and generate customized policies to offer insurance coverage to their potential clients. Based on that, the system calculates due premiums and schedules instalments and payments using preconfigured business rules. The system should enable authorized users to create quotes, handle endorsements, examine coverages, and take care of all the necessary steps to produce the policies to customers. Therefore, a PAS is a cornerstone system for insurance providers regardless of the specific business line they are in, be it general, marine, medical, credit, travel, or other. 

Reinsurance Handling

Reinsurance treaties and the management of premiums and coverages between the insurance provider and the reinsurance company is an integral part of the insurance business. A good insurance management system should efficiently facilitate the processing and handling of this important and intricate business relationship. The system should automatically calculate related financials, generate the needed bordereau reports, and handle your reinsurance claims and other related reports and transactions. 

Sales Channels

Insurance providers utilize various sales channels to offer their products and services. From direct sales conducted by their own sales team to indirect sales by brokers and agents, insurance companies look to boost sales and maximize revenue. Insurance management systems should provide the platform for insurance providers to capitalize on this diverse salesforce. Software for agent portals, brokers management, and banc-assurance are among the most common business systems in this area. 

Customer Management

Keeping your customers happy is vital to any business. Customer service departments use software to manage customer information and keep track of their cases to handle any issues they may have. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is used by companies to manage various interactions between the company and its customers. From sales leads to customer issues and more, CRM systems are designed to handle customer-related tasks to maintain a steady and healthy relationship with the business. Other systems in customer management may include customer portals and mobile apps, among others. To read more on the role of IT in delivering a customer-centric business strategy, please refer to our article “Towards a customer-centric business strategy.”

Claims Processing 

Claims are the means used by policyholders to request, “claim”, compensation based on insurance coverage defined in their policy. Millions of insurance claims are filed daily worldwide. A claims management system empowers insurance companies to receive, track, and manage all processes, data, and transactions related to its customers’ claims. Claims adjudication is an incredibly involved and tedious process that insurance providers use to decide on the merit of submitted claims. Based on the results of this process, claims are accepted, and paid, or rejected. A good claims management system will enable providers to automatically adjudicate claims by analyzing them based on pre-configured business rules. 

Back Office Operations 

Insurance companies, like any other organization, need to have a dependable way to manage their financials. A reliable accounting and financial management system is needed to handle the large amount of data resulting from the various daily financial transactions in the business. From basic bookkeeping procedures to receiving payments of premiums and claim settlements, a consistent method of handling financials is key. For more details of the value of using a financial management system in companies, check out this article. 

Besides a financial management system, there are several other systems that are essential to every organization to help them manage inventory, documents, and more. 

Reporting and Analytics

Reports help companies get a better understanding of how business is doing. Enterprise reports should be customizable to provide a summary and/or detailed information on the various aspects of business as needed. Dashboards, charts, and diagrams offer an appealing and easy-to-read way to present data and information visually. In addition, business intelligence (BI) systems examine large amounts of data and provide useful and intelligent information based on trends and data analytics techniques. All these capabilities can provide insurers with valuable insight into their business operations to help them make better strategic and operational decisions.

Connecting to 3rd parties

Another key aspect of powerful insurance management software is its ability to integrate with third-party providers. Insurance companies do not exist in silos, they are part of a large ecosystem consisting of brokers, reinsurance companies, and various other service providers. Therefore, the use of standardized interface to securely connect to third-party systems is integral to providing complete automation of their operations. 

Putting it all together

A comprehensive system that encompasses all the above functionalities is a key advantage for insurance firms. The power of integrated systems provides businesses with a holistic view of their business and empowers them to automate processes that may span more than one department. This also enables companies to benefit from a common data store that allows for the sharing of relevant data and information across the organization. Another important benefit is providing secure and unified access to users across the various areas of the system. 

Regardless of the specific insurance line of business your company operates in, check out the various insurance management systems offered by ESKADENIA Software. They are comprehensive, covering all the core functionalities mentioned above and more. ESKADENIA offers software for the providers of general (P&C), life, medical/health, credit/trade, and travel insurance as well as those in the reinsurance and brokerage business. Please visit https://www.eskadenia.com/insurance for more details.