Agents and brokers have been told for years now that they need to enable clients to do as much self-service as possible. That way, clients can access their accounts however they want and whenever they want -- every hour of the day, every day of the year -- without having to reach their agent.
But that recommendation runs up against reality in this month's interview, with Jason Keck, founder and CEO of Broker Buddha. And he would know. His company produces software that automates swaths of work for agents and brokers -- mostly related to the intake of information so they can submit applications for quotes -- so he sees automation up close all the time.
He says that, sure, some interactions should be turned over to self-service. "Some self-service things can be automated, no question," he says. "I need to get my policy documents. I need to get my ID card. Tools for those sorts of things are great.... The payment space is definitely an opportunity. You're seeing a lot of really good adoption there."
But, he adds, "As soon as you head into making a change to your policy, it's harder, right? Who's your policy with? Will there need to be a premium change?
"Policy changes and endorsements require a lot of hand holding and workflow in the back office. It's hard to build a tool that connects the insured to the broker and to the carrier and facilitates that end-to-end workflow. You don’t just have to build a product for one user group; you have to put together a product that serves three user groups seamlessly and that everybody adopts. That’s really hard."
So, while I still favor as much self-service as is possible, I don't favor MORE than is possible, and it sounds like a considerable amount of work still can't be automated.
For now....
Cheers,
Paul
P.S. Here are the six articles I'd like to highlight this month for agents and brokers:
WHY AUTOMATION IS SO IMPORTANT
Agencies, brokers and carriers spend an inordinate amount of time and money on back-end processes that detract from core objectives.
GAMIFICATION COMES TO LIFE (INSURANCE)
Finance games have been shown to greatly help with life insurance sales -- and digital, large-scale versions are becoming available.
'INTELLIGENT INGESTION': TIME TO TRULY GO DIGITAL
The industry kids itself about having gone paperless. In fact, we still use the same processes we used in the 17th century. It's time for a change.
CHANGING EXPECTATIONS ON MOBILE PAYMENTS
41% of millennials with insurance purchased it with their mobile device, and other generations are moving in that direction, too.
WE MUST BE DIVERSE BY DESIGN
We crave diversity because we know it serves all people with speed, intelligence and transparency and delivers better business outcomes.
STOP CALLING MY DAUGHTER!
When my daughter recently looked online for information about health insurance, companies showed how NOT to sell to millennials.
