Digital Outbound Payments Heat Up

Since February, driven by the pandemic, the pace of progress on digital payments has accelerated beyond what we thought fathomable.

The heat of summer is kicking in around the U.S., and the temperature is rising, too, in the digital transformation in one area of the market: digital outbound payments in claims.

Since February, the pace has accelerated beyond what we even thought fathomable. COVID-19 has been horrific, but it has brought clarity about the areas that are urgently in need of digital transformation.

SMA recently published findings from our latest market pulse survey, titled P&C Tech Plans in the COVID-19 Era. The report reveals that fully 81% of personal lines insurers and 57% of commercial lines insurers are investing in digital payments. 

In January 2019, I wrote that this area was positioned to explode. The focus on enhancing the customer experience was pushing P&C insurers forward. The digital payment process possessed the potential to provide operational improvements, especially in efficiency. The flexibility around payments became the target of many critical initiatives.

See also: Cloud Computing Wins in COVID-19 World  

Fast forward to May 2020. When we went into lockdown, we quickly realized which activities required intervention – those that required people coming into the office to print paper checks to be sent to customers and third parties. It becomes obvious that this is low-hanging fruit, and a plethora of vendors have solutions in the market today.

Join SMA and TDI on July 15 for a first-of-its-kind industry event that showcases the capabilities of digital payments and how vendors are bringing these capabilities to life.


Karen Furtado

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Karen Furtado

Karen Furtado, a partner at SMA, is a recognized industry expert in the core systems space. Given her exceptional knowledge of policy administration, rating, billing and claims, insurers seek her unparalleled knowledge in mapping solutions to business requirements and IT needs.

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