KEY TAKEAWAYS:
--A digital adoption platform (DAP) is a no-code software that integrates with applications to help users learn the application. A DAP provides just-in-time prompts, nudges and smart tips to users while they are in an app.
--Sentry offered guidance and support to internal associates for sales, underwriting, claims and operations, along with external agents and customer service reps, and more than 75,000 customers. As a result, user engagement on the Workday application reached 94%, with a 91% success rate for self-help searches.
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The insurance industry has long struggled with barriers to software application adoption by its internal agents and external policyholders. That is why leading firms are exploring a better approach, to enhance the quality of their software user experiences.
In a world relying on digitization, more organizations are finding digital adoption platforms to be crucial to their overall digital transformation journey. A digital adoption platform (DAP) is a no-code software that integrates with applications to help users learn the application. The goal is to help users take charge of their digital environments while working within their apps. Automated support can equip functional users such as underwriters, adjusters, agents and service representatives with in-the-moment resources to improve their software decisions and thus increase business profitability.
A DAP combines guided walkthroughs with task lists to assist users in the software training process. Property and casualty (P&C) and life insurance companies are able to deliver superior customer experiences to their policyholders by accelerating policy and claims processes using a DAP. Insurers can also improve the user onboarding experience by creating training content that supports the adoption of complex applications.
A digital adoption platform minimizes human errors by posting just-in-time prompts, nudges and smart tips directly in the user’s app experience, serving as a kind of trusted adviser. This approach can help reduce claims leakage, improve processing time and boost customer satisfaction.
Efficiency for Insurance Employees and Benefits for Customers
For example, Sentry Insurance, one of the largest mutual insurance companies in the U.S., sought to provide on-demand learning and self-help options to train employees and customers to use its applications and portals more effectively. With more than 4,400 employees, Sentry believed self-service training options were essential to reduce the support team’s workload.
The internal-facing applications included core P&C apps such as a claims management system for claims associates, a policy administration system for underwriters and a portal for independent agents. A customer-facing application allowed for easy management of their personal accounts. The platform also provided digital guided learning for the Workday HR and payroll systems.
Using Whatfix, Sentry created user-specific content with just-in-time support by using pop-ups, videos and other self-help materials specific to each person’s role and application. Those resources highlighted operating procedures on topics such as lienholders and vehicle payments, how to handle different types of claims or how to raise additional requests. Both customers and employees could immediately access the most relevant support and training materials in the flow of their work, without searching through a vast knowledge base or engaging with the support team for help.
This approach is known as "userization," which involves making technology more accessible through experience-first principles and empowering users to drive efficiency and productivity. Userization focuses on making technology user-centric, rather than making people technology proficient. With userization, organizations can tailor their technology ecosystems to suit individual users, show intelligent nudges and provide step-by-step guidance.
By implementing a digital adoption platform across multiple applications, Sentry created a real-time, in-app interactive guidance system for the full range of end users and reduced the average time needed for content creation by 40%. In the past, in-house content development could take Sentry up to 50 hours for a single project. With the new digital adoption platform, that timeline was reduced to 30 hours. Such time savings are significant because each application can involve 500 or more content resources.
See also: Digital Future of Insurance Emerges
Driving Agile Policy Administration, Claims and Sales Growth
Until recently, Sentry used simple tools to point sales, customer service and claims teams to their training resources. The organization recognized the need to provide a better experience that could improve the efficiency of all stakeholders. Sentry applied the DAP software to eight main applications, including employee and customer-facing platforms. The company offered guidance and support to internal associates for sales, underwriting, claims and operations, along with external agents and customer service reps, and more than 75,000 customers. As a result, user engagement on the Workday application reached 94%, with a 91% success rate for self-help searches.
In addition, Sentry created automated walk-throughs to guide users through different parts of the platform. The company also used in-app surveys to collect feedback on the walk-throughs and other training content to improve future versions. In in-app surveys, Sentry saw an increase in user satisfaction – both from employees and customers.
Online resources were accessed through self-help menus more than 15,000 times during the platform’s first 12 months of operation, enabling contextual self-service and streamlining faster claims processing. Over that first year, time savings for Sentry content designers, developers, customers and support staff totaled $1 million in resources, salaries and increased productivity. Sentry reallocated those resources toward profit-generating activities rather than toward creating training content, which does not directly generate profits.
Today, Sentry’s internal-facing claims system application receives over 100 queries a day in its self-help portal. With the new digital adoption platform, Sentry’s support team has reported a significant decrease in simple support requests, such as which browser to use, freeing the team to focus on higher-priority issues. By adopting a modern digital adoption platform, Sentry has created more efficient training content that provides users with immediate access to the most relevant guidance and self-help materials for every application.
