Nowadays, it seems obvious that treating all customers equally in the insurance sector is a significant waste of opportunities. Why would I offer car insurance to a person who does not have a car? Does it make sense to send paper documents to 100% digital people? These kinds of mistakes mean costs for companies that could be avoided with a better knowledge of the customer. But the key question is: Are we able to detect the customer’s needs and anticipate them by offering an adapted and personalised product?
Having a 360º view of the customer will allow companies to: direct their interactions towards the optimal channels for the customer, detect possible customer needs based on their data and behaviours or those of other customers with similar characteristics (age, other products contracted, lifestyle habits, etc.), personalise all communications with the customer and the content sent to them regardless of the format, etc.
What do companies need to have a 360° view of the customer?
- Centralised information: First of all, they need to have a single, multi-product people management. Currently, many insurance companies do not have a single people management system, but rather a single policy management system. What problems do we encounter? The same person can be a policyholder in one policy of the company, at the same time insured in another policy and beneficiary in another. In many cases, if this happens, the same person can be duplicated in the system. Duplications are already a problem, but the worst thing is that in many cases there are inconsistencies between the different profiles of the same individual and the information we have about him/her is incomplete. It is also very common in these cases to find duplicate communications to the customer.
- Cross-cutting process: People management should be a cross-cutting process that applies to the different processes and phases of the insurance value chain: from commercial management (sales/cross-up selling), policy contracting and issuance, benefits (claims management), supplements and cancellations, to cancellations (cancellation management, retention/discount attempts).
- Optimal channel management: companies must be able to offer an optimal service and experience regardless of the channel chosen by the customer. It is therefore important to maintain consistency in communications and actions when a customer moves from one channel to another, and to be able to direct the customer to those channels that are most effective.
- Personalisation of customer communications: finally, one of the most differentiating points: personalisation. Customers are increasingly looking for personalised experiences, they want to feel that their company knows them and treats them differently and not as just another customer. For this reason, institutions must make an effort to communicate information according to each customer and their life cycle, avoiding duplication and inconsistencies. For example, offering car insurance to a customer who does not have a car is a waste of resources, time and money, not to mention a bad customer experience.
Digital Decisioning platforms such as IBM ODM offer speed, agility and flexibility when it comes to managing different channels and personalising communications, products and services. They are therefore key tools for customer loyalty and retention.
These platforms are capable of providing decisions to business processes by centralising business rules and logics, allowing them to adapt to new changes or market demands. In addition, they enable updates to decision models to be made by business users. Thus, a change in decision logic can be evaluated, implemented and tested in a few hours as opposed to the long periods required by traditional systems. Reducing dependence on IT departments, achieving greater control and overview of the logic, minimising costs and improving the efficiency of processes by automating decisions.
Interested in learning how Digital Decisioning Platforms can help you improve your customer communications?
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