3 min read
Whenever anyone sets out to buy insurance, they have several ways to start their journey.
One is through a direct channel like the insurer’s website or helpline. Another one is an indirect channel that takes the form of brokers.
Brokers are intermediaries between the insurer and the customer with the aim to find a good match and to seal the deal on behalf of their clients. Thus, in the money and investment sphere, brokers act as matchmakers. But, it is not without its challenges.
The challenges of brokers
A survey by BIBA InsurTech [1] has revealed what’s nagging so many brokers currently.
Almost 40% of the brokers said that the broking sector hasn’t embraced technology and the resulting innovation and ease. Just 7% of brokers (approximately) believed that their industry kept pace with the ongoing digital transformation.
Now, on average, brokers spend 40% of their time answering routine queries, 40% of it on claim handling, and 20% on acquiring new customers.
BIBA found in its survey that most brokers looked at technology as the answer to either help reduce the time spent on the above problems or make it more efficient.
24% of them believed technology could help to reduce general costs, 23% believed it could help reduce office admin, while 21% said it could lead to better customer interaction.
To all the brokers who believe in the power of technology: yes. We agree with you. Which is why we brought Spixii solutions into existence.
“We’ve known Spixii for some time now, not least as their CEO, Renaud, was part of the winning team at our first ever Hackathon at the BIBA conference.
Innovation isn’t so much a goal, as a continual process. In a data-focused world where transactions are increasingly online, we feel it’s important to understand how this can be a huge opportunity to our members, rather than a threat of disintermediation. Renaud and his team also share the same view and it’s encouraging to see the work they’ve been doing in helping brokers and insurers in this space.”- Andy Thornley, BIBA (Head of Corporate Affairs)
The power of integrated chatbots and InsurTech
In The Broker’s Guide to InsurTech [2], BIBA highlights how using AI solutions can help brokers cover and improve efficiency on so many grounds. Here are the top 4 benefits Spixii solutions offer:
Streamlined processes
Automating the quote calculation process would be a step towards greater efficiency. Once the relevant data is collected, the Spixii integrated chatbots can present a quote itself without waiting for a human broker to intervene. This can happen 24/7/365 whether it is 2 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon.
Increased adaptability
Brokers can rework and reimagine their work paradigm to keep up with the changing times and customer demands. Spixii solutions help to do this in a data-driven way by analysing the incoming data to make iterations based on customer behavioral analysis.
Increased and improved customer interactions
Multiple queries can be answered at the same time. An agent using live chat can deal with three conversations at the same time [3] whereas chatbots can deal with an unlimited number of conversations. Data collection opens new horizons and is accurate, quick, and thorough. The waiting time for customers reduces to zero for the first contact and the manpower needed for handling customer interaction (especially during busy seasons) also decreases overall. Work efficiency is definitely increased.
And, who’s the first one to be happy with an efficient work process? The customer! Spixii solutions help in increasing the overall customer satisfaction of a company by measuring and suggesting improvements to the net promoter score.
Easier up-selling and cross-selling
If customer satisfaction improves and deepens during the transactional process, customers will come back to the same brokers and the same providers for policy renewal. If someone is meeting your needs in a high-quality manner, why would you go somewhere else?
Additionally, as this Forbes article points out, retaining customers is what leads to profitable growth. Not to mention, it is so much easier to continue working with an old customer with whom you’ve established trust rather than building it from scratch with a new one. This way, you can easily up-sell and cross-sell products.
Thus, the integrated chatbots we use as a part of our insurance solutions are holistic solutions. They help to improve several aspects all at once, hence, improving the quality of the work process. Both the brokers and their customers benefit from this.
So, what are you waiting for? Inquire with the infobot or sift through the Spixii solutions to know which one is for you!
[1] BIBA InsurTech
[2] A BIBA Broker’s Guide to InsurTech
[3] Medium