KEY TAKEAWAYS:

--In the last five years, calibrations during repairs for auto collisions have moved from the exception to almost the rule. Technology exists to ensure necessary calibrations are completed 100% of the time and are recorded for all relevant parties, to instill confidence in the repair.

--The wave we are witnessing with scanning is now seeing initial liftoff with calibrations. A more systematic look at the best way for each facility to execute and manage calibrations is needed to improve the customer experience, particularly with regard to quality and cycle time.

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Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have become an established feature in late-model vehicles, composed of an integrated suite of sensors, cameras, radars and more. Some of the earliest versions of ADAS appeared in the early 2000s with various forms of night vision, cruise control and lane departure warning systems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) led two major ADAS initiatives in the 2010s – the first, in 2014, required all new vehicles with a gross weight at or less than 10,000 pounds to include “rear visibility technology” by May 2018. This was followed in 2019 by the voluntary commitment by 20 automakers to equip all new vehicles with automatic emergency braking (AEB) by September 2022.

As the list of now-standard safety systems only continues to grow, it is complemented by a bevy of systems designed for the sole purpose of improving safety. (Figure 1)

Of course, as collisions continue to occur with great frequency, these systems must not only be repaired or replaced when damaged but also calibrated to ensure proper functionality before the vehicle returns to the road. ADAS adoption may have ramped up in a relatively short time, and corresponding collision repair needs may be a steeper ramp due, in part, to the sheer complexity of these new systems.

The Prevalence of Scans

Diagnostic scan procedures are becoming more frequent as part of the collision repair process. This is especially true for late-model vehicles that are more likely to come standard-equipped with ADAS technology and other safety features. Each quarter, the percentage of claims where at least one diagnostic scan is completed steadily rises. Only 3.3% of claims included a scan procedure in Q1 2017. By Q4 2022, 57% of claims included a scan, with vehicles less than four years old being scanned 65% of the time. (Figure 2)

Auto manufacturers either recommend or require that scans be completed pre-repair and following the completion of repairs. OEM-certified repair shops are required to perform scans with the OEM’s software, and many Multi-Shop Operators (MSOs) have a standard policy requiring pre- and post-repair scans, which means repairable vehicles should receive at least two scans per VIN number. This might explain why you’re more likely to see scans included in the first estimate rather than in subsequent supplements. (Figure 3)

In-process scans are an emerging trend and considered best practices among many of the industry’s top operators. In-process scans enable repair facilities to monitor the clearance, or even addition, of Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC) throughout the repair process, which can alleviate the need to backtrack and troubleshoot issues following the completion of repairs, not to mention ensuring thorough repairs and valuable repair cycle times, as well as other related costs.

CCC’s estimating data indicates that while an increased number of scans are included in the initial estimate, the subsequent scan to validate that error codes have been cleared or that additional trouble codes were initiated is largely absent from supplements.

See also: Auto Claims and Collision Repair: The Great Reset

Absence of a diagnostic scan charge doesn’t always mean that the vehicle wasn’t scanned. Based on anecdotal field evidence, an unknown percentage of vehicles were, in fact, scanned, yet the scan procedure was left off the estimate. This appears to be an opportunity for collision repair shops to not only highlight the thoroughness of their evaluation and work but also instill added confidence in consumers that their vehicle is safe to drive.

Absence of a corresponding scan and its documentation could be the types of red flags that supporting software will be able to identify in the future, thus reducing risks or omissions by shops.

Diagnostic scans are complemented by system calibrations, such as x/y-axis settings on cameras, horizontal/vertical specifications with radar and other procedures as documented by the manufacturer. Vehicle calibrations do not come without operational changes for repairers. Vehicle manufacturers have specific protocols that must be followed for systems to be calibrated to factory standards. These include:

• The space or environment where the calibration occurs
• Vehicle setup (including such details as a full tank of gas, specified tire pressure and an empty trunk)
• Camera aiming targets and stands (Figure 4)
• Specialized scan/calibration tools and
• The technical acumen needed to perform the calibration

Calibrations Catch Up

Today, repair shops without calibration capabilities must rely on outsourcing that work to local dealerships or competing repair shops or vendors. This practice adds to total cost, turn-around time and potentially diminished customer satisfaction, not to mention the added complexity in documenting work completed. It is apparent that scanning and calibrating vehicles is a major component in the continued evolution of repair shops and expansion of vehicle servicing capabilities.

The frequency of calibration procedures has not yet reached the level of scans but is steadily increasing. As of mid-year 2022, only 24% of current (or newer) and 19% of vehicles one to three years old had a calibration charge on the estimate. That number is sure to climb as ADAS feature become commonplace in the vehicle pool. (Figure 5)

Completing the proper diagnostics, determining which components might require calibration and reviewing the OEM repair procedures can help a repairer incorporate the calibration into the repair plan up front. These steps could help to avoid added costs and repair time identified later in supplemental phases of the repair process.

See also: Transforming Auto Claims Appraisals

Based on CCC estimate and supplement data, calibration line items are most likely to appear in the initial estimate or the first supplement. However, unlike scans, calibrations are showing up on a more frequent basis in supplements. (Figure 6)

The Future of Collision Repair

In the last five years, calibrations have moved from the exception to almost the rule. Technology exists to ensure necessary calibrations are completed 100% of the time and are recorded for all relevant parties, including the end-customer, as a means to instill confidence that a repair was completed.

The wave we are witnessing with scanning is now seeing initial liftoff with calibrations. A more systematic look at the best way for each facility to execute and manage calibrations is needed to improve the customer experience particularly with regard to quality and cycle time. Once again, adjustments in technology and process to ensure this transition happens efficiently are needed.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

--Organizations are increasingly turning to attack surface management (ASM), which can identify, monitor and mitigate vulnerabilities that can be targeted by malicious threat actors.

--Cyber threat intelligence (CTI) equips teams with invaluable insights into the motives and capabilities of cybercriminals, emerging tactics and intended targets. 

--But the potential threats that are identified can overwhelm security teams, so it's crucial to apply an ASM lens to refine CTI output and focus on those that are most relevant for an organization's unique attack surface.

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Cybersecurity Ventures estimates cybercrime will take a $10.5 trillion toll on the global economy by 2025. If it were measured as a country, the underground cybercriminal economy would be the third largest in the world after the U.S. and China. Amid the growing complexity and sophistication of malicious cyber threats, how can cyber defenders protect their organizations from falling victim to cyberattacks and keep their hard-earned profits from being diverted into the coffers of cybercriminal threat actors?

As the threat landscape evolves, organizations are increasingly turning to attack surface management (ASM) as an essential component of their cybersecurity program. ASM empowers security teams to identify, monitor and mitigate vulnerabilities across the attack surface -- including all known and unknown entry points -- that can be targeted by malicious threat actors.

While continuous monitoring of an organization's environment is critical to protecting its IT infrastructure, systems, and data -- ASM alone is not enough. Without real-time insight into the cybercriminal underground, ASM solutions cannot accurately identify at-risk assets or overall organizational threat exposure. This visibility gap hinders security teams from efficiently prioritizing the threats that pose the greatest risk -- costing more time and effort than resource-constrained teams can afford.

Like ASM, cyber threat intelligence (CTI) is considered indispensable within the organizational cyber defense arsenal. CTI equips teams with invaluable insights into the motives and capabilities of cybercriminal threat actors; emerging tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs); and the intended targets for attacks. Many organizations have adeptly incorporated CTI within their cybersecurity programs to gain critical insights into their threat landscape and risk exposure.

However, when unfiltered and unscoped for organizational relevancy, the sheer volume of data can be overwhelming. Without the ability to refine this intelligence to focus on the threats and insights that matter most to their business, security teams are unable to cut through the noise -- potentially missing a looming threat that exposes their organization to attack.

By combining CTI with ASM, teams can optimize performance, with the internal context derived through ASM serving as a filtering mechanism for the vast volumes of threat intelligence data. In other words, applying an ASM lens to threat intelligence data refines CTI output to focus on the threats that hold the utmost relevance for the organization's unique attack surface.

When CTI and ASM work in unison, the combined solution empowers security teams to automate the monitoring and discovery of assets, facilitating the preemptive detection and mitigation of potential threats. This cohesive approach significantly strengthens the organization's security posture while optimizing the productivity of existing teams and resources.

ASM and CTI: A Cyber Defense Advantage

The benefits of integrating CTI with ASM go beyond protecting a company's financial position and brand. Consider the following additional areas where ASM and CTI deliver value:

Compliance: When combined with CTI, ASM solutions can help enterprises meet regulatory compliance requirements by delivering complete visibility of their risk exposure across network assets. This visibility enables governance, risk and compliance (GRC) teams to measure their compliance coverage, discover potential regulatory violations before attacks are carried out, undertake risk assessments and justify their decisions for vulnerability remediation.

Supply Chain Risk: ASM solutions equip security teams with the insight and automated capabilities to detect and manage all potential exposure points within the organizational network, including exposures through third-party partners and suppliers. By taking into account crucial internal context, such as the business criticality of each asset and real-time threat intelligence that indicates urgent risks, ASM enables security teams to swiftly prioritize remediation efforts and fortify the protection of both internal and external networks and assets.

Cloud Migration: Organizations' cloud migrations and rapid digitization efforts present significant challenges for organizations as they attempt to manage their growing attack surface and maintain robust cyber hygiene. By leveraging context-rich threat intelligence tailored for their unique organizational attack surface and environment, security teams can maintain constant vigilance in continually monitoring digital assets and addressing high-risk threats that target their cloud systems and applications.

Mergers and Acquisitions: In the context of M&A, the combined value of ASM and CTI extends to both pre-M&A cybersecurity due diligence, as well as post-M&A integration processes. During pre-merger cybersecurity due diligence, the integrated CTI and ASM solution enables security teams to thoroughly evaluate the cybersecurity posture of the target company. This assessment assists in identifying potential risks and exposures, allowing organizations to better assess the potential impact on sensitive data and overall risk posture before finalizing an acquisition or merger.

Following a merger or acquisition, the resulting expansion of their attack surface and heightened security risk pose a challenge in the post-M&A integration phase. By leveraging CTI and ASM, security teams gain complete visibility into known and unknown assets and the highest-risk threats targeting their systems and data. By adopting this combined approach, organizations can navigate the complex terrain of post-M&A cybersecurity, managing and mitigating threats to their systems and data.

See also: Why Hasn't Cyber Security Advanced?

Two Valuable Tools Are Even Better Together

While ASM and CTI play equally critical roles within any organization's cybersecurity arsenal, their true value can only be realized when they are harmoniously implemented together. By integrating ASM and CTI, security teams unlock a synergy that empowers them to identify, monitor and mitigate exposures across their unique attack surface and gain critical insights into the motives, capabilities and targets of cybercriminal threat actors.

This combination allows organizations to prioritize their efforts and focus on the threats and vulnerabilities that pose the most significant risk to their business, enabling them to defend against cyberattacks and protect their digital assets. The combined force of ASM and CTI serves as a force multiplier, strengthening the overall organizational cybersecurity posture and significantly reducing the risk of falling victim to malicious cybercriminals who seek to exploit the organization for financial gain.

Certain insurance sectors, such as auto insurance, are heavily commoditized. With everyone offering almost identical products, customer experience-based services emerge as a key competitive differentiator for auto insurers. This is where robust insurance customer relationship management (CRM) systems come into the picture. Be it retaining existing customers or acquiring new ones, the importance of CRM in the insurance industry cannot be downplayed. 

Even though CRM is not new and some insurers are already using it, they are on the lookout to maximize the value derived from it. In this respect, knowing the ins and outs of CRM systems and how to effectively use the features and functionalities to overcome challenges can be instrumental in gaining through such an investment. Moreover, modern-day CRM solutions are acting as a unified dashboard for all customer-related interactions across different channels such as digital marketing, social network and self-servicing portals. Such a system allows insurers to nurture deeper and more meaningful customer relationships.

In this article, we will discuss the importance, features and benefits of a modern CRM in the insurance sector. 

Benefits of CRM in the Insurance Sector

When properly implemented, CRM can be a real boon for businesses. It offers a range of benefits, such as: 

Data Security

Insurance is a highly data-intensive industry that generates humongous volumes of data. In its aftermath, insurers are left with the responsibility to keep it secure. Moreover, customers, governments and civil bodies are growing concerned about data privacy more than ever. In fact, policyholders display a greater preference in choosing companies that can effectively manage data compliance and security. As such, secure and organized data management helps insurers win more customers. 

New-age insurance CRM systems are equipped with a very high level of data encryption and user authentication features to ensure data security and help organizations stay compliant with the latest privacy laws. CRM enables insurers to gain customer trust while mitigating data breach risks and issues concerning regulatory compliance along with a loss of business revenue and reputation. 

All in all, insurance businesses can enjoy huge data management benefits by implementing a CRM. It centralizes all business and customer information across functions, facilitates a single source of truth, improves data organization and minimizes data redundancy. All of these benefits translate to greater profitability and success in the long run. 

See also: 6 Keys to Successful CRM Implementation

Easy Onboarding

When done manually, customer onboarding can take time as insurance agents have to gather details, handle multiple forms, and verify information from multiple sources. Delaying the onboarding process and leaving the customers waiting increases the chances of customer dissatisfaction. Hence, the onboarding process is a critical step in the customer journey and sets the tone for their entire experience.  

With CRM, customer onboarding is simpler as insurers can curate distinct customer journeys based on the policyholder’s data and preferences. The CRM can automate and digitize the onboarding process and front-load value at every touchpoint. As such, whether the customer wishes to gain more knowledge about their insurance policy or explore the different products and services that you have to offer, it will be easier for the customer support agent to engage meaningfully and help policyholders acclimatize to quick and effective servicing.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Insurance CRM systems allow insurers to organize customer data in a logical and actionable format. It helps insurers keep track of all essential details regarding prospective and existing customers. This includes contact information, claims history, past purchases, etc. The insights obtained from this data can be used for a variety of purposes.

For one, businesses can use it to recommend policies that match customer requirements or use upselling and cross-selling strategies. Businesses can also look at the trends and tweak their products or services based on customer feedback or demand gaps. If there is a particular problem that surfaces frequently, they can employ resources and nip the problem right in the bud. 

The data can also be used to evaluate the marketing campaigns and see which ones are working best. CRM will help insurers determine whether it’s worth investing more time and money into specific strategies or if there is a better way to reach the audience.

Employee Experience

Insurance CRM systems automate and streamline a number of time-taking and repetitive activities. This reduces the time employees spend on recurring, low-impact tasks and frees them to focus on more valuable work that requires critical thinking and creativity. 

More importantly, insurance CRM eliminates guesswork that goes into critical processes like underwriting or policy personalization. Employees can refer to hard and objective data to gain strategic and business intelligence that improves decision-making. They can also leverage data-driven insights to maximize productivity and performance without experiencing stress. As such, the benefits of CRM in the insurance sector affect the employees as much as they prove to be advantageous to customers and businesses alike.

Features of Modern Insurance CRM Systems

Insurance CRM systems comprise various modules and diverse functionalities aimed at improving business functions. Here are some key features of CRM for insurance businesses: 

Real-Time Notifications

CRM should have the capability to send out real-time push notifications to help teams and employees stay on top of their games. 

Workflow Automation

Workflow automation capabilities allow insurers to reduce the need for manual and repetitive tasks. The capabilities help increase productivity by optimizing and streamlining day-to-day processes.

Reporting and Analytics

Reporting and analytics allow insurers to adequately assess the success of their sales and marketing efforts, identify bottlenecks and adapt the campaigns for greater success. 

Mobile Device Compatibility

While mobile compatibility may seem like an optional feature, having it allows agents, brokers and sales representatives to access the CRM functions while on the go. 

See also: Sellers Need More Than CRM

Final Words

The role of CRM in the insurance industry is pivotal, especially if insurers are aiming to digitalize processes and churn out long-term benefits. It can be a fitting replacement for paper-based legacy systems and spreadsheets that have become obsolete with time. If you are on the lookout to modernize your insurance business and make it future-proof, then introducing CRM can put you on the right path.

Farewell, ESG. We hardly knew ye.

ESG (an emphasis on environmental, social and governance issues) has struggled to take shape, and both Fortune and the Wall Street Journal pretty much declared it dead in the U.S. in the past week. (It continues strong in Europe.)

The fading of ESG will have broad implications for insurers. They'll start with coverage for the directors and officers who have had to wrestle with ESG considerations and will extend more subtly into many other lines by affecting how clients run their businesses and how they invest.

A Fortune columnist described the backlash against ESG on Thursday, writing:

"In the U.S., ESG detractors have basically won.... A full half of Fortune 500 CEOs now believe ESG issues are 'unduly impacting business decisions.' And that sentiment is trickling down to the chief sustainability officers in charge of ESG. Participants in a Fortune Impact Initiative call on Tuesday, which took place under Chatham House rules, admitted as much. 'We don’t talk about ‘ESG’ anymore,' and 'the term [ESG] does get in our way' were common refrains."

Another Fortune columnist weighed in Friday:

"The practice of speaking out on controversial social and political issues, which reached a peak after the killing of George Floyd [in 2020], is receding in C-suites.... And expectations that the Supreme Court may soon strike down affirmative action programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina will undoubtedly lead to challenges for corporate DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] initiatives."

The Wall Street Journal reported this on Monday: 

"Companies’ mentions of green and social initiatives during earnings calls have fallen off sharply in recent quarters, reversing a more boastful approach taken over the past few years amid intensifying pressure from some investors and conservative activists."

ESG always struck me as an ungainly agglomeration of ideas. They're all important, in their own right, but they didn't cohere, at least in my mind.

What do you do when Tesla stands out on the environment piece because of its electric cars but CEO Elon Musk is repeatedly investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission on governance issues? Unable to decide, S&P removed Tesla from its ESG Index a year ago.

Major consulting firms have tried to help clients implement ESG practices, but the methodologies aren't pretty. One showed me an overview that was almost 200 slides, incredibly dense with text and graphs and flow charts. 

With the term under attack in the U.S., ESG will split back into its component parts.

The "E" will see the least impact, because so much momentum has built for facing up to the environmental problems that climate change is causing. Certainly, insurers don't need to be convinced about how climate change is increasing the number and severity of natural catastrophes.

The Fortune columnists said that, despite the general pushback on ESG, they saw no evidence that companies were backing away from their ambitious goals for reaching net-zero. And there are vast profits to be generated from mitigating the effects of climate change, so even the hard-core capitalists are motivated. Think of the trillions of dollars that will be spent rewiring the world's electric grids to incorporate all the renewable energy that is being added. Or, getting down to the micro level, think of all the retrofitting of homes and buildings that will be done to make them more energy-efficient and of all the furnaces, water heaters, etc. that will be swapped out and replaced with electric versions so we stop burning so much natural gas.

The "S" will take the biggest hit, in my view, because companies are seeing that making even a modest stand on social issues can create a backlash. Bud Light runs an ad with a transgender influencer and suddenly faces a boycott from a meaningful percentage of customers. Same for Target when it carries some merchandise related to Pride Month. Disney merely expresses disagreement with a Florida law about schools that's come to be known as Don't Say Gay, and the governor tries to revoke the status the company has long had as one of the biggest employers in the state. Even Chick-fil-A, long a darling of the Christian right, stirred up talk of a boycott merely by appointing a vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion.

I'm not sure companies will back off that much. After all, they have to cultivate a broad base of customers, not just those who are offended by a transgender influencer or a Pride T-shirt. Disney, for instance, was facing pressure from customers and employees to say something about the Don't Say Gay law, and those opposing the bill felt Disney was, in fact, much too slow and mild with its criticism. Companies claim to have values and have to stand up for them, even in the face of some backlash, if they're to have credibility with employees and customers.

I do think companies will err on the side of caution in speaking out about social issues, at least for a while. But I don't suspect that companies will back away from their DEI initiatives internally. Even those hard-core capitalists see the need to tap into new pools of talent, given the low unemployment rate and, at least in the case of the insurance industry, a wave of impending retirements. Besides, DEI is just the right thing to do.

The "G" shouldn't change much. Governance issues have always been there and always will be. I just think the "G" will be severed conceptually from the "E" and the "S." 

Some insurers, given their massive investment portfolios, might be affected if Republicans succeed in their various efforts to ban "woke" investing based on ESG principles that go beyond straightforward evaluations of financial returns. But some form of what's been called "social investing" has been around at least since the 1960s, so I don't think the notion will be totally vanquished.

A complication is that Europe is still full speed ahead on ESG, so multinational firms will have to comply with laws there, just as Google, Meta and other tech giants have had to adhere to privacy laws — sometimes after massive fines.

But in the U.S., ESG seems to be disappearing as an overarching consideration. That could simplify some issues for coverage for directors and officers, though reputational concerns related to social issues will be complex. 

Meanwhile, the need to help the world limit climate change while adapting to its near-term consequences will continue to provide huge opportunities for forward-thinking insurers.

Cheers,

Paul

KEY TAKEAWAY:

--Nearly 90% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services, but 60% of insurance executives acknowledge that their company is lacking on customer experience strategy. Taking even one of the following seven steps will help.

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According to The State of the Connected Customer, nearly 90% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services.

Customer experience comes up as a stated priority across the insurance sector’s C-suites. Yet, according to the IBM Institute for Business Value report, "Elevating the Insurance Customer Experience," 60% of insurance executives acknowledge that their company is lacking strategically.

Like it or not, household name brands such as Amazon and Apple have set CX standards that customers apply to every sector, even insurance. To deliver against these high (and likely increasing) expectations, insurance executives must start by:

• Committing to operational and cultural transformation,
• Establishing their customer experience North Star, and
• Doing the hard work to align the organization mindset, behaviors, metrics and ways of working so everyone understands and acts in support of progress toward the CX North Star. 

To help build momentum, here are seven proven practices for the change makers in your organization who have taken on the hard and harder tasks of transforming the customer experience. 

1. Don’t let efficiency trump humanity when defining and designing CX improvements.

Show the organization why demonstrating empathy in your relationships with customers does not need to be a tradeoff against efficiency. In today’s market, leaders demonstrate empathy so they can deliver financial targets.  

2. From now on, start every meeting with a customer story.

Institutionalize this one new behavior across the entire organization, and bring the customer to every employee function, whether participants are directly customer-facing or not.  All employees' decisions and actions come back to affect the customer experience with your brand.

See also: Customer Experience Leaders Widen Edge

3. Build influence skills because, guaranteed, the CX team is unlikely to control the required resources.  

Small team? Lack role clarity? Build an “army of the willing” by partnering with people across the organization whose goals are aligned with what you see as the CX priorities.  

4. Approach transformation as the accumulation of experiments, pilots and other small steps that inspire action and trigger momentum.   

The path to scale starts with:

• Constructing a compelling problem statement
• Creating a North Star ambition – not a slogan, but a meaningful ambition along with essential “how’s” of execution, e.g., proven CX design and delivery practices,
• Validating the North Star in pilots and other well-defined experiments,
• Engaging growth-mindset people to make the pilots happen, and
• Ensuring expert facilitation that can introduce the team to new ways of working and stretch their critical thinking capabilities.

5. Accelerate your ability to establish standards – for practices, measurement, skills and competencies and knowledge transfer.

Put in place a governance structure that takes advantage of best practices and fits for your organization’s culture and CX maturity level.  

6. Take steps to link CX to financial, efficiency and other operating model goals, especially to the priorities of the executives who hold the most power. 

The first steps: (1) assign the right expertise – in financial analysis, customer data analytics, customer insights, data integrity and privacy – to connect the dots between customer behavior and business results, and (2) prioritize CX improvements that have the potential to move the metrics most near and dear to the hearts of your business’ "power brokers." 

See also: Tips for Improving Customer Experience
 
7. Keep asking questions and invest in defining the problem(s) you are trying to solve.

Albert Einstein is quoted famously as having said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

While none of us is likely the next Albert Einstein, any of us can emulate his approach by investing the time and thought, collaboratively, to develop high-impact problem statements.  

Which of these actions will you apply now?

Take on just one, and you will see improvement.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

--While many are feeling "DEI fatigue" after years of effort, companies must show employees that they have a rewarding career ahead of them and help them see how they're making progress on their path.

--Companies must build a culture that encourages everyone on the team to share their real opinions and bring their authentic selves to work. That means monitoring lots of data -- but not just the data. 

--Firms need to be more consistent about messaging, starting with recruitment and extending through the whole employment life cycle.

--And we're all in this together, so companies should share best practices with each.

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What does it take to achieve a fully inclusive industry? 

While we’ve tried to tackle this question for more than a decade as an industry, the keys to continued progress may finally be getting a bit clearer. 

Sustaining momentum on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, as well as introducing initiatives to recruit and develop the workforce of tomorrow, seems to hinge on three factors: workplace experience, company culture and a consistent approach. Those factors, in tandem with a collaborative industry effort, could be key. 

The challenges before us

Not all companies within our industry have made the same level of progress related to DEI initiatives. Some have been working on their DEI initiatives for more than a decade, while others just began implementing employee resource groups (ERGs) and other practices during the pandemic. Across different levels of experience and DEI success, though, we do see similar challenges.

The need to bring new talent into our industry remains paramount, as does breaking down barriers to leadership positions for diverse populations. Lately, one of the biggest challenges has been “DEI fatigue.” Industry professionals have expressed a lack of interest in continuing the conversation on DEI because they feel as though they have been inundated with information on the subject in the past few years. 

What can we do to combat these roadblocks? We have to connect the puzzle pieces.

The value of a good workplace experience

We want to build a strong workplace where our people feel they are engaged in a rewarding career with a positive trajectory and where they can clearly see and recognize the progress they’re making. Too many times, we’ve heard from professionals leaving insurance that they couldn’t see a path to the top or understand the value of the work they were doing.

At QBE, we respond to this challenge by providing our new team members with an opportunity to begin building their networks and to understand QBE as an enterprise – the big picture – upon hire. We want them to be able to visualize what the business and the work truly involve, the impact it makes, the role they will play as their career develops and their financial prospects. We offer prospective and early career employees the opportunity to comprehend the full range of our company’s products and services and the impact we have on our colleagues, the environment and society. We even have them meet with our executives to gain insight and advice. 

Companies that demonstrate a meaningful company experience will help prospective employees understand what a career in insurance has to offer them and how it can fit their skills and career goals. We want all companies in the industry to offer interns, new hires, experienced professionals or people returning to the workforce positions that will expose them to a range of positions across the enterprise.

See also: The Many Facets of DEI

How company culture fits in

Offering a valuable and inspiring career is only one part of the puzzle. Today’s new hires also want to ensure they are lending their talents to a company that invests in its culture. 

We have all heard about the value of good culture in the workplace, and all our businesses are looking for better ways to recruit and retain diverse talent. Many are collecting data to document their progress. That’s great, but when an organization reviews their data in terms of culture, representation, attrition and engagement surveys, they should also look beyond the numbers. 

Even if most responses are positive, we need to look at where the minority comes from. What are they saying or not saying? We want to build a culture that encourages all of our team to share their real opinions and bring their authentic selves to work. This is what creates an inclusive, psychologically safe culture. 

For example, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, our first step was to check in on the mental health and wellness of our team. We asked if they felt comfortable sharing their own perspectives and ideas, and if our company culture felt supportive regardless of where they wanted to take their lives and careers from there. Just posing the questions began a new dialogue for our culture, and it demonstrated we as a company not only cared about them but understood the criticality of a culture of belonging and inclusion. 

With this effort, we were not necessarily just referring to harassment or discrimination or topical issues. We want our staff to always feel comfortable sharing new ideas and different ways of thinking. We want them to feel comfortable speaking up about anything in the workplace, even concerns about leadership or the workplace itself. Part of that requires additional understanding from our teams. Some team members may be happy to share their thoughts on a Teams call; others may need more privacy, because diversity also entails "how" our people want to communicate.

We need to spend time working with our staff to ensure they feel company culture is psychologically safe. A psychologically safe environment will provide insurance industry professionals with a workplace where they feel happy, comfortable and confident. 

Consistency, consistency, consistency

While these first two pieces are essential to progressing with the puzzle, nothing can be accomplished without a consistent effort – and here, we have work to do.

For example, consistency could improve the recruiting process, helping prospective employees to better visualize a future in our industry. 

QBE partners with area universities to offer students scholarships centered on DEI and internships. Over time, however, we noticed a gap in interest and understanding of the insurance industry.

When I first visited campuses to gauge interest in insurance, I found students had a wide range of misperceptions about insurance. Several expressed immediately that they did not want a career in sales or a boring desk job. That’s what they had understood insurance to be. Industry leaders need to correct these misconceptions. Insurance has a path for everyone regardless of course of study and interests. 

We need to bring a more consistent experience in the employee life cycle, starting with recruitment and selection. Consistent job offerings and messaging around those positions will ensure that prospective employees understand what our business really does and how they could contribute.

Similarly, the efforts toward enhancing DEI in the workplace that are working should be shared and promoted. Sharing progress and demonstrating results will help to alleviate DEI fatigue. And of course, consistent and regular communications on our industry’s dedication to inclusion and belonging, starting from the recruitment phase and going throughout the lifecycle of the career, will attract new talent and inspire other business leaders to adopt similar practices.

Finally, we also need consistency in the labeling of DEI within our companies. DEI is woven into our organization’s values and mission; it’s not a stand-alone department. We want inclusion to be embedded throughout the entire employee lifecycle: attraction, recruitment, onboarding, development, retention and separation. 

See also: We Must Be Diverse by Design

Working together as an industry

While we laid out some critical pieces to enhancing and furthering DEI within our industry, we can’t do it alone. Collaboration will be essential. 

We all have valuable ideas to share, and together we can progress toward a diverse and inclusive insurance industry. Events such as the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF)’s Inclusion in Insurance Global Conference in New York City from June 13 – 15 allow us to continue the conversation as an industry, share our own practices and struggles and showcase diverse talent. We need these events and organizations like IICF to support us as a unifying industry voice. 

Today, we can get started on meeting industry challenges through a dedication to building out a better company experience, enhanced culture and a consistency in our approach.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

--AI, perhaps based on ChatGPT, can streamline customer support processes and remove much of the manual effort in data analysis, freeing time for analysts to do more important work.

--AI can also recommend predictive maintenance to clients and revolutionize quality control by detecting even subtle defects, reducing losses.

--While taking over certain types of work, AI will also lead to the emergence of novel roles such as AI ethics officers, AI trainers and data scientists.

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With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), concerns about job displacement have become prevalent. However, it is essential to understand that AI, including language models like ChatGPT, has the potential to enhance and transform job roles rather than replace them. This article aims to dispel the notion that ChatGPT and AI are job killers and instead highlights how they can augment human capabilities and drive positive change in all industries across the scale.

The Evolution of AI and the Changing Job Landscape

AI technologies have made significant progress, with models like ChatGPT demonstrating remarkable language understanding and generation abilities. Instead of perceiving AI as a menace, we must embrace its potential to transform various industries, ushering in greater efficiency, enhanced customer experiences and the emergence of fresh employment prospects.

Streamlining Customer Support

AI-powered chatbots, such as those built on ChatGPT, can be invaluable in almost every industry for streamlining customer support processes. These chatbots can handle routine inquiries, provide in-depth information and facilitate various customer interactions. With these repetitive tasks automated, human agents can focus on complex customer interactions that require empathy and personalized attention. This focus improves overall customer satisfaction and enables agents to build stronger relationships with customers.

For instance, an insurance company's customer support team can use ChatGPT to respond instantly to common policy questions, allowing customers to receive immediate assistance without waiting for a human agent. This collaborative approach ensures efficient support delivery while freeing human agents to tackle more intricate customer issues.

Improving Data Analysis

Efficient data analysis is vital in various industries, and AI technologies such as ChatGPT can play a significant role. These advanced systems can analyze vast amounts of data, extract valuable insights and automate the initial evaluation. By reducing the need for manual data analysis tasks, AI streamlines the process and enables faster decision-making and actionable outcomes across different sectors.

In the case of an insurance company handling property damage claims, ChatGPT can analyze the submitted photos, assess the extent of damage and recommend an initial estimate based on historical data and predefined guidelines. Human adjusters can then review and validate these recommendations, ultimately expediting the claims settlement process and ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Predictive Maintenance

AI-powered systems like ChatGPT can be instrumental in various industries for implementing predictive maintenance strategies. By analyzing data from sensors, equipment logs and maintenance records, AI can identify patterns and anomalies that indicate potential equipment failures. This enables maintenance interventions, preventing costly breakdowns and maximizing operational efficiency across different sectors. 

For instance, an insurance underwriting team can use ChatGPT to evaluate potential policyholders' applications by considering various risk factors such as demographics, credit scores and driving records. ChatGPT can analyze the data, identify patterns and generate risk scores or recommendations for underwriters to consider during their evaluation. This collaborative approach improves risk assessment accuracy, efficiency and consistency, enabling underwriters to make well-informed decisions.

Quality Control and Defect Detection

AI systems, such as ChatGPT, can revolutionize quality control in various industries. By analyzing product data, sensor readings and historical performance metrics, AI can quickly identify deviations from expected standards and detect potential defects. This enables timely interventions, reduces waste and improves overall product quality, ensuring customer satisfaction across different sectors.

For example, an insurance company can deploy ChatGPT to analyze multiple claims submitted by the same policyholder within a short period. If the model detects patterns indicating potential fraudulent behavior, it can alert human investigators to conduct a thorough investigation. This collaboration between AI and human expertise strengthens fraud-detection measures, protects the integrity of insurance operations and reduces losses.

Creating Job Opportunities

Contrary to the fear of job displacement, AI implementation creates job opportunities. As AI technologies become more prevalent, the demand for professionals who can develop, deploy and manage these systems will rise. Insurance companies will require skilled individuals to train and fine-tune AI models, analyze data and ensure the ethical and responsible use of AI. Additionally, the integration of AI in insurance operations will lead to the emergence of novel roles such as AI ethics officers, AI trainers and data scientists, fostering innovation and driving industry growth.

Conclusion

Rather than fearing the impact of AI and language models like ChatGPT, we should embrace the transformative potential they bring. By automating repetitive tasks, enhancing decision-making and creating job opportunities, AI augments human capabilities and improves efficiency and customer experiences. As the insurance industry evolves, professionals need to adapt, upskill and collaborate with AI technologies to shape a future where humans and AI work together harmoniously to achieve greater success in the insurance landscape.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

--Because they facilitate interactions, web portals can be used to gather data on customers and tailor products and services to them. Portals can provide a better customer experience and increase retention.

--Portals can also streamline business operations, saving time and money, while improving data security.

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With the global insurance market expected to grow 9% a year and reach $8.4 trillion in 2026 (according to Statista), competition is so fierce that insurance organizations need to stand out in every way they can.

One means that is too often overlooked is the development of a web portal. Unlike websites, which are primarily used to sell products or services, portals can simplify and speed communication and transactions between service providers and customers, also serving as a customer support tool, with a broader range of interactive elements. Portals usually require authentication and offer highly personalized content targeting specific groups. Moreover, a typical insurance portal provides automation and self-service capabilities, which helps manage an insurance business.

This article covers the five main benefits of web portals from a business perspective.

Increased customer retention

With the proper functionality, a web portal can help an insurance provider retain its customers continuously. For example, an insurer can send automatic reminders to keep customers engaged by notifying them of discounts and special offers.

In a more advanced scenario, an insurer can personalize these reminders to make them even more effective and engaging. Such personalized alerts can help insurers improve the quality of their service and sell more to existing customers, maximizing their lifetime value. Insurance providers can also notify customers when they should pay invoices, helping them avoid late payments while improving collections.

Outstanding customer experience

An insurance portal can also help insurers tailor their products to different audience segments and provide customers with self-service options demanded by modern customers.

According to the Future of CX: 2022 report by Freshworks, 39% of customers prefer self-service over any other channel, while 61% admire organizations that offer a mix of self-service and human touch.

Improved data security

The cost of cybercrime will reach $8 trillion this year and increase to $10.5 trillion by 2025, according to the 2022 Official Cybercrime Report by eSentire. Fortunately, by following specific cybersecurity practices, web portal developers can help insurance providers protect customer and corporate data from most cyber threats.

Data encryption

With data encryption, all information stored or processed by a web portal is coded and hidden from potential attackers. Only users with a corresponding key can access and view such encrypted data.

Role-based access control (RBAC)

By implementing the RBAC model, developers can limit access to web portal data and built-in functionality based on the user's role and position within an organization. With RBAC, an insurer can significantly reduce the risk of cyber-attacks, including those that use social engineering, while reducing the potential attack surface.

Data backup

Developers can back up insurance portal data using local or cloud storage. Even in the case of data leakage, it can be quickly recovered with a backup, helping an insurer prevent complete data loss and avoid unnecessary expenditures of time and money.

However, all the recommendations can only help if an insurance portal is developed correctly and securely. Therefore, developers must adhere to the latest cyber security practices and have validated software development certifications (such as ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 9001).

Meanwhile, organizations should monitor their insurance portals and run regular security audits to ensure maximum security. If an insurer does not have enough resources for security maintenance, it is worth considering managed IT security services.

Optimized business performance

An insurance portal can make an insurance business more productive through automation and reduced manual labor. For instance:

Customer management

An insurer can manage its entire customer lifecycle and specific aspects, such as onboarding and retention.

Quote and policy management

Insurers can manage multiple policies in parallel and renew or cancel them as needed.

Underwriting management

Insurers can quickly assess the insurance risks of their applicants and calculate the amount of coverage for each of these risks.

Inquiry management

Agents can prioritize inquiries, manage them and track customer payment history.

Claim management

Insurers can streamline and expedite claim registration and processing by implementing the right tools.

Document management

With robust functionality, insurers can quickly search for necessary files and data, share them and promptly generate documents (such as policies, claims or invoices) based on predefined templates.

These are only some features to integrate into a web portal to improve insurance business performance. For example, depending on its business requirements, an insurer can instruct developers to adopt tools for accounting, reinsurance and automated marketing.

More advanced analytics

Typically, insurance portals store and collect large amounts of data. Insurers should empower their web portals with in-built analytics features to reap the benefit of all this data.

For example, an insurer can track sales and transaction data and then apply machine learning models to predict demand for specific products or services. Or, an insurer can track usage metrics, such as login rate, session duration and bounce rate, to make the insurance portal more efficient and user-friendly.

Final thoughts

The insurance industry is growing, but this growth has a downside. Each day, service providers enter the insurance market, leading to more intense competition. Adopting digital technology is a natural step for and standing out. 

If developed properly, an insurance portal can provide outstanding customer experience, enhance customer retention and streamline business performance. In addition, a robust web portal will guarantee the safety of customer and corporate data.

KEY TAKEAWAY:

--As insurers replace board members, they are often looking these days for executives from other industries. Those executives can provide valuable, fresh perspectives on technology, customer experience and more but can benefit from focused education on the unique issues of insurance company governance.

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Recently, I was one of three people who retired from the board of an insurance company I had long and proudly served, because we had reached the company’s mandatory retirement age for directors. I am just one of hundreds of Baby Boomers who have aged out of their insurance company board seats in recent years. The enormous size of the Boomer age cohort has produced a flood of board retirements at insurers, and this trend will continue for several more years as the youngest Boomers move into their 70s. As a result, the industry is experiencing a brain drain of highly experienced board members. 

New Ideas and Perspectives

This age wave has, in turn, resulted in a surge in new board members at insurance companies. New people, new ideas, fresh perspectives. All good. But this changing of the guard is different than in years past. Insurers are seeking to build more diverse boards than those traditionally dominated by white male former CEOs. Armed with solid empirical support that diverse boards produce better governance, companies are seeking diversity not only in gender and race but in age, skill sets and perspectives, as well. 

One of the diversity characteristics that insurers increasingly seek in board candidates is experience in other industries, to enhance insurers’ understanding of technology, the consumer experience, product and distribution channel preferences and other non-traditional insurance areas of focus about the changing world around us.

Adding a chief technology officer, an economist, a consumer products executive or a marketing executive from another financial services sector, for instance, can bring valuable new perspectives to an insurer’s board. I’ve seen this happen many times, and it can energize a board to have fresh eyes look at their concerns.

The board member’s value to the company can be enhanced and accelerated, though, by having them receive focused education on the unique issues of insurance company governance.

Understanding the Business of Insurance

Insurance company directors don’t need to become experts in insurance accounting or taxation, develop the knowledge to settle a workers’ compensation injury claim or underwrite a cyber risk policy. But there are issues of insurance company governance and management oversight that are different from other industries and that they do need to understand. If learned from experts in the field, this education can make a board member more effective in a shorter time. The objective is, after all, about governance capability, not management skills.

Drawing on its unique membership of insurance thought leaders from around the world, the International Insurance Society has developed a board education program tailored for existing and prospective insurance company board members. From its insurance executive, risk management academic, consultant, accountant, actuary, asset manager and regulator members globally, the IIS has assembled ideas, experiences and perspectives that constitute the best practices of insurance company governance. 

The program launched in 2022 and was led by a teaching panel of industry experts with complementary skills and insurance board experiences. Modules include how various insurance functions and issues can be best understood from the board perspective, recurring areas of insurance oversight challenges and lessons learned regarding board successes and failures in dealing with major issues. Participants have included both life and property/casualty insurance directors from companies ranging from giant multinationals to regional mutuals and were enthusiastic in their reviews of the two-day program. 

The participants were all chosen for a board position by their companies because of their notable success in a wide range of career fields but felt strongly that the insurance-specific curriculum made them better able to do their job as board members of an insurer. They benefited not only from exchanging ideas with the faculty panel but with each other, as well.

We heard from the attendees about the value they felt they gained and subsequently heard from their sponsoring companies that the program was a good investment for them, too: The program accelerated the timeline of getting board members up to speed and fully able to understand the critical issues facing the company. 

What Attendees Say

“The faculty were able to provide real life scenarios that demonstrated the responsibilities of governance as a board member versus responsibilities as executives in insurance companies. The faculty did a good job pointing out the unique financial considerations that board members should monitor. It was also very helpful to interact with the other attendees, all of whom had different experiences and were most willing to share,” said Dorie Culp, member of the board for Utica National Insurance Group.

Perry Hines, independent member of the board of Horace Mann Educators, said, “The program was highly interactive, and it was great to interact with industry legends facilitating the program. It was an impactful two days that really solidified an understanding of insurance and governance.”

Gisselle Acevedo, psychotherapist, educator and member of the board of governors for Farmers Insurance recommends the program for insurance board members with all levels of industry experience. She said, "I was so impressed by the training that I ensured other board members also attended. In addition, the material that was covered was relevant and has continued to help me. There were in-depth dives that, in all the training I have had throughout my many years, I had not received before. It is essential for any insurance board member to attend, no matter how seasoned they are."

Explore the Experience

Please contact Jason Terrell at jterrell@internationalinsurance.org at the IIS to reserve a spot for yourself or to nominate an existing or prospective director of your company, for the next IIS Board Education program. You and your company will both benefit.

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.