Although the insurance industry has already seen significant changes in the past decade, change will only accelerate in the decades ahead. Technology and digitization will have a lasting impact on the way people will buy insurance. Insurers themselves will have to adapt their offering, developing flexible product solutions and personalizing every aspect of their interaction with customers. TrustBuilder is ready to assist insurance companies on their digital transformation journey.
A recent report from McKinsey & Company, ‘The Future of Life Insurance’ lists the challenges of the past few years: premium growth that does not match GDP, depressed global interest rates that impact profits, etc. Yet McKinsey sees an upside too: emerging markets in Asia have become growth drivers, and insurers are making progress in using advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to mine the skyrocketing amount of data they possess on customers.
The personalized, multi-channel future of insurance
The report sketches a future in which insurers use third-party data to stay updated on big life events of customers (marriage, parenthood, retirement, …) and interact with them over different channels. According to McKinsey, the “life insurance industry faces a pivotal, dual opportunity: the chance to fulfill growing customer needs while returning to profitability and growth.” To achieve these goals, the report believes winning insurance companies need to outperform in three distinct areas:
- Personalize every aspect of the customer experience;
- Develop flexible product solutions suitable for a challenging regulatory and interest-rate environment;
- Reinvent skills and capabilities.
Supporting the digital transformation in insurance
At TrustBuilder, we can assist insurance companies in the first two of these three areas. As our work with insurance companies like Allianz shows, Identity and Access Management (IAM) plays a key role in providing insurers and consumers with a safe environment for their interactions. TrustBuilder goes beyond security, allowing insurers to improve their customer experience and protect users’ personal data. That way, we help map out the future of insurance companies.
GDPR compliance supports personalization
Consumers are quite willing to share their personal data when this improves customer service, for instance through personalization. Yet, at the same time, they want to keep control over their own data and decide how these data can be shared. As a European leader in IAM, TrustBuilder attaches great importance to compliance with regulations like GDPR. Our products allow users to have their data recorded and tracked in line with GDPR and to give or revoke their own consent for sharing personal data to all applications.
Building and securing digital ecosystems in insurance
Insurances and other financial service companies are vying to play a bigger role in consumers’ defining life moments by offering a complete set of services and becoming a one-stop shop. For retail banks this means complementing a mortgage by helping out with utilities, removal services and even real estate services. Insurance companies are increasingly doing the same, not only selling car insurance, but also connecting to online platforms for buying and selling used cars. And home insurance can be combined with services from utilities to prevent gas leaks that can cause a fire. Through our API Security, TrustBuilder ensures that the connections between an insurer’s own services and third-party services are completely secured. And thanks to our Service Catalog, we offer connectivity to a multitude of Identity Providers and applications. This makes setting up connections to third-party services a lot easier and faster.
Single Sign-on delivers customer experience
When insurance companies combine their own services with partners’ catalog of services into digital ecosystems, the customer should be able to move transparently and seamlessly from one app to another. By allowing Single Sign-on (SSO), customers can use one set of credentials to gain access to all these apps regardless of the service provider providing them. SSO is a prerequisite to achieve ultimate customer experience throughout the customer journey.
Passwordless authentication combines security and user experience
As the report correctly states, insurance customers want to interact through different channels, choosing whatever channel suits them best at any given moment. This omnichannel approach should be seamless and secure for the customer. TrustBuilder Mobile Authenticator delivers the same high level of passwordless security across mobile or web, combining airtight security with the highest possible level of user experience.
Despite the challenges the insurance industry faces, opportunities abound. IAM is an essential component in the technology stack that will make insurers successful.
