Digitisation in the customer relationship

New technologies are opening up new possibilities in customer interaction, thereby changing the requirements for working methods and structures within insurance companies. The implementation of customer-centric processes is seen as the basis for optimising the customer relationship. hpo shows which procedural and organisational prerequisites must be created to increase customer satisfaction.

Innovations in general and digitisation in particular are changing the insurance industry. Digitisation is also changing customer behavior and — very importantly — customer needs: Insurance solutions, for example, are being researched and concluded online, claims processing is increasingly being carried out online, and quality expectations as well as customer expectations regarding response times are rising. These changing customer needs are forcing insurance companies to adapt their interactions with customers in order to provide them with a contemporary and efficient experience.

A survey by IDG Research shows that digitisation in the insurance industry still has a lot of potential for improvement. In principle, the insurance companies surveyed in the DACH region are aware of the advantages that digitalisation offers.

Digitisation for the company, which is why they have also established it as an important cornerstone in the corporate strategy. Efficiency increases, process optimisation and cost reductions are the focus and are seen as drivers. However, insurance companies see the lack of understanding of customer needs as the biggest hurdle. In this context, customer wishes and their experience with the new technologies point the way to targeted investment in a digitised customer experience or to combining user-friendly service and efficiency.

Digitisation changes the entire customer interaction, resulting in completely new requirements for the processes and working methods of employees. Decentralised structures in the organisation often make standardisation difficult, which is why digitisation must be viewed as an integrated solution. To ensure that the benefits of digitisation can also be used profitably in the customer relationship, it is essential that these topics are embedded in the processes and the organisation.

An important basis for insurance companies to tap the potential of digitisation and automation is the implementation of customer-centric, standardised processes. To ensure that internal processes also take customer needs into account, processes must be consistently aligned at the interface to the customer.

Questions such as “What kind of relationship does the customer want with us?” or “How can I make the processes easier for the customer?” provide important cornerstones for process optimisation. Several studies show that customers primarily want end-to-end online availability, whether in terms of selecting the range of products and services, concluding contracts, invoices and changes, or automated claims processing. It is important to remember that digitisation is more than just automation. It is not just about making processes faster and simpler, but about improving the customer interface with the new digital possibilities.