Insurance brokers face an increasingly common conundrum: how can one utilise the latest technology without losing the human touch?
Broking is a human business at its heart, providing support and listening to the needs of clients. Building client relationships is essential. But the push towards digitalisation in the insurance sector has increasingly accelerated the need to modernise broking processes. Customers now expect near-instantaneous service and Insurtechs have stepped in to fill that gap.
Some question whether Insurtechs pose a threat to the current customer-oriented distribution model.
“In fact, the Insurtechs’ role is to promote customer-orientated distribution,” says Jane Mason BizCover for Broker’s Head of Product, Channels and Risk.
“Our role is to streamline broking processes and to empower a broker by providing instant access to multiple markets and to streamline the quote, bind and policy management processes. Removing the time-consuming administration from the process allows brokers to get back to broking and focus on advocacy and service.”
The digital shift in SME insurance
While SME insurance is currently undergoing a state of digital transition, brokers have a crucial role to play in advocating for their clients.
This was especially apparent around claims time, with 65% of broker clients being satisfied with their claims compared to only 42% of direct buyers, according to the recent Vero 2022 SME Insurance Index.
The yawning gap in the statistic above is further illustrated by the fact that 22% start using a broker after a claim while 25% increase their level of cover.
And it’s not just clients that benefit from brokers – insurers and the wider economy also take advantage of their value.
Brokers save each insurer an average of 3.3 hours, equating to more than 1,380 full-time equivalent staff each year, according to a joint study by Deloitte and NIBA, and inject 2.6 billion into the Australian economy each year.
But now that customers want instant service, the onus is on brokers to advertise the value that they bring while still providing their benefits fast and at scale.
“Customers are demanding fast turnaround along with high service levels,” says Mason. “Brokers now have the advantage of providing prospective clients with expert advice and service while utilising technology to provide faster turnaround and having the benefit of a more efficient process.”
And this has become possible for brokers in the SME insurance space that use Insurtechs to optimise their processes.
BizCover for Brokers, an Australian Insurtech that operates specifically with small business insurance brokers, have streamlined the broking process using the latest digital technology.
“Our modern solution removes time-consuming manual processes,” says Mason. “Brokers can now quote, compare and bind eight insurance products from up to six leading insurer partners across 6000 occupations with single data entry.”
Staying Human
As technology transforms the insurance industry in new and exciting ways, there is one thing that is a certainty to not change – the role of brokers.
What will change – for brokers who embrace what Insurtechs have to offer – is the role digital technology has in facilitating and improving the broking process.
“Broking is all about being human at its core. Insurtechs promote this quality by removing the administration and supporting the broker in their role of advocacy and service,” says Mason.
