Cloud Computing Has Transformed the Insurance Industry

By nature, the insurance industry is a risk averse field. While the industry has used IT for a long time, insurance companies have shied away from moving to the cloud–until now. Industry norms are changing. Around the world, insurance companies are reviewing their business and spending practices, especially around IT expansion, spending ratios, and automation. Any change to business processes must justify the cost and effort of making the change. The cloud is a unique opportunity to change operations while lowering costs. Learn ways cloud computing has changed the industry, and how you can take advantage of this.

Anytime, Anywhere Application Access

Your customers call you when they need you, which may not reflect business hours. Having access to a cloud will allow you to find information wherever you are, to help your customers in their hour of need, no matter what time it is.

Logging into the cloud anywhere, at any time, you’ll see customer information. You’ll also be able to access collaborative services, get information from other experts, and answer questions for colleagues who need your expertise. Taken together, the anytime, anywhere access allows you to deliver faster and more efficient service, increasing customer satisfaction.

By using a private cloud instead of a public cloud, you can leverage these efficiencies without compromising the security of sensitive customer data.

More Flexible Business Structure

With cloud computing, you can streamline your workload and processes, leverage agile technologies to adapt faster, and build common components that make the workload easier.

The cloud makes it easy to get started with automation for systems and workflows, which can reduce the workload among employees. Standardizing your processes and optimizing the way that information is inputted and retrieved can help you meet compliance requirements, prepare for audits, and grow painlessly.

Cloud computing can also help your agents with common tasks, including underwriting, claims adjustment, product development, and back-office fulfillment.

Using the cloud, your business can increase partnerships. Imagine leveraging cloud capabilities to broaden your reach to customers who you have not been able to reach, simply by using the cloud to increase visibility in retail locations, post offices, and telecommunications offices.

Big Data & Analytics for Smarter Decision Making

The insurance industry relies on data, and the cloud excels at making use of big data for smarter decision making. By using cloud technology, you can run complex calculations for risk, interest rates, and reserves without investing in third-party tools or pricey infrastructure.

To see the value, consider quarter close-outs. The cloud runs calculations twice as fast as your existing system, and uses the latest data instead of old data that’s no longer accurate. The same technology lets you prove performance to stakeholders, easily gather data for audits, and remain in compliance with industry regulations.

Behavioral analytics can help you improve sales and customer satisfaction. Smartphone integration for analytics means that insurance agents can receive and act upon real time data
directly from their mobile devices.

When you switch to the cloud, you’ll reduce your IT expenses and the time it takes to collect, analyze, archive, and monitor your business and customer data to make decisions.

Save Money, Increase Efficiency

By switching to a private cloud, you can save money and be more efficient. Since agents can see unified customer data in the system at a glance, they can follow up with the right products and services to grow the market faster.

It’s less expensive in the long run to use the cloud than to purchase infrastructure, pay for maintenance, and staff your own IT department. What’s more, costs of cloud usage are predictable. You only pay for the services you need and use, and you retain the ability to scale up or down in response to demands, company growth, and other variables.

Since cloud services are scalable, you can scale existing IT, such as records management or actuarial compensation, to keep processing time low. From an infrastructure point of view, outsourcing maintenance to the cloud provider saves time and boosts efficiency onsite. This also lowers costs, since cloud providers rely on economies of scale.

In the insurance industry, change is a constant. To remain competitive, insurers need to price products and services as the dynamic market shifts. The cloud allows insurers to leverage data and analytics for successful pricing and to unlock new opportunities within the market.

Too many insurance companies are actively held back by reliance on legacy infrastructure, which is too slow to keep pace, and too expensive to continue to fix. Rather than continue to pour the majority of your IT budget into a legacy system that no longer meets your needs, invest in next-generation cloud technology that will help you grow your business, remain competitive, and meet the needs of your customers.

Many insurance companies are taking stock of their IT assets and existing approach, then making the decision to move to the cloud. Now is the time to review your IT assets, see whether they are aligned with your long range goals, and make the changes you need to make to stay competitive.