Self-service solutions in demand

Simply defined, an insurance self-service portal is a solution that enables certain repetitive manual tasks to be automated and provides end users – customers – with a convenient place to manage their cover, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A typical SSP solution simplifies various routine operations, such as acquiring policies, making online payments, reporting claims, downloading insurance documents and navigating other available services. An advanced SSP can also track and analyse customer behaviours, proactively helping them to better navigate their world of risk.

According to Marcin Nowak, board member of the Polish software company Decerto, insurers are turning to SSP platforms because their customers’ habits are changing in favour of convenience. Feedback from the insurers that Decerto works with suggests that 

Across the spectrum of its client base, Decerto sees carriers looking to remain flexible by integrating the digital world with traditional telephone, email and walk-up options: “Insurers themselves also see the benefits of self-service portals. These often include increased satisfaction, fewer inquiries, automation and positive experiences with insurer contact,” Nowak explains.

An SSP can also boost new business: “By creating round-the-clock customer service, insurance companies can develop automated sales processes that are repetitive and designed for convenience, thereby increasing sales opportunities,” Nowak adds. 

It’s a win-win for carriers because as well as keeping customers happy, SSPs deliver lower operational costs through reduced staffing, cheaper claims management and fewer manual tasks: “The cost of customer service in B2C interactions is estimated at USD 7, and in B2B, it's USD 13. For self-service interactions, we're talking about costs in cents.”

Not surprisingly, as Nowak points out, investing in an SSP depends on the insurer’s profile and can be costly with volatile returns. “SSPs are best suited to large and medium-sized insurance companies where the scale of operations is significant,” he explains. “For the investment to pay off, the insurer needs to sell policies in thousands, or even millions, which is more typical for personal lines insurers rather than corporate ones.”

What priorities do insurers need to address in terms of the technology needed to build and implement an SSP? Nowak says that reconciling security and user friendliness is a major consideration: “The SSP platform should be convenient and on the other hand secure, as not everyone should have access to personal and sensitive data. Secondly, user experience is extremely important. SSP users are non-technical people, for whom ease of use and convenience matter.”

Nowak says that the SSP system should lead customers by the hand to avoid users becoming frustrated and dissatisfied. When that happens, instead of using the SSP, customers could instead revert to calling insurer agents, negating any cost efficiency savings.

The risk of alienating customers is particularly high during the introduction of an SSP, Nowak warns: “The biggest challenge during SSP implementation is to prevent end-users from feeling lost on the platform. That's why implementing good UX – user experience − conducting tests and providing instructional videos are crucial. Always remember that there are individuals on the other side who rarely use such systems.”

Nowak believes that human-to-human contact will remain important despite advancing digitalisation and that individual customers will always have different preferences such as using the phone . That said, the growing popularity of SSPs among insurers is itself a reflection of the appeal of intelligent business solutions: 

They can also consult with a chatbot, for instance, to address low-level issues, cutting the waiting time often needed to connect with an agent: 

Nowak has witnessed significant evolution in the SSP space over the course of his 18 years in the insurance industry: “I’ve seen progress from read-only interfaces to new capabilities such as handling simple tasks (like document submission), to today’s advanced functionalities such as remote contract signing and quick online payments, including instalment options.”

He thinks that AI solutions could replace traditional contact forms in favour of conversing with bots: “During such interactions, whether voice or text-based, we’ll describe what we want to achieve, and the system will quickly provide us with the desired outcome,” Nowak predicts.

Knowledge-based systems with self-learning mechanisms will be crucial, allowing people to receive answers directly from a specific portal instead of searching the web,” he adds.

“For example, customers of a particular company won’t need to search through its FAQ section, use the search bar, or read articles on its blog. All they have to do is ask the system for a solution to their problem – either verbally or in text – and it will respond just like an agent would.”