Last week, as a part of our WFH series, Silverline hosted a webinar to discuss the top 2020 insurance industry trends industry and the impact that COVID-19 has had on those trends. 

Our panel for this discussion included the insights of Doug Stitzer, Global Director of Insurance at Salesforce, along with Silverline team members Fred Cadena and myself. The focus of the webinar was to understand how insurance companies are contending with new expectations and changing trends in 2020. Regardless of whatever plans carriers and agencies had coming into 2020, the last eight weeks have changed everything.

Shifting Priorities

A discussion about Insurance trends would have been different three months ago, Pre-COVID. The biggest change has not been as much with priorities themselves, but with the urgency associated with those priorities.

Maintaining and improving upon customer experience and adjusting business models to deal with our new reality within the industry is key. The initial focus was on a nimble response to infrastructure challenges to support the new environment, and continuing to respond to customer needs and heightened expectations. 

Customer Experience

Customer expectations related to how they are served by their agents and carriers has changed during the pandemic. They expect a fully remote interaction, with more timely claims payments. It is anticipated that those heightened expectations will continue. While many have implemented short-term solutions to address current needs, they will need to evaluate the solutions for long-term viability and the ability to address long-term strategies.

Because P&C companies, especially those related to personal lines, were quicker to embrace digital, short-term rate and premium return considerations have been more impacted. For Life & Annuity there is a renewed focus on distribution, collaboration, and especially digitizing portions of the intake process or opportunities for collaboration where the old norm of face-to-face isn’t possible. 

This adjustment is especially hitting independent agencies hard as they are forced to use legacy architecture and processes to communicate and remain front-of-mind with clients.

Claims and the Revenue Model

Insurance carriers will experience an increase in claims as a result of this crisis. Lloyd’s of London is estimating that COVID-19 will cost the insurance industry in excess of $200 Billion, putting this event on par with events such as 9/11 and the 2017 hurricane season. 

While life insurers will see an unexpected increase in claims due to the impact of COVID-19, non-life insurers will see the impact through business interruption, travel, and event coverage.

Many carriers will focus on developing new products and it will be critical to spin those products up very quickly in order to respond to the chaotic and changing market. They will also be focused on saving costs — looking for methods to more effectively deliver new products and serve their customers throughout the process.

Working from Home

This crisis has proven that it is possible to effectively work from home, providing cost savings to the carrier, and flexibility for their employees, In fact, Nationwide recently announced that they will close five of their nine office locations and shift those employees to a permanent work from home model. Other companies are putting office expansions on hold in anticipation of expanding WFH options for their staff.

Remote work highlights the power of Salesforce to bring aggregation, visibility, process automation, and mobility to every Insurance persona. Salesforce’s new work.com solution equips business leaders with risk management tools, expert guidance, and more to shift back from a shelter in place model to the new normal.

Next Steps

Addressing the changing priorities and opportunities presented in the current environment is not optional. Silverline and Salesforce have proven solutions for these types of transformations in the insurance industry. 

For more information, review the on-demand webinar. And when your insurance firm is ready to make the shift, reach out.