Canadian brokers are close to offering consumers online self-service, in an effort to capture the attention of the younger generation of consumers who would prefer to have more control over their online insurance purchase.
“The bottom line is that we as brokers need to recognize that this is something our customers want,” said Bryan Yetman, vice president of operations at First Durham Insurance & Financial. “There’s a huge batch of customers out there that, for them, items like self-service will be part of their purchasing decision. Almost anything customers do in their daily lives involves some kind of online access and self-service, so why don’t we go out there to meet those expectations?
“A huge subset of customers aren’t even talking to us or engaging us because we’re viewed in a lot of ways as their grandparents’ insurance intermediary. As we fight these trends, all we do is to reinforce the message.”
The Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR), a national association of Canadian insurance regulators, is currently reviewing industry submissions on an issues paper is published in January 2012. The paper, Electronic Commerce in Insurance Products, shows that more than three quarters of Canadians aged 16 years or more – 21.7 million people – used the Internet for personal ends during the year 2009.
Thirty-nine percent of those Canadians acquired a good or service by placing an order online in 2009. During that same year, 95 million online orders represented a value of approximately $15 billion. This represented a 35% increase in orders and a 15% increase in the value of such orders since 2007.
While there are no statistics to support it, anecdotally at least, few brokers in Canada are offering online self-serve insurance. But the technological capability is there, and several new technologies are looming over the horizon.
For example, Colin Simpson, a former insurance company executive, has launched a new company called Intrinsync Insurance Solutions, which is working with brokers to establish a new customer self-serve technology.
Also, Applied Systems has a product in the United States called CSR24, which offers self-service functionality. The product is expected to be introduced into Canada this year.
Joseph Ha of Trigon Insurance Brokers has implemented some customer self-service functionality at his brokerage, having beta-tested the Applied Systems technology over a year ago. His customers can contact his agency online through the Internet, iPad or Black berry, punch in their user password and account number, and look at their insurance policy information.
“If they want to make changes, just send us a request for changes, that’s all,” said Ha. “They can use the same app to request changes. They see the coverage and the limits for home and auto policies.
“In auto, for example, you’d the see the vehicle, the company the policy number, effective expiry date and the coverage that is applied.”
What motivated Ha to start using customer self-serve technology?
“We do our banking online, right?” he said. “I like to get all of my information online. So, in that case, why not? It doesn’t replace the human touch. It just provides information that is readily accessible if you want it.”
Several issues still need to be worked out, Yetman said. For example, the technology isn’t supposed to replace the value of broker advice. Second, self-service raises the issue of errors and omissions claims against brokers. Third, it is not intended to be a substitute for good customer service.
“If a broker is simply going to try to use an online space to automate their way out of a process and do less in the equation, I think that’s absolutely reinforces the question: what’s the value of the broker?” said Yetman. “Brokers who think about how to use [self-service] well; drive efficiency; and provide longer, better and easier access to customers will win.”
