THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING
Insurance CIO Outlook Weekly Brief
Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Insurance CIO Outlook
A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives, a curated forum for finance technology leaders, nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the Insurance CIO Outlook Editorial Board.
What are some recent challenges and trends affecting the insurance inspection space, and how are you mitigating the challenges?
Katie Dreiling
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the ways we do business with our brokers, driven by the changes in customer needs and challenges amid the pandemic. Companies are focusing on services like the wellbeing of their employees, including medical and mental health benefits, and disability and critical illness insurance.
It is also more important than ever that employees have the coverage to keep their loved ones from harm’s way. Many of our brokers are working with business owners to help them provide solutions for some of the challenges and develop products and services that meet customer expectations.
“We have adapted technologies and systems, like Teams and Zoom, to set up virtual meetings and connect with our brokers and business partners, resulting in an uptick in communication”
Some of these requirements are a direct result of the pandemic. My company has always been well-positioned to fill in a lot of gaps pertaining to employees’ mental health, wellness, and attraction and retention of employees.
Another interesting trend is the way we connect with our business partners, which has been impacted by the pandemic, since they are mostly working from remote locations. So, we have a traditional sales and distribution model where we have offices across the country to meet our business partners. We have adapted technologies and systems, like Teams and Zoom, to set up virtual meetings and connect with our brokers and business partners, resulting in an uptick in communication.
All in all, we are looking forward to staying in constant communication with customers and brokers, whether through virtual platforms or national conferences and meetings.
What technologies have you applied in your operations to create effective strategies and build more efficient broker services?
Guardian Life has been at the forefront of some of the newer connectivity and application programming interface (API) connections, setting us up for success. With the technology investments around API connectivity and our partnership with many benefits administration systems, we are way ahead of the game.
Another focus point from a technology perspective is the concept of ‘high tech, high touch,’ because we know the value of human connection. This technology can help create an environment where individuals can learn through information, leading to increased accuracy of the business.
We have also invested in enrollment technology to support the way our benefits are communicated to our customers and policyholders that enroll in our benefits. This has been a big investment on our end. We support connectivity and technology investments with our third-party and admin vendors, allowing us faster service, better customer experience, and reduced errors.
Our investment in the tools and technology that our brokers use, whether for voting platforms or decision support tools, helps an employee decide what benefits they need during enrollment. Some examples of such systems are Nayya and EMMA.
Considering all this, our decision-supporting tools help enhance employee understanding of enrollment and benefits selection. As a carrier, we also look at investments to streamline our understanding or claims process, which isn’t new, but it’s something we continue to evolve so we can serve our customers in the best way.
What advice do you have for your peers in the insurance inspection space?
Focusing more on medical, disability, health, and life insurance benefits allow us to be involved in the total wellbeing of our employees, leading to more business success. There will be more tools to help with absence management, mental health, and financial wellness, so brokers can have a more holistic approach to helping an employer assist their employees with total wellbeing.
In addition, we are seeing an increased focus on helping an employee that has been through an event in their lives that could incur a mental wellness claim. The company allows some time off work to take care of their mental health. Based on this, brokers can build their portfolio of offerings and be able to help the employees.
Carriers and brokers are lucky to be in a space where they are at the forefront of identifying and offering solutions to help people when they need it the most. I look forward to what the next few years are going to bring as it pertains to innovative solutions in the market.
