A recent EY Global Insurance Outlook found that building trust and transparency were key to an insurer’s performance and growth. The need was fueled in part by what we have been experiencing over the past several years. That is economic volatility, a global pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and wars with considerable ramifications. By increasing their transparency and building greater trust with customers, life insurers can secure a better future for their organizations.
Building Trust
Insurers are building customer trust by providing more market-responsive products – those that meet the needs of a multi-generational population and workforce, as well as making more convenient distribution channels available for accessing these products. An emphasis on personalized customer service is highly valued and is a method to better engage with customers, drive increased loyalty, and product sales.
Transparency Achieved with Advanced Technologies
Building trust is as important as exhibiting transparency. Customers value the ability to access product and related price information through digital platforms and mobile apps. Applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), insurers can leverage algorithms that enable greater data capture that empowers insurers to deliver higher-quality personalization in their product offerings and make more informed decisions. Generative AI (GenAI) apps are especially helpful to insurers in affirming that underwriting, coverage, and claims decisions are not biased against single customer and/or groups of customers.
Taking Action
The EY Global Insurance Outlook report suggested insurers take specific actions to build trust and transparency to better secure their company’s future. Among those actions cited were:
- Develop creative ways to use new and existing data to deliver greater value to customers.
- Measure trust using a formalized framework of multiple metrics.
- Apply purpose in go-to-market strategies and convey how the company is delivering value to customers and society at large.
- Protect sensitive customer information by deploying advanced technologies and measures (i.e., regular IT system penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, employee training, and incident response planning) that support increased cybersecurity.
