Insurtech: Insurance Meets Innovation
Innovation is transforming how employees purchase insurance while making benefits administration more efficient and automated than ever before.
Insurance Is Ripe for Disruption
Car buying. Real estate. Financial services. These are a few of many industries being disrupted by technological innovation (if greater choice, access to information, and a simplified buying process can be called a “disruption”). Insurance is next.
Perhaps even more so than the aforementioned industries, the insurance model has thrived (and faced its critics) due in part to its complexity, lack of carrier transparency, and the reality of an undereducated customer base. For many employees and businesses alike, buying insurance is full of friction and confusion. But technology is beginning to clear the clouds, bringing more clarity (and data) to the table which enhances the experience for both buyers and providers.
These technological innovations (e.g., AI, data-driven pricing, and ultra-customized plans) are being invested in both by startups and the insurance institutions trying to keep pace with their more nimble competitors. This is the future of insurance and it’s called insurtech.
Insurtech – Applying technology and data science to simplify and reduce the cost of obtaining insurance for consumers.
Smarter Insurance Offerings Boost Enrollment and Participation
What does insurtech look like in action?
Imagine an employee has a child, adds a dependent, and is presented with a personalized offer for life insurance based on that life event. In a few clicks, they’ve reviewed their options and enrolled. Or, a new hire selects a high-deductible health plan and automatically receives personalized offers for supplementary insurance to cover out-of-pocket costs—right on their mobile device.
Data helps boost enrollment by delivering insurance offerings and decision support tools to consumers when they are most relevant. Buyers make more confident choices and are more likely to use the benefits they enroll in. This is of particular interest to (and creates an advantage for) employers that rely on compelling health plan options and other benefits (such as 401k) as part of their talent acquisition and retention strategy. The competition for top candidates is fierce and insurance plays an important role even before a new hire comes aboard.
A More Efficient Back Office for Benefits Administration
Technology’s ability to remove pain and improve the insurance experience isn’t limited to consumers. In today’s back office, EDI files are streamlining data transfer with carriers. But in many cases, the process still contains manual steps such as file upload requirements.
Insurtech will add even more efficiency to benefits administration through API integrations that enable an automated touch-free dialogue between systems. Will the future of benefits administration be painless? It’s a worthwhile goal to work toward as an industry, knowing the advantages even small improvements can contribute to a complex, often tedious, but very necessary function.
One More Way PrismHR Is Using Technology to Simplify HR
Insurtech is the reshaping the future of employee benefits and commercial insurance, and PrismHR is a part of it. But in a way, it’s nothing new to us.
We’ve always used technology to help you be more efficient and focus more time on what matters most. And while we keep an eye on what’s next in insurance, we’re working every day on innovation. That means technology to automate more back office processes. Programs and partnerships that give employees greater choice while offering you opportunities to generate revenue. And improving the front-end and back-office experience for you, your clients, and their employees.
Insurance is about to get a lot more exciting.