Personal and commercial insurers currently lead the industry in terms of mobile integration, while many health and life insurers have made investments in
The overall pace of investment, however, prompted Forrester to warn insurers making only limited mobile efforts will soon give up certain
“Customer expectations are rising fast, leaders are making substantial investments and the time required to build infrastructure, skills and expertise means that laggards won’t be able to catch up fast,” the report says, adding that insurers need to “obsess” over matching business objectives with customer needs. To do this, the report says insurers should look for problems that mobility can fix, watch how customers behave and seek direct feedback from them.
Several U.S. companies were cited as leading the way, such as GEICO, Nationwide and Progressive, whose app was singled out for its depth of functionality. Progressive customers, according to the report, can get quotes, file claims, pay bills and save documents by taking pictures with their smartphones.
In the health space, heavy reforms and rising costs are inciting mobile investments. Aetna recently made a splash by buying iTriage, a producer of self-doctoring apps that help customers diagnose their first symptoms and direct them to the nearest and most adequate medical support. The report also notes Humana has established a suite of mobile offerings.
Forrester calls the life insurance sector “hardly active,” in terms of mobile. It is assumed that more companies are waiting on the sidelines to see what others develop, as there aren’t as many touch points to work with when compared to P&C and health insurers.
