Insurance Agent – Would INSURTECH Complement or replace them?

I remember my young days when one of my close relatives started working as an Insurance Agent, and it was considered to be a precious job. A few days back when I met him, I asked him – Has the latest technology affected your work? I was expecting a negative answer, but instead, he showed me the flip side of how insurtech is helping him make a more personalized and long-term relationships. While some of the mundane jobs like data entry, reminders, quotes comparison, underwriting has been taken up by the insurtech technology, individuals, business owners or firms are yet inclined to interact with a human being and close the deal.

He mentioned a couple of analogies to strengthen his case – he said e-commerce industry in India that is worth US$125 billion as of April 2017 was not able to displace the brick and mortar industry. Or has the automobile industry removed pedestrians from the road?

Or the most important one – has the digitization removed the government agents that help citizens in getting their vehicle registered or apply for the PAN card?

Or has the financial inclusion initiative detached Banking agents or business correspondents from the chain? With a big smile on his face, he was sure digital move will only enhance his powers as insurance agents and not displace them.

Let’s take a look “HOW INSURTECH WOULD STRENGTHEN INSURANCE AGENT”

CHATBOTS HELPING IN CONVERSATION

Let’s accept it, on the one hand, people are busy and may not be available for sales pitch even it’s a tedious job for the insurance agent to repeat the same introduction to every prospective client, and that’s why – chatbots are handy. Start a conversation at your ease, and get full information handy. If you are satisfied, book an appointment with the agent, and he would come and guide you further.

DATA DATA EVERYWHERE

InsurTech is helping the insurance firms in churning the data that supports them in analyzing their needs and preferences. The same data could be used by insurance agents to grab more clients. Just for example if an individual is a wanderlust, he might be more interested in getting customized travel insurance rather than home or term insurance. Such kind of data when provided to an insurance agent, he could use his expertise to present a sales pitch to the client and help him in also getting customization if needed.

VALUE ADDED SERVICES

While play store may be filled with apps that provide dos and don’ts of insurance, individuals expect a human touch that offers “personalization with freebies.” Insurance agents could tap into this domain by also offering value-added services to make their client feel special. Just for example – using a robo advisor to generate a financial planning portfolio for your prospective client could help in trusting the agents and building a long-term relationship.
Undoubtedly technologies’ like Artificial Intelligence[AI], Natural Language Processing [NLP] would help in improving the financial decision, but they are also strengthening the agents in providing value-added services and making it a more engaging experience.

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References:

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/asia/news/breaking-news/tech-to-complement-not-replace-insurance-50228.aspx

https://dailyfintech.com/2017/11/30/insurtechisagentspinach/
https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2017/04/03/446012.htm