Ian Collard of Identity Methods looks at how Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools can help insurance companies secure their systems while improving the customer experience.
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reported that business insurance customers felt frustrated and disappointed with what they considered to be an extremely low level of support provided by their insurance agencies. This has ultimately resulted in a perception that traditional protection policies have failed to deliver value, translating into a loss of clients.
If improvements can be made to onboarding and transacting processes, this will surely have a positive impact on an insurer’s ability to help and support their end customers. A process that provides greater convenience and even enables customers to find information more easily will help to retain existing clients and, ultimately, attract new ones. But it goes beyond merely improving customer experience. Insurers need to look more broadly at how they can manage customer interactions via a much smoother and more seamless process, while ensuring the highest levels of safety and security across their systems.
Improving security and building trust As a consumer, having control over communications with an insurance company, such as being able to choose how and when these interactions take place, is an important part of the customer journey. Digital automation, personalised access and simple navigation serve to enrich the experience. Conversely, a cumbersome or stressful experience can have a negative effect on an insurance brand, so it’s essential that insurance companies facilitate a process through which information can be accessed simply, yet securely, across multiple platforms at the touch of a button.
Insurance firms are trusted custodians of customer data and have a duty to protect and control access to this data that goes beyond simple password protection. Dealing with end customers as well as business-to-business partnerships demands the right strategy. Full identity access management (IAM) with properly secured APIs and usage-driven intelligence will help insurance companies to ensure that unusual system activity can be spotted and addressed. This is necessary to improve cybersecurity, avoid data breaches and instil customer confidence. No matter how good a user experience is, if data is not protected, and trust in the brand is not maintained, customers will inevitably go elsewhere.
Flexible industry-tailored security solutions
While digital transformation signals a move for many industries from on-premise to cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS), the insurance industry cannot be expected to make the jump to a cloud-based model overnight. Security and systems providers, while endeavouring to understand how they can help the industry achieve its goals of security and customer satisfaction, should therefore be prepared to be flexible from a hybrid point of view. By meeting the insurance industry on its own terms, security solutions can be better aligned and customised to fit to industry requirements.
Insurers should be looking to work with those security providers who can deliver a hybrid option which is closely matched to insurance industry operations and behaviours. Traditional on-premise software, but managed as-a-service, will allow them to take advantage of a modern pay-per-use model which can vastly improve client engagement by transforming customer experience, while also establishing stronger identity management and cybersecurity practices.
Investing in Identity and Access management (IAM)
A recent report reveals that 85% of CEOs said Covid-19 had accelerated the digitisation of their operations1. From a customer experience perspective, this means that interactions with the insurer are increasingly taking place through digital methods, such as through an app on a smartphone. The coordination and monitoring of such interactions require a robust Identity Access Management (IAM) function that has full integration with consumer touchpoints, for example, customer relationship management (CRM) systems. This is key when looking at the claims-handling process where the level of interaction via digital means will increase.
As operations increasingly move into the digital realm, insurance companies are advised to avoid siloed business models and the vast number of independent active directory (AD) domains associated with them. The future is about data integration which is not possible at scale without a strong IAM foundation to support it. Building a more mature IAM infrastructure will help insurers leverage digital information as well as support any future migrations.
Rationalising systems
Application rationalisation will help insurers strategically identify the key business applications across their organisation to determine which should be kept, replaced, retired or consolidated. The goal is to achieve improvements in business operations. Insurers should therefore look to rationalise the legacy systems that still provide value but need to be fit for purpose within the digital lifecycle. The hybrid approach previously mentioned sees the legacy applications sitting alongside cloud applications to best serve insurance customers.
Those insurers who have grown by acquisition also have an additional challenge in rationalising their inherited apps and systems. Here, insurers are advised to avoid the siloed business model and the vast number of independent active directory (AD) domains associated with them, and to instead build a more mature IAM infrastructure to better leverage information as well as to help with future migrations. The ability to onboard customers more rapidly could also be seen by some insurers with a more robust IAM foundation as a competitive advantage.
And, in a competitive industry, the speed with which an insurer can process acquisition, onboarding and policy approvals through the IAM orchestration engine to the sales and marketing functions, is much more likely to result in customers who value convenience taking out a policy. Behind the scenes, insurers can have increased peace of mind from knowing that their data, systems and functions are fully managed and highly secure.
Identity Methods explored these themes in a two-part podcast for insurance companies:
Listen to part 1 here: What do insurance customers really want?
Listen to part 2: Insurers Going Digital
Author Bio: Ian Collard – Founder and Managing Director, Identity Methods
Ian is a successful managing consultant and business development professional with 35 years of involvement in the cyber technology and digital security sector. Since 2011, Ian has utilised his skill and understanding to grow Identity Methods into a specialised, high-value consultancy and service delivery organisation. He now leads an established solutions and professional services provider catering to a variety of clients – from multinational, blue-chip organisations seeking to ensure continuity and competitive strength, to ambitious start-ups looking to improve their security and organisational posture. Ian leads Identity Methods’ product and service selection and its strategic partnerships.
Find out more by visiting: www.identitymethods.co.uk
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