Process automation: learning to think "digitally
Paper claims reports and application forms could soon be a rare exception in the German insurance industry: More than 90 percent of the industry currently sees process automation as a significant challenge, as the "Industry Compass Insurance 2015" by Sopra Steria Consulting shows.
The focus of digitization efforts over the next two years will be mainly on the automatic processing of unstructured data and on volume business. However, the automation wave will only be able to exploit the full potential of digitisation if, in parallel, old divisional thinking is overcome and the pace of change in the IT landscape is stepped up considerably. Insurance companies must also begin to build a continuous digitalisation path in the direction of the customer.
An unmanageable amount of information, which is received every day by e-mail, fax and letter post, still slows down many processes in insurance companies. It is therefore not surprising that, according to "Industry Compass Insurance 2015" by Sopra Steria Consulting, almost 70 percent of all German insurers and brokers intend to spend their available automation budgets primarily on quasi-industrial processing of unstructured data by 2018.
For smaller companies, this is an even higher priority at 74 percent - presumably because they have more catching up to do than the large companies.
Overarching analysis
Only digitized information enables automated processes - and only in this form can information flow into overarching data analyses to transform the insurance business beyond the respective original process. "In our daily consulting practice, we repeatedly experience that an automation project is planned from the narrow perspective of a specific line of business and consequently only has line-of-business-specific processes in mind," reports Sven Brose, Principal Consultant Insurance at Sopra Steria Consulting.
And he continues: "If you really want to exploit the potential for digitalization in the course of process automation, you need something like a digital mindset and a perspective on how the entire company should develop in the future. It is also necessary to decouple the architecture of existing system landscapes and quickly introduce agile software development methods along the lines of the fintech scene.
Automation backlog?
The extent of the automation backlog in the German insurance industry is illustrated by the study "Customer Portals" by Sopra Steria Consulting. It shows, for example, that many companies can only offer their customers classic forms for downloading when tracking the status of claims. These forms then have to be printed out, filled out manually and returned to the insurance company by traditional mail.
The situation is similar for document provision: Only a fraction of the target group is currently already in a position to make documents available in digital form throughout.
About the study:
From August to September 2015, the market research company forsa was commissioned by Sopra Steria Consulting to survey executives from 70 of Germany's largest insurance and brokerage companies on their current and future business policies. The industry compass not only paints a picture of the current mood in the German insurance industry, but also shows its development over time by comparing results with previous year studies since 2002.
