Franchise FAQ

how technology improves productivity for franchise insurance agents

by Dr. Consuelo Jakubowski Published 1 year ago Updated 1 year ago

Here are some tips and tricks to automate the Insurance Process Management Lifecycle and improve productivity and efficiency:

  1. Intelligent Document Processing
  2. Robotic Process Automation or RPA
  3. Workflows
  4. Enterprise Content Management
  5. Cloud
  6. Analytics layers & AI/ML algorithms

Full Answer

How technology can help insurance companies?

By assessing the value a technology trend can provide, insurers can make informed decisions about what best works for their organizations.Increasing accuracy with predictive analytics. ... Improving efficiencies with Artificial Intelligence (AI) ... Automating processes. ... Optimizing customer experiences with insurtech.More items...•

How can insurance companies increase productivity?

Implement the Right Agency Tools. Train Your Agents to Cross-Sell. Healthy Employees Are More Productive. Arm Your Agents With Simple Productivity Hacks....Healthy Employees Are More ProductiveCross-selling.Providing stellar customer service.Asking for referrals.

How technology will impact the insurance industry?

Increasing the frequency and specificity of data being shared through IoT devices helps customers provide a more accurate view of their needs and insurers better understand risk, both at time of purchase and an ongoing basis.

How information technology is useful in insurance sector?

Implications: Using IoT, insurers can closely analyse customers' data and identify their needs and risks. Customers' health risks can be determined more accurately using wearables. Policyholder service will transform from being a customer-initiated activity to insurer-initiated activity.

Which technologies are creating disruption in the insurance industry?

AI and machine learning are new technologies that are creating widespread disruption in almost all industries.

How do you ensure efficiency of an insurance system?

4 Things Insurance Firms Can Do to Improve Efficiency, Data UseFocus on Retention, then Acquisition.Tie Data Together.Embrace InsurTech Innovations.Improve the Insurance Purchase Process.

How digital technology is transforming the insurance industry?

Insurtech platforms have eased out the process of selling insurance and simplified the user experience for effective engagement. With seamless API integration and end-to-end digital process, providing customer details for insurance policies is easier which also makes the dissemination of instant policies faster.

Which technology is known as the future of insurance or future of insurance industry?

Artificial Intelligence TechnologyAs Artificial Intelligence Technology matures to deliver human-like interactions, it can fundamentally change the cost and efficiency basis for insurance companies. It can also simplify interaction with some of the complex insurance processes and technology that exists today.

Which technology has the greatest impact in claims management?

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science are technologies designed to ensure a clear improvement in claims management, mainly if implemented throughout the process, and if can help claim managers.

What is role of online system for the insurance?

Online portals allow you to compare and understand different policies offered by various insurers. You are able to research different plans and make an informed decision. When you buy insurance online, you are assured of buying a policy that suits your personal needs.

What are the innovative insurance services?

Insurance Technologies: 13 Disruptive Ideas to Change Insurance Companies with Telematics, Blockchain, Machine Learning, and APIsInternal Workflow Automation with RPA and Machine Learning.Digitizing Paper Records with Optical Character Recognition.Machine Learning in Insurance: Automation of Claim Processing.More items...•

Can technology led innovation help in reducing stress explain with example?

Overview Technology has been criticized as catalyst of stress, but technology — such as meditation apps, stress-tracking devices and fidget gadgets — has also proven itself in helping people reduce anxiety and promote feelings of positivity.

How can insurance operational efficiency be improved?

5 Ways to Achieve Operational Excellence and Cost Efficiency for Insurance Organizations in 2021Celebrate Success, Incentivize Good Performance. The key point of this tip is to build support, top-down and bottom-up. ... Develop Appropriate Metrics. ... Network for Improvements. ... Respect Every Individual. ... Reach for Perfection.

How can insurance operations be improved?

Plan for this by budgeting at the top end of the market.Keep your company's loss ratio low. ... Work on becoming a coveted account to insurers. ... Choose deductibles that result in the optimal cost of risk. ... Make sure your values and property limits are accurate. ... Periodically check for unnecessary coverages.More items...

How an insurance company might obtain and use small data to improve how users interact with their services?

Here are 8 ways the insurance industry can improve performance and increase productivity using data:Boost acquisition. ... Improve customer retention. ... Accelerate the underwriting process. ... Engage target audience. ... Talent acquisition and retention. ... Remain compliant. ... Detect fraud early. ... Create actionable insights.

What is performance of an insurance company?

Performance management is a concept designed with a view to improving the performance of an insurance company continuously. The main focus of performance management is to increase support for decision making and boost value contribution for the management team.

1. Cloud file management

There are a number of different options for managing files in the cloud. Our favorites are Dropbox and Google Drive. You can maintain a certain amount of storage for free and pay for more space, making this an ideal situation as your business grows. Dropbox is a great place to store documents and share them with clients or colleagues.

2. Interoffice communication

There’s a certain benefit to being able to bump into your coworkers, or walk over to someone else’s desk to ask a question or respond to a memo. But if some people are regularly out of the office, or work remotely, those conversations won’t happen face to face.

3. Task management

Whether you’re working on your own or sharing tasks among multiple people in your office, you need to keep those tasks organized. Some tasks need to be touched by multiple people. For example, website copy might be drafted by a copywriter, reviewed by an editor, and posted by a web designer or content manager.

4. Electronic document signatures

Fewer offices are using paper every day. Printing is expensive, storing paper documents is costly, and keeping paper files secure is challenging. Using electronic signatures enables clients to sign documents right in front of you. Then you can email them a copy of the document.

5. Robust online accounting software

Forget ledger books in the office; the modern business does all of its accounting online. High-quality accounting programs can pull information from your business accounts, and allow you to sort deductions and payments into appropriate accounting categories. We love FreshBooks.

Quality Management and Speech Analytics

For the contact center running their quality program in spreadsheets, Google forms, or a tool that’s not integrated with their contact center platform, upgrading to an integrated quality management platform provides huge productivity gains for both agents and supervisors.

CTI Integration with CRM

Have you ever contacted customer service and entered your account number or other personal information into the IVR, only to be asked for that same information again by a live agent? Similarly, have you experienced an account lookup that was so slow both you and the agent sat around exchanging small talk for a couple minutes?

Agent and Customer Self-service

No customer likes being placed on hold for an unspecified amount of time. And they certainly don’t appreciate the additional delay caused when a case has to be escalated. This is symptomatic of agents not knowing the answer, not being empowered to answer, not knowing where to find the answer, or some combination of the three.

Performance Dashboards

It’s difficult to talk about productivity without discussing metrics — and contact centers typically have a ton of them. Agents need to know how they’re performing in order to improve their productivity.

Agent Interface

In many contact centers, agents are required to navigate several complex desktop applications to support a single customer. Factor in agents who interact with customers across multiple channels and you can quickly realize just how frustrating and mangled the work of the agent becomes.

Production Goals and Sales Contests

A production goal is to insurance agent as a deadline is to newspaper publishers.

Share Your Agency's Numbers

If your agents can see the financial health of the agency, it might give them the extra motivation they need to pull their weight.

Implement the Right Agency Tools

If your agency is still using file cabinets and scattered Excel sheets to organize information, your agents probably aren't that productive with their time.

Train Your Agents to Cross-Sell

One of the best investments you can make in your team is proper training.

Healthy Employees Are More Productive

A variety of surveys and reports have shown healthier employees are more productive, happier in their jobs, and save their employers money over time.

Arm Your Agents With Simple Productivity Hacks

There are a ton of little habits that can help your agents increase their productivity. If you meet wit h your team on a regular basis, co nsider sharing a productivity hack at the beginning of each meeting.

Conclusion

Having productive agents that pull their weight is key to having a successful insurance agency.

1. Automates and systematizes workflows and processes

Many successful businesses utilize powerful tools and applications that enable them to streamline complex workflows and processes. These technologies have features and capabilities that facilitate repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as collecting and sorting information or paying bills.

2. Keeps lines of communication open

As remote work continues to be the new normal, cloud and mobile technologies remain essential to ensure that distributed workforces have the appropriate resources to stay connected and be productive.

3. Enables more strategic planning and time management

Proper time management is one way to ensure that you and your employees get the most out of your workday. Calendar and scheduling applications such as Google Calendar integrate with almost every kind of productivity app and are instantly accessible on any device.

4. Simplifies setting and meeting goals

In reading the success stories of prominent personalities, you’ll notice a striking similarity: most had a vision and a strong desire to accomplish it. Many also had organized and detailed plans of action for achieving certain goals. There is power in goal setting, and technology can help you create and follow your own blueprint for success.

5. Allows for better concentration

Since technology can take over a lot of other tasks, people can concentrate more and have uninterrupted work periods, which primarily enable them to become productive.

6. Facilitates continuous education

Investing in your staff’s development is the key to stimulating the drive, creativity, and forward-thinking abilities necessary to stay ahead of the curve. A learning management system can empower employees to further their knowledge, skills, and talents by providing them with a repository of training materials and certifications.

How to improve agent productivity?

Use social media monitoring and analysis tools to support agents. Social media mentions can reach overwhelming levels and demoralise agents. Using sophisticated social media monitoring and analysis can help improve agent productivity in the long term.

How does agent involvement improve productivity?

Increasing agent involvement in your contact centre’s planning processes can enhance workplace productivity in terms of consistent schedule adherence and other productivity metrics, as well as improved agent engagement and customer satisfaction.

How can managers increase productivity?

With voice interaction still the preferred communication method into the call centre, managers could significantly increase productivity by untethering agents from their desks with wireless headsets.

Why do agents need breaks?

Agents get tired and become demotivated, not to mention their potentially rising stress levels. Providing agents with opportunities to take small breaks will allow them to re-energise and can really improve agent productivity.

How to be a good quality monitoring agent?

Be attentive with quality monitoring tools, listen in frequently and give agents positive feedback where it is merited, as well as constructive and supportive criticism.

What is unified agent desktop?

Implementing a unified agent desktop solution brings together all of your information and data from your everyday multiple systems into one view or screen. This can give agents a complete picture of the customer and make navigation between different media easier.

What should an agent have in contact centre?

Agents should have a comprehensive understanding of their role in the contact centre and the services they provide to customers.

What is the secret to improving employee productivity?

The secret to improving employee productivity is … there is no secret. Every agency has its own personality. Owners and managers need to use a blend of art and science to arrive at the formula that works best for their specific firm. This does not mean to give up and be satisfied with the status quo.

Why should management let go?

Management needs to hire the right people. Those that do not work effectively with others and efficiently, should be “let go” as soon as possible. One bad employee can spoil the whole work environment. Productive people notice. It causes real morale problems, when the problem employee is not addressed.

Why is on the job training important?

On-the-job training is good to make sure the staff follows agency procedures. Unfortunately, it can perpetuate the same old inefficient ways of working. It is great to send the employees outside the agency for new ideas, when possible. Make sure the staff is kept up to date with insurance coverages and procedures.

How did the proximity to neighbors affect the business?

The proximity to their neighbors kept people from making personal calls and playing games, and made people communicate more with each other. Camaraderie soared. Even the producers shared offices and could learn from each other, listening to calls and sharing ideas when the calls did not go so well on new business prospecting.

What is annual performance review?

Be consistent with managing this. The annual performance review is the time to clearly communicate performance expectations and past results. Have the employees first complete the review for the manager’s review and critique.

How to get suggestions from staff?

Bring the staff together to discuss the suggestions. Brainstorm on the issues. Delegate some of the problem solving to the staff and have follow-up meetings. The best suggestion should win a monetary reward, depending upon the savings. Or even time off, which everyone really appreciates. This process should be repeated annually.

What percentage of revenue is agency personnel?

The biggest single agency expense is agency personnel, typically costing 52 percent to 73 percent of revenue. In general, owner and producer compensation ranges between 25 percent and 35 percent of revenue, office staff compensation ranges from 20 percent to 28 percent of revenue and benefits and taxes costs 7 percent to 10 percent of revenue.

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