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insurance agencies

Top 5 Ways Insurance Agencies Can Grow with a Platform Mindset

The insurance industry is rapidly moving away from an outdated, proprietary system towards a more integrated, connected ecosystem which is better equipped at meeting the needs of modern clients. Additionally, adopting a “platform mindset” is no longer an optional factor for the insurers. It is a critical strategic key which gives way towards driving a more competitive insurance agency growth in today’s insurance landscape, which is heavily powered by technology. 

Keep reading till the end as we will be diving deep. 

What is A Platform Mindset for Insurance Agency? 

The platform mindset for an insurance agency essentially means a shift from the traditional, siloed approach to operating on an integrated, technological hub which would essentially be connecting with the internal teams, external partners and the customers within a unified ecosystem. 

This is the model which will emphasize connectivity, data sharing, and also help in creating a seamless, customer-centric experience. 

While the platform mindset for insurance agencies is essentially upon understanding the long-term competitiveness with technology, there are few key components that help in establishing the mindset with clarity.  

Jump on to the next section to decode these essential components. 

What are the Key Components of A Digital Mindset for Insurance Agency? 

Here are the top components of a digital mindset for insurance agency: 

API-driven Integration 

Insurance agencies are essentially built to easily connect and share data with third-party applications and services via a robust catalog of APIs. This essentially moves away from time-consuming, point-to-point integrations. 

Ecosystem Orchestration 

Instead of doing everything internally, the insurance agencies who comes with a strong platform mindset focusses upon on orchestrating a wide network of partners and the services, and this essentially includes the integration with IoT providers for risk mitigation or car manufacturers for Embedded insurance. 

Data-driven Decision Making 

This is another one of the key components when we are looking at a digital mindset for an insurance agency. While adopting a digital mindset, the insurer needs to include datasets that include leveraging AI, data analytics, and machine learning to understand the critical components of underwriting and claims management. 

API Ecosystem and Integration 

Another one of the critical components of having a digital mindset for insurance agencies is to adopt the growing necessity for operating in an API ecosystem. This seamlessly allows the insurance agency to offer a wide range of complementary services beyond traditional insurance products. 

Cloud Platforms 

Cloud based platforms are another factor when looking for seamlessly adopting to a platform mindset, these cloud platforms offer the necessary scalability, flexibility and cost efficiency for handling the fluctuating demands and support the remote operations. 

While these are the key components for seamlessly adopting an agile platform mindset, head to the next section to decode the key growth pillars for adapting to this platform mindset. 

What are the Key Growth Pillars of Platform Mindset? 

Here are the key growth pillars that the insurance agencies can keep an account of while seamlessly navigating through adopting a platform mindset: 

Master the Client Experience Ecosystem 

This is the growth pillar which emphasizes a seamless, omnichannel experience that integrates with the various customer touchpoints. The actionable steps that the insurance agencies can take in regard to this is to map the customer journey, implement a digital experience platform for creating consistent interaction across all the channels, and monitor the feedback.  

Leverage API-driven Scalability 

This is a growth pillar which majorly focusses upon an API-enabled architecture for integrating the various technologies and scale operations efficiently. 

The actionable steps which the insurance agencies can take up here is to modernize the core systems, adopt an open API strategy and enable a scalable infrastructure.  

Transform Data into Personalized Advice 

This essentially highlights the importance of using data analytics and AI for gaining a much deeper customer insight, while enabling the delivery of tailored products and proactive, personalized guidance instead of generic offerings. 

Automate the Mundane, Humanize the Complex 

Calls for automation of routine, the high-volume tasks, such as simple claims processing or the data entry for freeing up human agents, for handling the complex scenarios which essentially require empathy, judgement and personal interaction. 

Building an Integrated Partner Network 

This essentially involves developing a network of strategic partnerships with third-party providers that include healthcare providers, Insurtech’s and smart home companies and more. This essentially helps in offering a much broader ecosystem of services and also creates a new value proposition for customers.  

Conclusion 

Having a platform mindset for insurance agencies is not negotiable. This is because it’s essential for achieving scalability, speed and agility, customer-centricity, as well as fostering innovation and accountability in the modern digital economy. 

Archismita Mukherjee

Insurance Content Analyst

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Deepak S