5 Trends boosting eSignature in the Insurance Industry
Digital has already outpaced every other action items in the To-do list of CIOs. An eSignature is one of the most sought objectives for CIOs in the insurance industry. The pandemic combined with the ever-changing customer landscape has boosted the demand for a more convenient, more secure, and paperless way of on-boarding and underwriting. As Banks are moving toward building fully-digital banking systems such as neo-banks and digital-first banks, the insurance industry is not far behind with digital initiatives adopted to optimize the overall acquisition and engagement process to enhance value to their end-customer and, subsequently, ROI.
Recent studies about digital adoption in the insurance industry show that eSignature technology and platforms are no longer viewed as a novel innovation. Rather, many organizations now consider these tools to be an essential component in their overall business model. And, it is true across a wide range of industries, from retailers to financial service providers.
What is eSignature?
An eSignature, also known as an ‘electronic signature’ or ‘digital signature’, allows a user to affix his or her signature to a digital document. eSignature platforms offer the convenience and simplicity of completing verification and validation processes without the consumer having to move a muscle.
Trends Boosting eSignature in the Insurance Industry
- Cost-Effectiveness
At times, operational costs such as the cost of office supplies, prints, etc. may seem negligible, but these costs can quickly accumulate to become a behemoth in themselves. And, in a document-driven industry where customer information is key through-out, operational cost such as procurement of paper as well as CAPEX such as investing in a storage space becomes an expense too colossal.
Adoption of eSignature reduces the overall infrastructure cost drastically by replacing the physical infrastructure with a digital one. The cost of procuring IT infrastructures such as databases, servers, and OS is negligible compared to renting or buying physical office space. Most of the common operational and admin expenses such as the cost of paper and office supplies are thereby reduced or completely eliminated.
- Workforce Productivity
eSignature implementation also reduces the overall resources needed to complete the on-boarding i.e. reduction in the number of resources on-foot, the verification team, etc. Since, insurance companies have a large footprint in urban as well as rural areas, reduction of resources on-foot could help them save millions. These resources can be further utilized for boosting more sales, generating more productivity and revenue.
Also, the digital process helps enhance overall efficiency. Reduction in resources means a reduction in the manual intervention. This leads to an increase in the overall accuracy with a reduction in manual errors such as documents lost or misplaced.
- Customer Experience
The emergence of smart devices has paved the way for an omnichannel customer experience. Customers today want a curated, efficient, and convenient experience that feels tailor-made. Customers are ready to pay more for convenience. Comfort and mobile-friendly are some of the key parameters of decision-making amongst customers. The insurance industry loses almost 20% of its customers due to the need for customer’s physical presence, lengthy paper-work, and the time consumed.
Most of the customers complain about a time mismatch between the appointment of the representative and their schedule. Either the customer has to take a day-off at work for the physical verification, or the customer goes to the office, and it becomes a lost opportunity for the representative as the house bell goes unanswered. This leads to more time in process closures.
eSignature solves it all. Customers can complete the entire onboarding process anywhere and anytime. Be it their office or home, the process can be carried out on their devices within a matter of minutes without having to physically visit a branch or meet a representative. This process of digitization leads to faster conversions and respective returns and also leads to an increase in the overall reviews (NPS) due to an increase in happy customers.
- Easier Development and Integration
When it comes to IT, most of the companies work with the same rule, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” This is due to the resistance in adopting innovative technologies, finding skilled resources for development, or being skeptical about the ROI of such implementations.
But now times have changed, and so has IT. With an optimized frame-works, micro-services architecture, low-code development, the DevOps has improved substantially. eSignature is one such solution that is easier to integrate with one’s existing IT infrastructure. The average gestation for an esignature implementation is just about 3-5 months. Additionally, if the insurance provide partners with a Managed Services Provider which specializes in digital transformation, it can help achieve the desired result faster and with better expertise, accuracy, and resources.
- Enhanced Security Capabilities
There has been an increased emphasis on consistent document tracking and storage procedures, especially for the purpose of leaving a clear audit trail in the event of a dispute or data breach. Organizations that use eSignature will find it easier to comply with such norms. It will help in easy auditing due to digital access to signed files. Document and data theft will also reduce due to authorized and monitored access to such documents.
To summarize, the usefulness of eSignature platforms continue to expand at a breath-taking pace. With an extensive experience of serving the Insurance industry for more than 25 years, at Clover Infotech, we help insurance providers with a digital transformation strategy with optimum utilization of the budget in order to enhance their customer experience, digitize processes, and scale their business to achieve better ROI.
