Caspar Herzberg |
This article was originally published in the Summer 2018 issue of The Record.
Expanding markets, new sectors and revolutionary distribution models are fuelling growth in the insurance industry. However, entering a new sector or market, launching a new product or enabling tailor-made services with custom underwriting and pricing is usually beyond the reach of existing IT systems.
Studies show the insurance industry globally has been a laggard in digital transformation as pressured margins push for cost reorganisation policies that hinder investment in systems modernisation. It is a recurrent problem: legacy systems yield high maintenance costs, directly affecting operational expenses while cumbersome technology obstructs business transformation requirements.
Embracing cloud is the only way to achieve success via digital transformation and it is a huge opportunity for mid-sized insurance organisations to capitalise on their agility and outgrow competition. The first step is to streamline internal operations. Organisations implementing a new core insurance solution like Navins, a certified for Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution from Diastasys, have been able to replace systems that hinder their growth with a cloud solution that will evolve to their future needs. Implementing Navins on Microsoft Azure also has excellent time-to-market ability and requires minimum investment due to its cash-flow friendly subscription model, which often proves comparable with existing maintenance investment.
Modernising internal organisation based on highly available and scalable Microsoft Azure infrastructure also frees resources, so the company can focus on strategies to broaden the customer base and build loyalty. Dynamics 365 empowers mid-sized insurance carriers to execute their growth plans supporting advanced social and multichannel capabilities embedded in sales, marketing and customer service functions including crucial core insurance information derived from Navins integration.
Accumulating correct and interrelated data from both a core insurance system and CRM allows the business to leverage Power BI to analyse its position and measure success. Nowadays, mid-market insurance providers have easy access to technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and the internet of things that were once out-of-budget even for larger organisations. Microsoft, provides a sure path for transforming insurance applications from underwriting to risk management, fraud detection and customer service automation.
Success in insurance has always been about selling policies, establishing effective claim operations, managing risk and excelling in customer satisfaction. The good news nowadays is the cost efficiency and availability of advanced technology tools that can enable success.
Dionisis Poulis is business development director at Diastasys