One year ago, as insurers looked toward the start of a new decade, the industry was beginning to hit its digital stride. Long seen as technological laggards, insurers ramped up their investments in innovation, recognizing that failing to do so would place them on the wrong side of a paradigm shift in the industry. As companies became more technologically savvy, they bade farewell to 2019 less worried than they were in 2018 about the speed of technological change, shifts in consumer behavior and competition from new market players, a PwC survey found. Executive SummaryInsurers shouldn’t go digital simply for the sake of going digital, writes Tal Daskal, CEO of no-code tech provider EasySend, explaining that a poorly executed digital strategy can backfire, eroding the loyalty of customers who experience problems with digital engagements. Here, Daskal provides a how-to list for insurers that choose no-code or low-code technology, noting that other ingredients for success are digital cultures that focus on customers and breaking down silos.
Within months, the world was upended by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which further catalyzed the industry’s digital transformation. As life and commerce shifted online in the early months of 2020, insurers doubled down on digitization to ensure business continuity while increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and creating new products and services tailored to consumers’ evolving expectations.
Embarking on digital transformation is a critical first step—but insurers shouldn’t go digital simply for the sake of going digital. A poorly executed digital strategy can backfire spectacularly, with Bain & Company research finding that customers who face problems in their digital engagements with an insurer generally give their insurer lower loyalty scores.