Ron
Berg: I found an article about DocuPAD via
a LinkedIn posting by a colleague. It’s a wireless, small, flat, TV-sized
(26-36 inches) hybrid between a tablet and a TV that encapsulates software,
authentication, signatures, security and the closing protocol required within
the quoting and purchase process at car dealerships. It allows immediate access
to add-ons and pricing. It can scan proof of insurance and driver’s licenses;
it allows signing for credit, signing for purchase, choosing paper or e-mail,
etc. It saves a ton of time and provides good recordkeeping. It made me wonder
why we don’t have this as the primary producer desktop? It lies flat on the
salesman’s desk and swivels to face the customer as needed.
Rick
Morgan: Yes, that’s probably OK for
some agencies, but unlike buying a car that typically requires visiting the
dealership, that is not the case with insurance purchases. That is, instead of
the consumer coming to the agency, the agent is more likely to visit the
client—especially with commercial insurance. Yet, Ron, I get your point. We
need to be paying close attention to ways in which we can improve the customer
experience. The service expectations of today’s customer have changed, and we
have to adapt. We are still struggling with things that should already have
been done—different payment methodologies, policy access, e-signature. These
should be no-brainers, done and put away already. We shouldn’t still be talking
about them. Along with regulation, our infrastructure is part of the problem.
For instance, when the cellphone came on the scene, it saw more rapid uptake in
Europe and the developing countries than in the U.S., partly because our
existing communications infrastructure was so much more developed and
entrenched. We in the insurance industry have an infrastructure that just is no
longer working for us. We have a huge opportunity to move forward, to provide
agents the capability to offer a robust, satisfying, effective customer experience.
Berg: In terms of mobility, we have tablets, but they don’t
encapsulate the entire functional process front to back that an agent can use
to quote and sell on the spot.
Morgan: When we moved from paper forms/applications to an
automated process, we simply took a paper process and made it digital. We
didn’t rethink the process. We have the opportunity with mobile, cloud, and big
data to rethink the process! Let’s
not take a current process and just integrate technology; let’s reinvent the
process. If we think our industry is insulated because it is too complicated
for some of the mega organizations like Amazon to get into, that’s a really
scary position to take.
Berg: Right. We’ve focused on the very near term. Why
should we not leapfrog and get ahead on this? We’re not wrapping our heads
around future scenarios like we should. We are focusing on what is right in
front of us. I cited DocuPAD as a model not because the system itself is ideal
but because it can serve as a model for our industry to create that kind of
customer experience.
Morgan: The ACT Customer Experience Work Group is looking at issues related to this. We are digging
into the six stages of the customer’s journey. So the question for our independent agencies is:
What are we doing to create the DocuPAD experience—not duplicate the
technology, but replicate the experience—for our customers? The digital world
is changing expectations for all of us, and we’ve got to be there or we won’t
survive.
Keep your eyes open for Part II of Ron and Rick’s conversation in the
September issue of ACT News that looks at changes in society and our
responsiveness.