Transforming the insurance contact center customer experience

The need for change

More than 55% of insurance customers say they use the contact center channel to communicate with their carrier. But other factors are forcing insurers to reexamine their role:

Channels are evolving rapidly; customers want more info delivered across more channels

The customer experience is increasingly important in building trust, but current interactions might do more harm than good

Insurers are trying to use innovative technology within the confines of their existing IT systems and regulatory constraints

Five key steps for insurers when evaluating and planning a contact center

5

Determine and clarify contact center strategy

Define how success will be measured across four categories

Determine how requests/inquiries will be handled—by customer segment or interaction type

1 Define where the contact center fits within the overall

strategy; transaction-based, agent support, cross-sell, etc.

Identify the optimal customer experience for each

customer segment

Identify what business rules are needed to determine priorities, special handling and routing to specialized teams

Consider customer expectations for each interaction

Operational Efficiency

Financial Performance

CustomerFeedback

EmployeeEngagement

Define and design a “digitally blurred” experience

Sharing of transaction capabilities, customer data, communication and workflow management across all channels

No re-keying of information; once entered it is available across the entire network

Provide all data—contact history, accounts,etc.—to contact center staff so they cananticipate customer needs and act quickly

2 Single channel experiences are obsolete and customers cannot be “owned” based on their channel selection

A customer experience that reflects the new omni-channel reality must be enabled:

Integrate innovative technologies within strategic vision

3 Telephony for intelligent routing and self-service

The target state for contact center technology is an integrated, all-encompassing design that provides agents, customers and contact center representatives with needed knowledge in real time. To accomplish this, carriers face challengesimplementing the various technologies needed, including:

Correspondence, document, and communication management

Automated, rules-driven management of work items

Call interaction recording and analytics for both voice and screen

Core CRM applications for customer-facing representatives

Omni-channel customer feedback and customer insight analysis

Knowledge management tools driving quality and speed

Computer-based workforce training

These technologies require orchestration, integration and alignment with business strategy

Digital technology is also consolidating what were once front-and back-office functions

Leverage technology to improve performance

While selecting and

integrating the best

technologies is critical, it is

equally important to

leverage these

technologies with defined

performance goals

Better workflow management

4 Technology improvements fuel better outcomes and effectiveness, but the architecture has to beextensively defined so changes can be implemented quickly

When these elements are in place, it becomes easier to get the right decisions to the right people, to automate more processes, and to align the operational metrics needed to evaluate these improvements

Sales conversion rates

Higher percentage offirst-call resolutions

Increase workforce engagement

• Establishing new key performance indicators (KPIs) for contact center performance, as well as new approaches to coaching, recognition and incentives

• Improving training and content

• Reviewing recruiting criteria employing analytics to identify desirable candidates—as well as the approaches to selection, interviewing and background checks

• Developing new career paths and exploring other ways to increase employee engagement

• Once established, insurers must collect feedback and make continual improvements

5 The human element is a key challenge confronting insurers as they develop a strategic approach to contact centers.

As carriers migrate routine requests to automated or self-service options, the percentage of “tough calls” will increase, and so will the need for suitably trained, empathetic and experienced people

Modernizing how the workforce is recruited, trained and motivated encompasses:

Summary

Re-thinking and re-working contact centers to create the “contact center of the future” can help insurers increase sales,reduce their costs to serve, and enhance customer relationships

By taking a strategic and integrated approach to contact center optimization, insurers can use innovative technologies to achieve desired ends

RE-THINK. RE-WORK.

In an increasingly crowded competitive environment, creatingthe best possible customer experience may be one of the best strategic options for insurers

Download the full report

https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-transformation-

insurance-contact-center