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Home > Blogs > ECARNEY's blog > Why The Future Of Insurance Will Be Mobile And What Will It Mean For Insurance Business Models
Why The Future Of Insurance Will Be Mobile
And What Will It Mean For Insurance Business
Models [1]
Contributed by Ellen Carney on Sun, 09/30/2012 - 10:25
Anybody out there who doesn't have a mobile device, raise your hand...just what I thought.
The explosion of mobile phones and apps in the everyday lives of consumers--and agents--is
powering big changes in the business of insurance. Heightened customer expectations are getting
formed by the changing mobile landscape; new generations of customers; new competitors, and the
ferocious pace of mobile tech-enabled innovation that is radically reshaping how customers become
informed, purchase, and get service.
In our new report [2], the first of Forrester's Mobile Insurance Playbook, we examine how mobile
forces are driving customer expectations and how customer demands are going to influence new
insurance business models.
Consider that:
Consumers are living La Vida Mobile. Mobile is a pervasive element in the daily lives of
insurance customers. With more mobile devices available within easy reach, US consumers
are tapping into this ready convenience to research, buy, and service their financial needs,
including insurance. And how about those Millennial insurance customers? More than one in
four told us that they use mobile as their main personal financial channel.
Agents are becoming proficient mobile tool users. The tablet form factor looks almost
purpose-built for the needs of agents. From their hi-def displays to fast boot-up and super
portability, agents are ardent tablet-ers, and half the agents in an informal survey at the end of
last year cited mobile as one of their leading business initiatives.
These forces, along with others, are pressuring insurance digital teams to leverage mobile’s power
to deliver the right information at the right time and in the right customer experience. And the role
that mobile is playing is putting mobile on the agenda of insurance boards. How can digital
insurance teams make sure that those mobile investments pay off by delivering a business impact?
By making mobile apps:
Simple. Mobile apps are getting easier to use. In 2012, it's just plain nonsense to think that
users should be hunched over tiny mobile keyboards typing in data. Smart insurers are
turning to capabilities like photo image capture as in Progressive's quoting, claiming, and bill
pay "take a picture" options; voice control like in American Family's DreamVault home
contents inventory app; and the "bump" feature that Geico's Connect app offers that enables
drivers other than the named insured(s) on the policy, to download and share their digital ID
cards.
Ubiquitous.Mobile apps means that insurers can be by their customers' sides whenever
needed or wanted. Along with expected bill pay and FNOL functions, smart digital insurers
are building apps that fill other needs for consumers. Esurance's mobile app has "feed a
craving" functionality that lets users find anything from coffee to cupcakes. It points out my
favorite cupcake joint, Eat Cake--my reward for a hard day of analyst toil--but I am overly
familiar with their location, so I really don't need Esurance's help finding it, but it will help me if

2. I need a cupcake fix when I'm on the road.
Personal. Mobile apps capture my information to create a personal experiences. While
researching this report, I got introduced to a lot of cool mobile apps that used my personal
information to do good--like pointing out my excellent cornering and how I interpret posted
speed limits--in a new way. Two that caught my attention (and you'll hear more about this in
upcoming blog) are BRIGHTdriver and DriveScribe, with each taking a different angle on the
experience: BRIGHTdriver's game approach versus DriveScribe's shriller utility approach.
Empowering.Mobile apps also have to put needed information into the hands of consumers,
and that can be anything from finding an agent as evidenced in Texas Farm Bureau's
excellent agent locator to CastLight Health's health care cost transparency mobile app (and
unfortunately, it has to be offered through an employer) that let's consumers see how their
medical providers were rated by other consumers as well as their price for the procedure (See
screen shot below). Both mean that consumers can find the right provider at the right price for
them.
Reassuring. Mobile apps act as safety nets for users, letting them summon everything from
tow trucks to vehicle recalls. Security First, a Florida home insurer, grabbed our attention with
their Storm Center functionality, offering a variety of hurricane tools from check lists, open Red
Cross shelters, and the location of their Mobile Recovery units (See screeen shot below).
Aviva UK Health offers a mobile My Stress Kit app that could help me better manage my
stress so I don't speed and eat too many cupcakes.
Through these SUPER capabilities, mobile has changed the way that customers envision an
insurance company: We can now hold it in the palm of our hand and our entire relationship with an
insurance company — from quotation through to claim — could take place through this single
device. That means that mobile will be the catalyst for insurance transformations that will ripple
beyond just how customer interactions are changing. The impact of mobile will be felt across the
insurance industry and ecosystem. Products, payments, distribution, underwriting, operations, and
even what constitutes intellectual property will look very different, from the "lights-out" insurer
(meaning a different focus for agents) to the new lease on life that mobile will offer for usage-based
insurance.
So how do you think the business of insurance will be influenced by mobile through the end
of the end of the decade? Tell us and tell us what you think of our take on the future [2].
[3]

3. 736Recommend this post [4]
Related Forrester Research
Augmented Reality: Emerging Tools To Explore [5]
eBusiness: The Future Of Mobile Is User Context [6]
Mobile Is The New Face Of Engagement [7]
2012 Mobile Trends For eBusiness Professionals [8]
Document 72223 not found [9]
Document 75582 not found [10]
Categories:
Agents [11] Customer Experience [12] Distribution [13] Health Insurance [14] Insurance [15]
Mobile strategy [16] Next generation digital financial services [17] business outcomes [18] digital
[19] eBusiness [20] eBusiness Strategy [21] eHealth [22] mobile [23]
» See more posts by Ellen Carney [24]
» See more posts for eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals [25]
Source URL: http://blogs.forrester.com/node/8294

4. Links:
[1] http://blogs.forrester.com/node/8294
[2] http://www.forrester.com/search?
N=10003&range=504001&tmtxt=Wannemacher&access=1#/The+Future+Of+Insurance+Is+Mobile/quickscan/-
/E-RES75541
[3] http://blogs.forrester.com/f/b/users/ECARNEY/castlight_health.jpg
[4] http://blogs.forrester.com/plus1/vote/8294?token=83fbe6e29548f64c36e197d88ebd5b1c
[5] http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=59791&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-Blogs-_-Related Research-_-8294
[6] http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60081&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-Blogs-_-Related Research-_-8294
[7] http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=60544&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-Blogs-_-Related Research-_-8294
[8] http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=61475&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-Blogs-_-Related Research-_-8294
[9] http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=72223&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-Blogs-_-Related Research-_-8294
[10] http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=75582&cm_mmc=Forrester-_-Blogs-_-Related Research-_-8294
[11] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/agents
[12] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/customer_experience
[13] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/distribution
[14] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/health_insurance
[15] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/insurance
[16] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/mobile_strategy
[17] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/next_generation_digital_financial_services
[18] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/business_outcomes
[19] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/digital
[20] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/ebusiness
[21] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/ebusiness_strategy
[22] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/ehealth
[23] http://blogs.forrester.com/category/mobile
[24] http://blogs.forrester.com/ellen_carney
[25] http://blogs.forrester.com/ebusiness_strategy