At the same time, consumers expect an increasingly professional, individual approach in return for giving up their privacy on the worldwide web. Anyone who has taken out a new car loan does not want to receive advertising from the bank for cheap car loans or motor show tickets. Customers also expect added value from their bank or insurance broker. This is because they can find basic information on the internet for themselves.
The rapid changes in technology and the internet, as well as the ever increasing consumer power, have forced banks and insurers to move from being product-led to being customer-centric.
From web-click to web experience: the customer comes first.
How do you, as a bank or insurer, become 'customer-centric'?
Until about 15 years ago, email and telephone were the main touchpoints between customer and supplier, and the supplier was the only one that could obtain information about products. Now potential customers do the majority of the work themselves before making a purchase: customers know everything about the product of their choice via websites, blogs and internet forums before they contact a potential supplier. In other words, the first touchpoint between supplier and customer is now the first web-click of these customers. It is therefore very important that your customers have the correct web experience from the first click, so that they don't surf to the next supplier straightaway. Other, rarer contacts who are yet to embrace the digital world must also receive the perfect experience if you don't want to lose customers instantly.
That's why a 360-degree view is of great importance – a bank will map all of its customers' key moments and offer a bespoke product that aligns with the customer journey and fits the time and point in life in which your customer finds themselves.
The 360-degree customer view is a prerequisite for companies to be successful today and in the future. The sooner a supplier is visible during the customer journey, the greater the chance of successful contact. A strong CRM tool helps you to get to know your (potential) customers better than they know themselves and to offer them a tailored response.
This may sound easy, but is actually rather difficult, particularly in the insurance sector where customers, brokers and insurance companies all have to work together. It requires integrated databases, technological expertise concerning geolocalization and the Internet of Things, for instance, as well as legal knowledge of compliance rules, security and privacy, where MiFID II and Twin Peaks II are still fresh in the mind.
An example from the banking sector: your customer pays their bill in a restaurant using VISA and the balance of their account is insufficient. At that moment, the bank receives an alert and sends the customer a text message to transfer funds into their account from their savings. The perfect event-based solution in a one-to-one communication.
Other examples for the insurance sector are apps that link driving behavior to motor insurance premiums, and sensors on windows and doors that ensure fire and theft prevention (a 'connected home').
With the right CRM tool you can take your business to the next level
A simple CRM tool is no longer enough for financial companies to be future-proof. One of the tendencies in the insurance world is the direct contact between the insurance company and the end customer. CRM for the financial world must therefore offer more than portfolio and contact management. Policies must be able to be managed, policy and claims balances calculated, regional campaigns established, and much more besides.
Travi@ta for Insurance Carriers is the CRM tool par excellence for putting the customer at the heart of your business. It supports the channel from broker/insurance company to end customer, as well as the broker-insurer combination. Originally developed as a solution to monitor vendors at insurance companies, it is now a complete tool that, apart from sales monitoring, also has a marketing aspect in order to prepare campaigns and business plans for brokers, and updates all customer data centrally to build a 360-degree view of every customer.
The single views we now receive about customers and brokers are fantastic. Thanks to Travi@ta for Insurance Carriers, our customers can recognize trends in the market quicker, plan and work together more efficiently, and react fast to challenges." Jorge Xavier, myPartner, partner for Portugal and Mozambique
Trends in CRM
What trends do we see in the CRM market? Mobile CRM tops the list; everyone wants an application they can use wherever and whenever they like. Another nice example from the financial sector: e-banking has resulted in a large degree of self-service. Customers manage their accounts and cash flows themselves via tablet or smartphone. It therefore makes sense that when visiting the bank branch, they also expect to view and use the same screen together with their banking adviser, next to each other at the same table.
The same question concerning self-service is permeating the insurance world. Even policyholders are asking to manage their policies themselves on their insurance company's or broker's secure platform.
This mobility stimulates the omnichannel trend. Today, more and more communication channels are becoming available: Twitter, blogs, Facebook. But the 'old' channels, such as fax and telephone, are also still going strong – for now, at least. This makes the structuring of data and solutions highly complex. Customers always want to receive the same answer, irrespective of the channel they use to ask their question. At the same time, they want the answer to be available at any time of day: in the morning, short and to the point on their smartphone; or in the evening, a more thorough explanation with more time to read it on their PC. CRM must therefore be the main link and a tool where you can offer a tailor-made answer on any channel, at any time.
Furthermore, the technology to support CRM in this regard is becoming more and more powerful. The launch of machine learning by Microsoft is a valuable addition to the 360-degree view offered by Single View Builder. Electronic communication from customers and contacts is automatically scanned for sender and content, allowing the message to be sorted into the right folder and reach the right person automatically. What's more, the content of the email or letter permits the customer's 360-degree view to be further refined.
Another major trend is the cloud. An increasing number of applications work in the cloud, which means that the timeframe between searching for and purchasing a solution has become shorter and the purchase is increasingly made outside the company's IT department. The sales department chooses its own CRM solution today and implements it tomorrow via the cloud, ready for use.
Finally, in connection with the cloud, we are seeing an extremely important trend, namely the platform approach. Inspired by collaboration and essential in the fight against the disruptive fintechs, Microsoft offers, by way of example, the Dynamics 365 platform – a stable platform that combines analysis (Power BI), machine learning (Cortana Intelligence) and the Internet of Things (Azure IoT) to form a powerful CRM tool which is also open to third-party apps. Travi@ta is ready for Dynamics 365 and the future of CRM!
Continue reading in the Financial Services Edition of SimplICiTy magazine (p.12).
If you want more information on Traviata CRM for Insurance, contact our expert Olaf Hoppenbrouwers, Product Manager, at olaf.hoppenbrouwers@realdolmen.com or visit the Traviata website.