Many insurers are under pressure to do more with less: reduce and transform their operations to reduce costs, while expediting time to market (TTM) and becoming more proficient in the wake of rising competition, greater demands from consumers, and the need to ensure compliance within a rapidly changing regulatory landscape. The insurance domain becomes even more complex as the digital landscape becomes more and more scattered. Unfortunately, today’s legacy hardware, software, and ineffective processes can hinder any attempt to streamline operations. One of the best moves to make is to clear a lane that fulfills the benefits and capabilities of the cloud.
In Brief
- The current digital landscape is prompting insurers to adopt more cloud services.Â
- Innovation, time to market, savings, and the ability to adapt are all common objectives of today’s insurers.Â
- Cloud initiatives are becoming more of a priority for those in the insurance industry.
Growing Demands Driving Cloud Adoption in Insurance
Cloud capabilities can amplify the experience of insurance customers and partners. While most of today’s insurers have the ability to conduct their business remotely, they must withstand the challenge of acquisitions and engagements. Insurance providers have been tentatively adopting cloud services and cloud technology as some of their concerns and worries have been lightened. More insurers are realizing the advantages of improved operational agility and lower costs of ownership. These capabilities of the cloud have led to more insurers adopting the cloud as a major component of their digital strategy.
Said James Sanford, Founder of Teamspring (https://www.teamspring.us), ”We have been seeing a drastic increase in our Insurance industry customers migrating their business to the cloud and away from the traditional office. In the traditional office, team members were leveraging fax, shared folders on an on-premise server, and insecure email to manage their clients. With the embracement of technology, the underwriters themselves have provided ample resources for the insurance agents to manage policies, claims, and write additional business. In addition, the insurance agencies are now leveraging encrypted email to communicate sensitive information, shared secure cloud storage for documents, and cloud-based platforms provided by the underwriters. By leveraging these technologies, the agencies are all taking a much greater step towards being HIPAA compliant.”
Big Data Analytics
Big data enables insurers to identify their customers’ unique needs. With an unlimited number of data points, the possibilities are massive. The cloud’s capacity and data processing power are essential to delivering empowering experiences.Â
Said Nick Martin, Director of Managed Services at Mainstreet IT Solutions, ”The enhancements in cloud technology have brought the power of analytics and risk modeling to insurance companies with ease. For insurance companies, it is about understanding risk and engaging with their customers and that leads to a more profitable business and a better customer experience. In today’s world, digital transformation is a term that companies need to adopt as a mantra for growth.”
Still, given the number of unique business circumstances, such as compliance regulations and data security, insurers must be discerning when selecting cloud services.Â
Data Security Is Still a Concern
Data security risk is one of the more common concerns for insurers adopting cloud services. There is a growing recognition by insurers that they must move to the cloud in a controlled and secure manner.Â
Said Anthony Buonaspina, CEO and Founder of LI Tech Advisors, ”Technology for the insurance industry in 2022 and beyond will need to become more secure than it currently is and more resistant to more frequent and increased sophistication of cyber-attacks. Technology for the insurance industry will become more and more dependent upon cloud computing and secure remote access to vital information. However, as the insurance industry becomes more dependent upon cloud and remote computing, this technology will become a target for hackers and bad actors, especially with the vast amount of sensitive data that an insurance provider has access to”.
To meet their key objectives and make the most of their cloud services, insurers must withstand a few roadblocks, like data security and internal/external challenges. Insurers are often concerned that their data could be stolen by hackers, mixed up with data from other insurers that are using the same cloud services, or released after a human error. ”The tight compliance restrictions of technology in the insurance sector allow only the best and most vetted cloud vendors to infiltrate”, said Joe Cannata of Techsperts, LLC.
Insurance Cloud Services Are Essential to the Insurance Industry
With cloud adoption, insurance companies are enabled with a wide range of different cloud solutions and applications that have been designed to optimize a variety of processes.Â
”Systems such as Microsoft 365 and RingCentral work well and are becoming widely adopted across the industry. Microsoft 365 provides the basics such as communication, collaboration, and file sharing. RingCentral brings the phone system and team collaboration into the 21st century with 100% cloud-based communications, allowing all employees to detach from one physical office location. The combination of these two providers allows many businesses to fully embrace the work from anywhere model”, said Cannata.
”With Microsoft’s Azure Virtual Desktops, employees in the insurance industry no longer need to be tethered to the office. M365 virtual desktop users enjoy the freedom of BYOD (bring your own device) while gaining anytime/anywhere access to their familiar Windows Desktop. Azure and M365 allow everyone from claims adjusters to customer service representatives the freedom to work and collaborate from anywhere they have internet access”, said Craig Beam, President of MicroXpress.Â
The more people stay at home, the more time they spend interfacing with technology platforms. Said Martin, ”Cloud services through Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud bring scalability for insurance companies to allow each employee access to valuable data that would otherwise cost a fortune for any company to invest in. With the emergence of work-from-home environments, cloud computing brings the power of enterprise capabilities into every home while maintaining operational stability and security.”
As more insurers adopt cloud services, they must drive cultural change, ensure data security, and increase their overall expertise as they attempt to maximize their return on investment (ROI) and transform their business operations.
