In the digital age, industries are transforming their traditional operations to keep up with evolving customer expectations. The insurance industry, traditionally known for its paper-based processes and complex procedures, is now embracing digital transformation to enhance the customer experience. By digitizing the insurance customer experience, insurers can streamline operations, improve efficiency, and provide a more personalized and convenient service. This essay explores the numerous benefits that arise from digitizing the insurance customer experience.
Enhanced Accessibility: Digitization brings insurance services closer to customers than ever before. By leveraging digital platforms, insurers can offer self-service options that enable customers to access policies, submit claims, and manage their accounts conveniently. With 24/7 accessibility through websites and mobile apps, customers can obtain information, request assistance, and make transactions at their own convenience, eliminating the need for time-consuming physical visits or phone calls. This enhanced accessibility provides customers with greater control over their insurance needs, leading to improved satisfaction and loyalty.
Streamlined Processes: Digital transformation allows insurers to streamline their processes, reducing paperwork and manual tasks. Online forms, electronic signatures, and automated underwriting processes eliminate the need for physical paperwork, making the application and policy issuance procedures faster and more efficient. Additionally, digitized claims management systems reduce the time and effort required for claims processing, leading to quicker resolutions for customers. Streamlining processes through digitization enhances operational efficiency, reduces administrative costs, and enables insurers to focus on delivering better customer service.
Personalization and Targeted Offerings: Digitization enables insurers to gather and analyze vast amounts of customer data, facilitating personalized insurance offerings. By leveraging data analytics and artificial intelligence, insurers can gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and risk profiles. This information empowers insurers to tailor insurance products and services to meet specific customer needs, leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased cross-selling or upselling opportunities. Furthermore, personalized digital communication and real-time notifications enable insurers to engage with customers proactively, providing relevant information and assistance when it matters most.
Efficient Customer Support: Digitization offers new channels for customer support, making it easier for insurers to engage with their policyholders. Online chatbots, virtual assistants, and AI-powered customer service tools enable insurers to provide instant and accurate responses to customer inquiries, guiding them through various processes and addressing their concerns promptly. This efficient customer support helps improve customer satisfaction and loyalty by ensuring a seamless and hassle-free experience.
Improved Risk Management: Digitization plays a vital role in improving risk management for insurers and policyholders alike. By leveraging technologies such as telematics, IoT devices, and data analytics, insurers can gather real-time information on risks, enabling them to develop more accurate underwriting models. This data-driven approach allows insurers to offer customized coverage, more accurately assess premiums, and reward customers for low-risk behavior. Moreover, digitization facilitates proactive risk mitigation through predictive modeling, helping policyholders take preventive measures and reduce potential losses.
The digitization of the insurance customer experience offers numerous benefits to insurers and policyholders alike. By embracing digital transformation, insurers can enhance accessibility, streamline processes, personalize offerings, provide efficient customer support, and improve risk management. As customers increasingly expect seamless digital experiences, insurers that invest in digitization will gain a competitive advantage by delivering superior service, fostering customer loyalty, and adapting to the changing demands of the modern insurance landscape. Ultimately, digitization opens up new possibilities for insurers to better meet customer expectations and build strong, lasting relationships in the digital era.
There are a number of excellent benefits that your business can get out of building a mobile application for its needs; whether that be for internal communication, marketing to new clients, or communicating with existing ones.
The objective that the mobile app you are building is meant to fulfill will have a major impact on the type of app you are developing; particularly with reference to its architecture.
In such a situation you have a choice.
You can either build a standalone native app that must be downloaded from an app store and take advantage of the features of a user’s device; or you can opt to build a simpler, more cost-effective and less resource-intensive progressive web app.
In this article, we will explore the differences, benefits and drawbacks of each of these.
This should give you a better idea of which framework would best meet the objectives of your business, no matter what reason you are developing an app for.
Native Apps
Native apps make use of a specific codebase and are developed to be compatible with certain devices that use that framework.
For instance, if a native app needs to be released for both Android and iOS systems, the app will need to be developed for each of those frameworks separately.
This allows the app to take advantage of the hardware and features of that specific device, and also enables it to stand alone as a functional application.
This gives them a number of unique advantages over web apps, but also means that they require specific skill sets to develop, and as such, generally come at a much higher cost than the other two.
Still, if you need to develop an app that is fast, highly functional and complicated, the native approach is generally the best bet thanks to the way they excel in terms of intuitiveness and functionality.
Benefits
From the above description, a few of the top benefits of native apps should start to show themselves.
Let’s take a look at some of the top advantages of choosing native development. These include superior performance, app store support, an enhanced user experience, the ability to use features on the device using the app, as well as higher levels of trust between potential users.
Best Performance
Out of the three approaches mentioned in this article, native apps provide some of the best levels of performance. These builds are generally more stable, reliable and efficient in the way that they use device resources.
This, in turn, creates a more pleasant experience for users but also provides the only viable option for particularly complicated or functional apps.
App Store Support & Discoverability
Because native apps are generally only downloaded from recognised app stores, they are also given more comprehensive support from platforms like the Google Play and iOS App Store.
On top of this, having a presence in these app stores also makes native mobile apps more discoverable than other types, which means that there is a much higher chance of users finding and using it, as opposed to other types that are not hosted on stores, and therefore may need additional marketing to get them into the hands of your potential users.
Smooth & Intuitive User Experience
Because native apps are built using compatible code for specific devices, they are built within a framework that accentuates best-practice guidelines for that specific device.
This means that navigation, usability and functionality all come with a sense of recognisability for users, who will find using the app an intuitive and natural experience without much of a learning curve.
By allowing for a framework that is familiar to your users, these types of apps make them more accessible to users, regardless of the devices they were developed for.
Make Use of Device Features
One of the top advantages to native mobile apps is that in being built with code that is compatible with specific devices, these types of apps are able to make use of the features and hardware on that specific device.
Consider the way Google Maps uses your location through GPS, how Apple Music can send you a notification when your favorite artist releases a new album, or how Instagram can make use of your phone’s camera and apply filters to it.
All of these are examples of how native apps use the functions of a device to provide a unique and seamless experience for users.
App Store Approval Raises Trust
As media consumers, we are all quite a picky lot. If we smell a rat, we are likely to keep our distance. Having native apps listed in the various app stores requires them to first be approved by the stores themselves.
This means that by simply being listed, there is an added layer of trust between the app and its potential users, which means a greater chance of users confidently downloading it.
Drawbacks of Native Apps
Of course, if native apps were just a list of benefits there would be no need for web-based ones. So, let’s have a look at a few of the disadvantages of building native apps.
Requires Experienced Developers
Because each platform that a native app is being developed for differs completely in their coding and frameworks, native apps need to be developed separately for each operating system it is released on.
This means that different developers will need to be used for each platform since each will specialise in a specific coding language.
Even when finding a developer that works across a few Operating Systems (such as Android and iOS), the app will still need to be built independently for each different OS, which can raise the price and time of development substantially.
Higher Cost of Development
Because of the reason mentioned above, and also because of the specialised skill set needed to develop native apps in various forms, these types of apps come at an extra cost to other types.
But when you consider their added functionality and superior performance, this extra cost is worthwhile for apps that need to take advantage of native development.
Not Ideal for Simple Apps
Because of the monetary and time costs of developing native apps, and because they work within a complicated framework of specific coding languages, they are not ideally used for simple apps with limited functionality.
While they can be used for more simplistic apps, the approach isn’t always practical, especially when web apps can facilitate them at less of a cost, and with less time in development.
Web Apps
Now let’s move to an approach on the opposite end of the spectrum, progressive web apps.
These types of apps take a much more general and simplistic approach to development, albeit one that offers far less functionality.
Still, cost-effectiveness and relative ease of development makes web apps ideal for simpler apps.
Web apps are generally used in browsers like Opera or Google Chrome. This is because they are developed using coding languages similarly used for websites like C++ and HTML.
Because of this, web apps only need to be built once. Since web architecture can be used seamlessly across multiple devices, it can be employed to be used on console, PC, Android and iOS all at once; as long as the device using it accesses the app through a browser.
In this way, the app itself is stored on a server rather than a device, from where it is accessed by users when they open the app through a browser. When changes occur on the web app, there is no need to push updates to users’ devices, since the changes will automatically be applied when they access the web app.
It does this, however, while sacrificing on the added functionality of native apps.
Benefits
The fact that they are somewhat simplified doesn’t make web apps worse than native ones. Just different. There are still a number of advantages that they can bring when used in specific situations:
Easy to Use Across Device Types
Because they are developed within a web framework, the same web app can be accessed, as is, across multiple devices, regardless of the operating systems they use.
This means two things: firstly, it means that the app only needs to be developed once, and secondly, it will be able to reach a wider perspective audience.
Less Costly to Develop
Because they are built for the web, these types of apps don’t require as specialized (and rare) a skill as native apps do.
They also only need to be developed for one platform that can be used across devices.
This results in remarkably lower development costs and times when compared to native apps.
No Need for Marketplace Approval
Since these apps behave similarly to websites, they are hosted in the same way as well.
This means that they don’t have to go through the sometimes-lengthy approval process that native mobile apps have to face. This is as true for hosting as it is for when the app needs to be updated.
Because of this, they can be made available to users in much less time than the other types of apps.
Easy to Update
When you update a native app, it needs to be done on the store. At that point, your users will be notified of the update and prompted to do it.
Progressive web apps on the other hand, only need to be updated on the host.
Since these apps are not necessarily downloaded to the device that is accessing it, updated features will show immediately when users access it.
This makes things a lot more convenient for your users, and also gives you more control over which build of the app they are using.
Drawbacks of Web-Based Apps
Limited Use of Device Features
Because web-based apps make use of a C++ framework, they do not contain any of the code that allows the app to take advantage of device-specific features. This means no camera, no GPS and no access to your contacts or storage.
Because of this, web-based apps are only really suited to very basic functions.
Difficult to Collect Usage Metrics
Collecting information on how many users are accessing your apps is straightforward enough with native apps since all of that information is readily available through the respective app store.
Since progressive web apps are hosted independently, that is, away from app stores, getting usage statistics that you can use to improve your services is a little more difficult, and not as detailed or accurate.
Poor Discoverability
Discoverability is also a concern when apps are not hosted on app stores. They will have to be marketed much in the way a website is if you want to attract in users.
This is perfectly fine and well if you are using an app to communicate with existing clients or offering them a service. But when you want your app to build its own success, native apps on stores are far more discoverable.
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If you want to learn more about how low code can help you adopt a successful digital conversion strategy, you can contact BAYPM. However, if you are more interested in learning about the pros and cons of leading low code platforms, check out Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise low code implementation platforms.
Schooff: Hello, this is Peter Schooff, Managing Editor at BPM.com and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Romeo Elias, the Founder and CEO of Interneer, Incorporated. He’s an experienced software executive, BPM expert, patented inventor, and entrepreneur advisor and today we’re going to discuss a recent upcoming announcement from Interneer, which is about apps for business processes, which at BPM.com we found really interesting. So first of all Romeo, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.
Elias:: Thank you, Peter, I appreciate it.
Schooff: So as I’ve prefaced, I found your announcement very interesting. Can you just give me a quick overview of the world of apps for business processes as it is right now and then going forward?
Elias:: Absolutely Peter. The thing that we have been observing in the market, specifically, with the advent of mobility and the whole mobile world is that it’s been very, very disruptive, as you probably know. And today, there are more mobile devices in the world than there are people. This year the sale of tablets and smart phones has exceeded desktops and PCs. Everything is transforming mobility for a day-to-day employee is no longer an option. It has become something that they need to have access to no matter where they’re at.
At the same time, if you look at how mobility has changed the expectation of people and then how they deal with apps, what you’ll notice is that there’s this expectation now that they have to be accessible from anywhere, that they’re very ubiquitous. They have to be very easy, very simple; they do certain things very well. They’re not these complex things that do everything as we’re used to with enterprise apps in the office. And so at the same time, people can download any app they want, they can customize apps, they can get apps that empower them to build things, and change things.
And if you look at what we do with our smart mobile phones today, it’s funny to me that 20 years ago people would say I don’t even know how to program my VCR. Whereas today, they have this massive computer on their phone and they do so many things with it. So this whole self-service nature of it has also become ubiquitous and people just — they expect that they can learn things and do things themselves, and not always have to be relying on experts, and programmers, and so on.
So all those things have changed the expectation on how we deal with apps and specifically business apps. So business apps from a business user standpoint, the expectation is that they have to be easy to use, they have to be easy to change and deploy, they have to be accessible anywhere and ubiquitous, and they also need to access their backend data and systems so that they’re not standalone, something that is completely sitting on an island. And when you look at companies and what options they have today, there’s some limitations and gaps in the market and has the ability to access these kinds of apps and to deploy these for their employees and users and who isn’t able to and this is kind of part of the problem that we’re trying to solve.
With Visual Rules, Bosch Software Innovations offers you one of the market-leading Business Rules Management software systems, which is characterized by an intuitive graphical approach. This makes it very popular both with IT and specialized departments that use it.
Business departments will be able to manage their business rules themselves so they can automate a huge number of operational decisions – without any programming knowledge. The software is seamlessly integrated in existing IT infrastructure and meshes with the existing application for robust services that are available enterprise-wide. Existing resources are put to good use – and data, applications, and processes are transparently integrated, even in substantially heterogeneous IT landscapes.
The model-based approach takes everyone into account and measurably shortens the time it takes to develop and implement new versions of existing rules. Visual Rules provides comprehensive support to companies that need to define and build up user roles and how they interact, ensuring that the rules and roles comply with policies and that any changes made to them are documented in an audit-proof manner.
As great numbers of devices are connected to the internet of things, a new domain is being created – one that touches on nearly every facet of our lives. New customer-centric business models are taking shape. At many levels, Bosch is taking advantage of the opportunities that arise.
Stuttgart, 02/06/2014 –
The future is connected. The internet allows objects and devices, entire homes, and even power plants or cities to communicate with each other. By interacting in this way they create what is known as the internet of things, bringing independent components together to form a new domain – and linking together different aspects of life such as energy, the home, mobility, and work. From February 5–6 in Berlin, the Bosch ConnectedWorld conference will showcase some of the many possibilities generated by this connectivity megatrend. The conference is being organized by Bosch Software Innovations, the Bosch Groups software and systems unit, which brings all the groups activities in this arena under one roof.
Sensors software business models
This new connectivity is based on sensors that record data from objects and electrical devices, passing it on via wireless internet connections. A dedicated software program analyzes and combines this data according to different criteria – and this data interplay gives rise to new business models. For instance, owners of electric vehicles can use an app to reserve a charge spot, while buildings can calculate their energy consumption autonomously and source the electricity they need from a range of suppliers in the most cost-efficient and sustainable way possible.
All components available
Bosch is a world leader when it comes to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors. Bosch Software Innovations’ products have already proved their worth in 600 international projects. Wireless networks and energy-saving transmission technology are already widespread. For Denner, one thing is certain: It isnt a question of whether the objects will become internet-capable, but when.
Example of a Bosch application
Bosch has developed a telematics solution that is already helping insurers and leasing companies today, Denner says: The solution can be used to operate vehicle fleets spread over several locations. Because the system collects data on the condition of the vehicles, repairs can be planned before any damage occurs. Meanwhile, it lets insurance companies offer better rates to people who always drive their vehicle carefully – because thats also something the sensors can register.
Four key elements brought together
This application already brings together the four key elements of the connected world: cars (the physical assets), their drivers (private or commercial end users), an enterprise (the fleet operator), and an entire ecosystem of other parties that render the services (auto repair shops, insurers, and other service providers).
Driven by collaboration
This interaction of sensors, software, and services is the basis of the internet of things, Denner says. We are not creating technology for its own sake, but developing new business models whose main concern is customer benefit. That is why the main force driving the connectivity trend is collaboration between companies that have never before had business dealings with each other. All of us – industry, retail, service providers, and tradespeople – have to fully comprehend the possibilities. And we have to cultivate a more connected mindset.
Bosch and the internet of things
Bosch is well positioned to meet this challenge. Bosch Software Innovations develops software and system solutions for the internet of things. Its core product is a software suite that delivers the technical underpinnings for the required networks, enabling companies to Page 3 of 4 implement their new business models straight away. The focus is on fields such as connected mobility, connected energy, smart homes, and smart factories.
In addition, Bosch recently founded a separate company dedicated entirely to the internet of things. Bosch Connected Devices and Solutions GmbHoffers the compact electronic products and the software know-how needed to make devices and objects internet-capable in a wide range of application areas. The company will initially concentrate on sensor-based applications for households (smart home) as well as for the transportation, traffic, and logistics segments. Bosch Sensortec is a world leader in micromechanical sensors for the internet of things, with some three million of these tiny components being produced every day at the companys state-of-the-art wafer fab in Reutlingen, Germany.
Bosch has announced that it is to set up a consortium with ABB, Cisco, and LG to develop a joint smart home data standard. What is more, in theMonaco 3.0 pilot project, which kicked off in November 2013, Bosch has been testing the technologies required to digitally interconnect an entire city. As Denner emphasizes: Our broad footprint and technological expertise give us a clear innovative advantage on these projects.
Los Angeles, CA, December 12, 2013 — Interneer, Inc., a leading provider of Business Process Management (BPM) software for process automation applications and Smart Mobile Apps, today announced that it won the “Most Innovative Mobile Solution” award at the Enterprise Mobility Forum. Interneer was awarded for enabling Smart Mobile Apps for the enterprise, leveraging a BPM platform that requires no programming and instead uses a drag-and-drop interface designed for business users and IT departments, offering enterprise-level security and integration to back end data and enterprise applications. Interneer was selected by CIOs and Mobility Executives attending the event on December 8-10 held at the Phoenician in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Interneer, Inc., a leading provider of Business Process Management (BPM) software for process automation applications, today announced Intellect MobileApps that enables business users and IT to easily build and manage native “Smart Mobile Apps” on any iOS device for enterprise use. Smart Mobile Apps are integrated with back-end systems and enterprise applications, deliver enterprise level security with Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) capabilities. Designed specifically for midsized companies and departments of large enterprises, Smart Mobile Apps improve the productivity and efficiency of employees in the field, and customers, partners, suppliers and others who need access to vital enterprise data on the go.
High scalability and failure resistance thanks to cluster functionality
Integrated process control through expanded BPM approach
Berlin, 12/02/2013 –
Bosch Software Innovations is rolling out a new version of its inubit business process management (BPM) solution. In addition to numerous improvements with regard to functionality and performance, the main new feature of inubit 7.0 is its cluster functionality. Consequently, companies needing to guarantee high failure resistance for their customers and service partners and dealing with sensitive processes and process data that have to be available at all times will find Release 7.0 particularly useful. These requirements are an essential feature of service level agreements (SLAs) and of new business models such as cloud solutions and software as a service (SaaS).
inubit Release 7.0’s cluster functionality makes this possible: the software can run on a network of several computers while appearing as a single entity to the outside. If one computer (or “cluster node”) fails, the process continues on another node without loss of data or downtime. Moreover, individual cluster nodes can be added or removed flexibly at any time, significantly improving performance.
Preparing and automating decision-making based on rules
Companies requiring fast, simple, and reliable interplay between rules and processes will also benefit from inubit Release 7.0. Bosch Software Innovations combines inubit with Visual Rules, the proven and reliable business rules management (BRM) software for preparing and automating decision-making based on rules. Its enhanced integration means you can directly access rules that have already been provided within business processes or technical workflows. This expanded BPM approach allows integrated process control and the seamless interaction of processes, rules, data, and applications.
inubit Release 7.0 is part of the latest version of the Bosch Software Innovations Suite, which will be available from February 2014. The Software Suite is a platform for fast and efficient connection of different elements of an ecosystem (consisting of devices, end customers, companies, and partners). It enables users to actively integrate devices, sensors, and other ‘things’ into business processes and provides new opportunities for optimizing existing business models and developing new ones.
Interneer, Inc., a leading provider of Business Process Management (BPM) software forprocess automation applications and Smart Mobile Apps, today announced that the company was recognized as a “Promising” software provider among 14 vendors by Gartner in its “MarketScope for Business Process Management Platform as a Service” report November 15, 2013 by Michele Cantara, Teresa Jones, Kimihiko Iijima. Interneer offers rapid, “No Programing” development environment that automates structured and repeatable processes by business users; makes it easy for organizations to extend apps to mobile devices; and the company’s new, “Free Community” option that enables enterprise clients to extend apps to customers, partners, suppliers and others at no additional cost.
