Opportunities Abound for Mobile Expansion

While mobile technology is nothing new to insurers, survey results indicate few are taking advantage of the possibilities.

Insurance Networking News, February 1, 2012

INN Editorial Staff

While the insurance industry was an early adopter of mobile technology for basic communication functions, it has lagged in developing and implementing internal and customer-facing applications.

Strategy Meets Action's most recent report, "The Mobile Technology Universe: Current Usage and Future Opportunities for Insurers," finds that a mere 15 percent of insurers utilize custom mobile apps for employees (captive agents, adjusters, etc.) and 13 percent offer apps for business partners, such as independent agents and third-party adjusters.

Similar numbers are seen with regard to customer-facing apps: 22 percent of insurers have deployed sales-oriented apps (product information, quotes) while 18 percent have deployed service-oriented apps (claims, inquiries).

These comparable numbers reflect the fact that app experimentation has thus far been privy to top-tier insurers, generally those bringing in $1 billion or more in claims per year, according to the report.

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