The Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) has launched a Going Paperless Project in response to the industry’s shift from traditional business models. A survey has been distributed to clients via brokers across Canada to understand what consumers’ digital document preferences are, and to facilitate more consistency within the industry.
According to its findings, the level of desire to go digital varies by province and having an understanding of these different perspectives provides brokers with a better overview of the Canadian marketplace.
“The whole premise was to look at different processes and guiding principles of how we conduct business as an industry, and what we came to pretty quickly was that we have to go out and talk to consumers directly to get confirmation,” Colin Simpson, CEO at the IBAO told Insurance Business.
“The real key is giving consumers the option of whether they want to go paperless, and also offering them the option to switch preferences as they move forward,” he added.
Simpson spoke about the importance of consistency across the industry when it comes to the content in electronic documents. Improving document accessibility in a secure environment helps meet clients’ needs, but digital documentation and data standards created by the Center for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) are interpreted differently throughout the industry.
“When you start looking at how many insurance companies there are, how many brokers and system providers there are, it gets a bit tricky to ensure that consistency of data standards,” Simpson explained.
“There’s a lot that can be done to improve the way we facilitate business, and this survey is just making sure that we are aligning ourselves with consumer expectations.”
The IBAO is working closely with the CSIO, brokers, insurance companies, and tech vendors to get a well-rounded understanding of how to achieve more consistency across the industry.
“We hope as many brokers get on board with this as possible,” Simpson concluded. “Trying to get consumers to answer surveys is always a challenge - we have a strong response here in Ontario and hopefully that carries across Canada.”
