Insurance Business reports from the 12th Annual P&C Insurance Technology Conference, with a look at developments in telematics and eDocs.
Video transcript below:
Don Horne, Insurance Business TV
Don Horne: We are here at the 12th Annual Insurance Canada Technology Conference and some of the big items up for discussion today are Telematics and Edocs.
Edocs and Business management systems are crucial to any brokerage, not only to lessen the load on brokerages, but to also reduce costs and streamline operations. If you could put a number on the savings that are out there for a brokerage and brokerages, what would it be switching to an edoc system?
Mark Jackson, President, The Insurance Market
Mark Jackons: Well it’s probably, it’s probably of course the one full time in my environment, at least one full time admin person that’s sorting that data and scanning it and directing it to the appropriate people within my office. So it’s big, it is a big savings.
Don Horne: Wendy could you tell us a bit about edocs and how important it is for brokers to adopt this?
Wendy Watson, President, Orbit
Wendy Watson: Edocs is a game changer for brokers, it is the single biggest way to impact efficiencies in their office, they can turn out the documents that are coming in, it reduces their receptionist workday by at least 60 minutes if not 90 minutes, it gets work on the brokers desks immediately and things are attached in broker management systems, so there truly is just one place to go for information. It’s a game changer.
Don Horne: Independent brokers are looking for a means to compete with the direct providers. How can e-signatures do that?
Yazan Alwaid, Regional Sales Manager, Silanis
Yazan Alwaid: Well e-signatures provide the brokers an opportunity to engage with the customer in their own means. So for example if a broker is talking to a customer over the phone, they can send them an email with a link and they can view their documents online, electronically sign them online and then submit them and download them electronically, keeping the entire process paperless.
Don Horne: Telematics is exploding across Canada, having proven itself in the Quebec market. We spoke to some brokers on telematics and how they can use that to better improve their relationships with clients.
Don Horne: From your perspective how important is telematics?
Don Dykeman, Enterprise Architect, The Co-operators
Don Dykeman: Well at Co-operators we are already incorporating telematics as an offering that our business offers to the customers to save money on their auto insurance and help us understand the usage is basically heavier of our customers.
Don Horne: How important is it for clients? Can they take advantage of this?
Don Dykeman: Well they can take advantage of it right away because the cost savings starts as soon as you put the device in the car and increases over time as the customers, as we gain experience with the customers and there is really no downside because they can only save.
Don Horne: I am here with Doug Grant and I was hoping that you could perhaps describe how the different technologies are contributing to the expansion of telematics?
Doug Grant, Founding Partner, Insurance-Canada
Doug Grant: Telematics is a really interesting space. It changes the per diem of how as a customer will be charged for their insurance, for their actual driving experience and so on and the challenge then back for the industry is how to deal with those new set of parameters.
Wendy Watson: There is so much for brokers to take away from the technology conference. Understanding what is in the future for them, understanding what they could be doing today, it’s really I think, the Conference’s big job is to open brokers odds, as to how their world could be and then hopefully they go back and look at what they’ve got and think how they can get to what could be.
