The Digital Insurer:

Insurance User Experiences by Design Satisfying the needs of four major consumer segments

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Enterprise users, such as claim handlers and underwriters, are looking to interact with their work applications in the same way they interact online in their personal time—like when they shop for music or apparel on the Internet. They want applications that are visually attractive, simple, familiar and engaging. Other enterprise users, like customer service reps, may also be game enthusiasts after work hours. They would want to interact collectively with coworkers, have dynamic views of policyholder information and receive real-time feedback on their performance as needed. Collaboration apps and tools that nurture input from customers and co-workers, and even award points for achieving positive outcomes, would satisfy such users.

In this, the everyday-to-enterprise (E2E) shift, technology is blurring the lines between users’ work, shop and play. Current and future workers will expect better user experiences in their workplace. They will even leave a job if they don’t have it—a reality that begs insurers to better retain talent in an industry that anticipates a 50 percent workforce turnover over the next 15 years, according to the Assurex Global Generational Workplace Audit.1

To enhance the user experience, insurers should take pointers from other consumer-facing industries and incorporate the best examples in their improvement blueprints. A first step would be to clearly identify system users and what they look for in an online experience. To simplify this task, Accenture has identified four user types that are pulling consumer expectations into the insurance enterprise—the “Free Spirit”, the “Go-Getter”, the “Enthusiast”, and the “Data Junkie” —and how insurers can use technology to satisfy the new workforce behaviors.

It is important to note that the job function can be similar across these groups. The difference is how each segment wants to use technology to achieve the same business objective.

New expectations for user experiences, driven by the everyday transactions of consumers, are quickly redefining application design for industry—and property and casualty insurance is no exception.

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The Free Spirit prefers the freedom of being on-the-go, owning and relying on multiple devices (whether a smartphone, tablet, computer or some new emerging device) to shop, work and play.

In insurance, it’s not uncommon to see an underwriter working with dual computer monitors. Some field adjusters already switch back and forth between using a tablet on the road and a desktop in the office. Insurance work is now portable and can happen on multiple devices in different locations. Users should not be constrained, but free to easily access work information and track workflow progress across devices whether at home, office or in the field. If they stopped on step six while processing a policy at work, they want to start on step six when they resume working on the claim from their home computer.

To respond to this user, insurers should adapt their culture to recognize the importance of multi-screen experiences and proactively look into how the presence of multiple devices affects user experience. Does the Free Spirit use his or her devices for the same or different purposes? Are they used sequentially

(policy underwriting) or simultaneously (look up prior loss information on one device while managing the claim on another device)? And, how do the different screen sizes of each device affect the experience? For example, the appearance of images on a tablet versus a data entry screen on a PC? Insurance products or services will need to be:

• Responsive, reacting to whatever device is being used and displaying appropriately on that device.

• Contextual, knowing where and how the user is accessing products and services by incorporating cameras, voice recorders, global positioning system (GPS) and other location tools.

• Progressive, showing users what they need only when they need it.

• Expert-driven, evolving technology with the user and introducing more advanced features when the user most needs them.

The Free Spirit

Don’t box them in. Rather, let them change it up through multi-screen experiences

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Go-Getters like to interact with software applications in many different ways and across various platforms to drive their own experience. Doing so equates to control of their decisions, and minimal friction between them and the device.

Taking the fastest and most direct way to accomplish what they want to do is what truly matters to them. Traditionally, this has been achieved with a keyboard and a mouse. But today’s technology trend is bypassing the “middlemen” with innovative Human Interface Devices to free user actions from secondary devices. These include touch, voice, GPS, multi-touch, spatial gestures, infrared keyboards, eye-tracking, and near-field communications. Gartner Research predicts that by 2016 half of consumers in mature markets will wave more frequently to their digital devices than to their friends.2

The increasingly different ways that people interact with technology to access information means that both insurance customers and employees will be able to focus more on what they need or want, rather than on how to get it. Instead of auto policy holders typing accident reports on a 2- to 5-inch mobile screen, they could use a device’s built-in voice recorder, take a photo or have GPS map the location of an accident.

The Go-Getter

Don’t push them to the back. Put them in the driver’s seat with Human Interface Devices

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The Enthusiast is highly skilled, comfortable with frequent exchanges with others, and prefers a more collaborative atmosphere. However, this user becomes bored and distracted easily.

The challenge with enthusiasts is keeping them engaged. Insurers should incorporate three design aspects into their products and services to improve user engagement:

• Socialization: For many millennial consumers, email and phone calls alone don’t cut it anymore. Many of the social concepts they grew up with—such as activity streams and wikis—are better options. Insurers should view the online social environment as a platform for collaboration with speedy access to knowledge and experts. Because of its non-centralized structure and inherent transparency, social networks also make contribution and recognition easier, contributing to increased user satisfaction, morale, empowerment, and production.

• Gamification: This is where insurers should take elements of game design—primarily instant feedback, continuous improvement, and cooperation—and apply them to provide a more engaging user experience.

• Visualization: As the amount of text a person actually reads or writes online gradually decreases, users are expecting and looking for more visuals. Insurers should use infographics, maps and other forms of images to visualize data (regardless

of its complexity or size) and help users quickly interpret a meaning, recognize trends, and ultimately make a decision.

For example, making insurance visible and interactive renders the process more real and provides a level of entertainment. An underwriter could view a model of a commercial policy to help capture the key rating and underwriting elements. Imagine building a policy by selecting an icon of the building type and then tailoring the icon to the building’s actual dimensions and construction material. The underwriter would be designing the policy based on the same information that is typically provided through drop-down fields. At the end, the insurer has a virtual policy that matches the photos attached to the policy. Similarly, ongoing policy maintenance and claims handling can also become very visual. An adjuster could open a claim, select the building avatar and then drop a fire icon onto the avatar to indicate a fire incident. Additional information would be captured and displayed as visual cues.

The Enthusiast

Don’t let them get distracted. Grab their attention through user engagement strategies

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Data junkies are insatiable for information. They are inquisitive and always questioning why things are the way they are. They want data all the time.

Thanks to more manageable electronic sensors that collect data, high-capacity mobile devices for processing, and the cloud and social media to share and talk about it, data junkies can easily collect, track and analyze data to stay up-to-date—from wherever they are.

Data Junkies tend to be very linear and want as much constant, consistent information on a screen as can possibly fit. For them, graphic appeal and entertainment take a back seat to simplicity and density of information. Reports and graphs are of value when the Data Junkie sees the rows of data that built the graph. While larger screens might

be the first display choice in presenting information to Data Junkies, mobile lies at the center of data collection, tracking and access anytime, anywhere.

Satisfying this user type may mean enhanced financial reports, dashboards and metrics to better manage the business. Providing more granular information and data analyses may also give insurers earlier warning signs of cost or revenue impacts, such as spikes in auto claims headed to litigation or increases in customer attrition.

The Data Junkie

Don’t hold back. Give them the details that come from Big Data

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E2E Innovation

Giving underwriters a more productive system interface

Accenture is exploring the addition of an Underwriter Workbench to our Accenture Duck Creek policy software which will help insurers get products to market faster, improve operational efficiencies, and control costs. We involved user experience early in the process, and confirmed three important design influencers:

1. Users are highly receptive to solution innovation, largely as a result of their experiences outside the workplace.

2. With current and historical data such a critical component of underwriting, users need access to information that doesn’t interrupt the workflow or overwhelm the underwriter.

3. Because underwriting is a group process with multiple workers and account contacts, users need to know who touched what and when.

We then defined a set of hypotheses to prove or disprove the use of agile methodologies, and are using that knowledge to develop a prototype that we will test iteratively with users in the market.

For insurance leaders, the everyday-to-enterprise shift is an opportunity to further excite and engage customers and employees.

They can now begin to focus on the four key user types and incorporate appropriate technologies that enable powerful user-centered experiences. Doing so will generally involve analyzing product objectives and user needs; defining information architecture and interactions; designing and testing user interfaces; and running and monitoring the product on an ongoing basis. And, the returns are compelling, including greater efficiencies by those using the application, lower usability issues and costs; and higher user satisfaction.

Drawing on our extensive work in insurance and user experience design, Accenture is helping insurers explore, develop and deliver experiences that satisfy the evolving needs and wants of the user—in essence, applying user experience design as a viable lever of high performance.

Turn E2E into business advantage

References1. “Well-Paying Career-Track Jobs Go Unfilled in Insurance Industry: New Survey Reveals Secrets of Recruiting & Retaining Reluctant College Grads,” PRWEB, March 08, 2012, http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9264840.htm

2. “Emerging Technology Analysis: Migrating Gesture Recognition From Entertainment to Enterprise,” Gartner Research, Adib Carl Ghubril, 30 August 2011, http://www.gartner.com/id=1812319

About AccentureAccenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 261,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture Software combines deep technology acumen with industry knowledge to develop differentiated software products. It offers innovative software-based solutions to enable organizations to meet their business goals and achieve high performance. Its home page is www.accenture.com/software.

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