Keep Calm and Integrate

COVID-19 Crisis Mode

When the pandemic began, many thought that COVID-19 would just be a minor disruption that businesses would recover from in a matter of months. In reality, the situation hasn’t unfolded that way. Businesses have had to overcome the challenges associated with being further away from their customers and adapt their current business processes through a customer-centric approach.  Fluid IT systems that give businesses transparent access to customer and operational information are vital in maintaining performance and thriving in an augmented business environment that has now become the “new normal.” As such, businesses are seeking more effective ways to implement new capabilities, insurance companies in particular, recognise the need for alternatives to prevailing industry development and integration practices.  The adoption of open data access and integration facilitated by application programming interfaces (APIs) seem to be the go-to solutions to navigating all the challenges presented by the pandemic.

Focusing on integrating your systems should be at the forefront of your business's survival strategy in the thick of a global pandemic. Insurance companies have moved dynamically with market pressures to make data automation their main priority. This is done to keep up with the increased strain on the industry, to deliver a client-centric customer model, and to increase the value of their current offerings. Through data automation, insurance companies are digitally transforming their businesses to remain connected while working remotely and provide the same high level of service to their customers.

‍

Digital Transformation Initiatives

The first digital transformation initiative that most insurance companies must focus on is aligning sales and customer service business processes. These functions make use of tools like lead generation, CRM, and legacy policy management systems. With COVID-19 forcing companies to shift to a remote working model and no-contact work environments for on-site workers, finding a way to share data between departments and systems is paramount to their survival. Without coherent communication between systems the transfer of accurate information will take up a substantial amount of time, forcing employees to focus on repetitive manual actions. Each small mistake that is possibly made when entering information into different applications could lead to serious down-stream problems. Worse still, these small mistakes can compound as one moves from system to system, leading to a large scale issue at the end of the day.

Every facet of the business needs to be able to communicate with each other to promote the seamless flow of accurate data to “bridge the social distancing gap”. 

Insurance companies, through the use of data integration and data automation platforms, can accelerate the process of digital transformation initiatives across their company. This is allowing all workers to leverage technology to be productive without traditional face-to-face interactions.

Managers, supervisors, and team leaders are realising that to continue being effective leaders of a “work-from-home” workforce, they need more accurate, complete, and real- time data from all areas of the business to make quick well-informed business decisions. This is where data automation plays a critical role. Prior to the pandemic, leaders had to be “hands-on” in every aspect of the business's operations. What COVID-19 has taught us is that what leaders need most to lead. Without transparent access to data and visibility into what is happening, what aspects of the business are doing well, and what challenges the business may be dealing with, leaders are unable to make informed business decisions or offer guidance where it is needed.  Through data automation leaders can get the right data, to the right person, in the right system, all at the right time.

Data automation is pivotal in managing and leading a physically scattered business; to make the business feel tight-knit as if key people are just one cubicle over in the office. Once the data from all the operational systems is integrated and aggregated, leaders are able to manage operations remotely, without the need for face-to-face interactions.

If insurance companies do not fully embrace this digital transformation, they will inevitably fall behind and lose out to companies that are rapidly adapting to change and transforming their companies to be more suited to the new connected era. A prime example of companies that failed as a result of their complacency and lack of desire to keep up with digital transformation are companies such as Kodak, Blockbuster, and MySpace to name a few. These companies were visionaries of their time, however, their inability to evolve and take advantage of new technologies was their fatal flaw. 

Integration Solution Synatic helps Insurance companies adapt to the “new normal” by providing them with the tools they need to automate data throughout their enterprise. This includes integrating data from core policy management platforms, legacy solutions, business applications, SaaS systems, and more.  With Synatic’s Data integration and automation platform, Insurance companies can localize decision making and rapidly revolutionise their business and IT processes while maintaining centralized visibility. 

Data automation is paramount to the survival of insurance companies during the digital shift that we are experiencing. With Synatic, insurers will not only be able to keep up with changes, but drive the changes themselves.