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What Is ESG and Why It May Be the Next Big Thing in Financial Client Reporting

Posted on February 1, 2022 by SmartComm

Historically, most investment strategies involve choosing assets and asset classes based on a finely tuned balance of expected net return and risk tolerance. And while that might still be true for many, a rapidly growing segment of investors are selecting investments with a different lens: Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors.

How significant is this trend? According to Bloomberg, ESG assets “are on track to exceed $50 trillion by 2025, representing more than a third of the projected $140.5 trillion in total global assets under management.”

With such a massive amount of assets at stake, leading wealth management and private banking firms are racing to not only offer more ESG investment options but also to improve how ESG data is included in client reporting and other customer communications. In this post, we’ll explore what ESG is, why it’s growing in popularity and how to adapt reporting to give clients the ESG investment reporting information they crave.

What is ESG?

Environmental, Social and (Corporate) Governance (ESG) is the standard to which a corporation holds itself to sensitive topics, such as:

Responding to climate change
How the company (and its suppliers) treat employees
The racial and gender diversity of a company’s leadership
Data privacy and cybersecurity

And while that may sound subjective, ESG is all about data and measurement. Though not every area of ESG investment reporting is equally mature and data-driven, ESG is fundamentally about accountability and achieving concrete goals. This is now viewed by many in contrast with the traditional concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which has been more focused on optics (what can a company do to appear like a good corporate citizen) versus what its actual impacts are, backed by quantifiable metrics.

ESG is not a new trend but has certainly risen in popularity in the past decade. In 2019, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) revealed that 93% of the world’s largest companies by revenue already report on their ESG performance.

Adeline Diab, the Head of ESG and Thematic Investing EMEA & APAC at Bloomberg Intelligence, summarizes why ESG is so important in today’s business environment: “The pandemic and the global race to net-zero carbon emissions have put ESG criteria into orbit – from niche to mainstream to mandatory. ESG is fundamentally reshaping the financial industry, becoming part of financial reporting. This is in part due to mounting scrutiny from regulators, markets being more sensitive to ESG-related news and asset owners appointing managers on the basis of ESG across asset classes.

“ESG is fundamentally reshaping the financial industry, becoming part of financial reporting.”

What is ESG Investing?

As we highlight in our recent ebook, “5 Trends Shaping the Next Generation of Client Reporting,” investors globally are increasingly likely to invest according to their values. This style of investing has been known as Socially Responsible Investing (SRI). Especially prevalent among younger generations who will become the beneficiaries of the $68 trillion global wealth transfer over the next 25 years, investors want to “put their money where their ‘heart’ is.”

Social issues such as climate change and racial justice are causing investors to think critically about the kind of companies they want to have in their portfolios. According to Accenture, “Generation Z and Millennial investors were more than twice as likely as Baby Boomers to have asked their advisor about ESG investments (80% and 63%, respectively, versus 27%).

And this trend isn’t just about rosy altruism. Increasingly, investors believe that companies who score highly in ESG criteria perform better in the market, especially over the long term. As investors weigh possible options for investing, they’re asking tough, ESG-related questions like:

Enterprises have sensitive data stored around the world and with third parties. How well can they defend against cyber-attacks, and what might the financial fallout be if they aren’t well prepared?
Many utilities and industrial companies need plentiful water at adequate temperatures to operate. How robust are their plans to confront possible water scarcity?
Many consumer-facing organizations have suppliers in countries with weak labor laws. Can they prevent human rights violations and maintain a stable workforce that meets consumer demands?
Most large enterprises serve diverse markets. Do senior leadership and the board of directors have the diverse backgrounds and skills to understand and meet the needs of their customers?

The Challenge: ESG Data Is in a State of Flux

So, if more people want to invest in firms with good ESG ratings, and more companies are sharing their ESG data, it should be easy for wealth managers to advise their clients on where they should invest, right? Wrong, for one big reason: as of today, there is no single, universally agreed-upon standard for ESG ratings. In fact, research from ERM Group suggests that there are “600+ ESG ratings and rankings existing globally as of 2018,” a number that has only increased since then.

While many of the largest global enterprises have chosen GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) as their reporting standards, there’s not 100% agreement, and until that time, it’s important to have flexibility in which data sources you pull from.

How to Incorporate ESG Data in Client Reporting

Despite the complexities around ESG ratings, with the right solution, it can be relatively simple to give clients the ESG insights they increasingly desire. And while this may seem to be a “nice to have” today, it soon will be table stakes for every investment performance report. Here’s what to look for in a client reporting solution that will meet your ESG reporting needs both now and in the future.

Leverage open APIs to pull in the best ESG data sets as the category evolves. As mentioned previously, the ESG data landscape is rapidly evolving. That’s why it’s important to choose a client reporting solution that can pull in a variety of data sets via open APIs. This way, you can give clients whichever ESG data set is considered “best” or “optimal” at a given moment in time – and easily switch or offer multiple options. Leveraging API calls also ensures that the ESG data a client sees in their report is as up to date as possible, as it can be refreshed whenever the client logs in or reloads their reports. Save yourself massive headaches down the road by building in flexibility from the start. Your future self will thank you!

Infinitely customizable ESG reporting based on client preferences. Even within ESG ratings themselves, there are so many ways to slice and dice the data depending on what the client cares about most. Are they interested in a company’s overall ESG impact? Or just their environmental score? Or diversity and inclusion? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to sort and filter ESG data in this way? Choose a client reporting solution that allows clients to build customizable reports that show the exact view of data they’re most interested in. Bonus points go to solutions that have unlimited dashboards, pre-built modules and the ability for advisors to build reports on behalf of their clients in minutes. Because every client will have different wants and needs, the ability to infinitely customize his or her overall report, including ESG elements, will go a long way toward improving client satisfaction and loyalty (and save advisors the pain of manually producing bespoke reports).

Think holistically and view ESG reporting as part of a scalable communication platform. While it may be tempting to buy a one-off ESG ratings solution, it’s a good idea to take a step back and think strategically. As our work with all of the G15 has revealed to us, having a scalable customer conversations management platform in place first provides a sturdy foundation for client reporting solutions to build upon and integrate into your tech stack. This way, you can pull any ESG reporting elements you (or the client) have created and insert them into dynamic communication templates. For example, with very little effort on your part, you can send each customer a personalized ESG newsletter showing the same views they created in their custom reporting.

Want to learn more about how next-generation financial reporting solutions can transform your business? First, check out our digital-first solution for Client Reporting, which enables wealth management and private banking firms to eliminate time-consuming processes around creating bespoke reports. Or, contact us if you’d like to see how Smart Communications can support your ESG reporting strategy.

Financial Client Reporting Goes Digital: 5 Key Trends to Watch

Posted on January 27, 2022 by SmartComm

For too long, bespoke financial client reporting has been seen as a necessary burden rather than a strategic communications avenue for wealth management, private banking and other institutions working with high net worth and corporate clients. That’s because these investor client reports have been unengaging, long and static– unforgivable transgressions in the modern, digital era of visually appealing and interactive customer experiences. Moreover, processes around creating compliant custom reports is often tedious, taking firms sometimes days or weeks to produce.

But that’s all changing, and changing fast. Firms are now investing in improving their financial client reporting communications as a crucial customer engagement strategy, taking advantage of the power of new technology to deliver highly personalized, customizable, digital-first experiences at scale, while reducing manual work and accelerating turnaround time.

We take a deep dive into the key trends, challenges, and opportunities facing wealth management and private banking leaders today in our new eBook, 5 Trends Shaping the Next Generation of Client Reporting. Below is a preview of a few key highlights we found in our research into this often-overlooked area of financial services customer communications.

$68 trillion in wealth will change hands between various generations over the next 25 years, according to Accenture and other sources. Some call it the “generational shift in wealth,” others the “Great Wealth Transfer.” The GenX children of Baby Boomers – along with their children – are finding themselves responsible for estate planning and looking for different ways to manage their money, and this shift has only accelerated during the pandemic. Data shows that these younger generations of investors have higher expectations around personalization and digital self-service.Wealth management firms that have been dragging their feet on digital transformation may lose these clients to providers that offer a digital-first financial client reporting experience. Smart firms will implement better client-facing technology now to secure the loyalty of those who will receive that wealth well before they see a penny of it.

61% of very-high-net-worth investors and 80% of millennials are willing to pay more for experience-related features, according to the EY 2021 Global Wealth Research Report. In an era when many incumbent banks and wealth advisory firms face competitive pressure from digital disruptors and challenger banks, this stat is like a breath of fresh air. Though much has changed in the financial services industry, some truths have endured: if clients receive personalized services that are of value to them, they are more likely to stay loyal and even pay more for these services, rather than looking for a DIY approach with robo-advisors.The key is understanding both parts – which “experience-related features” are valuable, and to whom – to ensure the right product / market fit. Financial client reporting is a good example of a client experience that has the potential to either help clients see the value a firm provides, or leave them wondering, “what am I paying for, exactly?”

82% of wealth management businesses plan to increase spending on client-facing technologies in the next two years, and 75% plan to invest in client reporting, according to Gartner’s industry forecast. Improving digital experiences can feel like an arms race, with financial services companies pouring money into IT teams and fintechs. Which firm has the best app? Which firm has the best-looking reports? To stay competitive, wealth management and private banking firms of all sizes need to invest in technologies that improve the client experience. Because if they don’t, their competitors surely will.

70% of households with a net worth of $500,000 or more, headed by a person under 45, have an investing style that is either strongly or mostly self-directed. It’s not just who has the wealth that’s changing – it’s how they invest, too. As outlined in this report from the Wall Street Journal: “Wealthy young investors don’t see much use for the wealth management firms their parents rely on. They would rather pick their own stocks or plow their money into crypto.”That’s why Gartner says wealth firms are investing in technologies that move beyond static reports into interactive, digital experiences, allowing clients and advisors to slice and dice data to build personalized reports that meet their needs and interests.As with any other trend, this stat reveals both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is – if advisors don’t adapt and modernize key areas of their practice, like financial client reporting, the gap will continue to widen. However, if firms provide clients (and advisors) with digital tools that put them more in control of their own destiny (but within the walls of a firm), it may be possible to increase wallet share.

57% of wealth management firms would continue to use paper communications for ultra HNWI segments, Accenture reports. While this stat seems to contradict everything we’ve looked at so far, it’s actually not that surprising. And it underscores an important truth about how financial services is evolving: there is no one-size fits all approach. The key takeaway? It’s important to look at delivering consistent financial client reporting that supports every channel, instead of looking at digital and traditional batch print document output as two separate disconnected channels. It means letting the customer “choose their own adventure” in a personalized way. That’s why companies need to invest in a customer conversations management platform that is not only future-leaning, but also “backwards compatible” with paper and traditional PDFs.

Want to discover more insights on how to get ahead in wealth management and private banking? Download our new eBook today or learn more about Client Reporting from Smart Communications.

Optimize Digital Forms for COVID-19 Claims

Posted on January 21, 2022 by SmartComm

By: John Zimmerer, VP Healthcare Marketing at Smart Communications

Per the Biden administration’s recent announcement, beginning Jan. 15, 2022, nearly all U.S. private health insurance plans must cover at least a portion of the cost of up to eight at-home COVID-19 tests per month for their members. While the federal government and public health officials have been discussing how to make at-home tests more accessible for some time, the specifics of the rollout were unclear until recently.

There are several conditions in the proclamation, however. For example, not all COVID-19 tests are covered, and not all insurers are required to cover the cost of the tests. There are two types of tests –rapid antigen-based and molecular-based (PCR) – so there are two lists of FDA-approved test kits. A 12-page FAQ defines the insurers covered under the mandate. As the pandemic continues to evolve, we can also expect the government’s expectations and requirements of insurers to change as well. This is putting more pressure on health insurers than ever to scale processes in a way that allows them to be more agile and efficient.

Needless to say, insurers had some homework to do to ensure they could comply with the new mandate. Five days was not much time to put processes and communications in place to handle what will no doubt be many claims for reimbursement. Unfortunately, the current claims experience is relying heavily on manual, paper-based processes. The good news? There is a better way.

In this post, we highlight how health insurers can rethink the claims submission experience, plus why COVID-19 has shed a light on the need for digital forms transformation.

Background Information

To be reimbursed for COVID-19 at-home tests purchased after Jan. 15, plan members are required to file a claims with their insurance plan. The majority of the coronavirus resource websites we have seen include instructions to download and print a COVID-19 Over-the-Counter (OTC) Test Kit Claims Form.

With this current process, these reimbursements are most likely going to be painful for both the payers and their members. But, a digital forms solution – which can be implemented quickly – can make this experience much more seamless.

Filling Out the Claims Form

Current State:

Even large, national health insurers are posting claims forms that were created in Microsoft Word. While it’s impressive what a determined designer can create in Microsoft Word, a claims form shouldn’t be one of those things. These documents are clearly intended from the start to be printed and filled out with pen and paper.

It makes little sense to start with a digital Microsoft Word file saved as a Portable Document Format (PDF) that a member must access with a digital device, only to have the member print out the form and thereby convert a somewhat digital process to analog, via ink and paper. If a member needs a device to access the form, why can’t they use a device to fill it out? Even a fillable PDF form would be better for all involved, as it would at least remove legibility as a potential barrier to processing the form.

Then there is the sheer number of fields that must be considered and potentially completed on these forms – we have seen at least one claim form that had nearly 100 fields! Common form fields include requesting information about the test kit(s) purchased, primary customer, patient and coverage, as well as several attestations and a certification as to the authenticity and accuracy of the information being provided.

By our estimate, the insurer that had posted this form already has 50 to70% of this information.

Desired Future State:

Investing in digital forms transformation for COVID-19 related claims allows health insurers to easily implement an intelligent, guided experience while also connecting to systems of record to pull in existing data for the member to review and (optionally) update. The remaining required information could be reduced to a few clicks with a series of simple yes/no questions and checkboxes.

Submitting the Claims Form

Current State:

Most insurers are asking members to mail or fax the completed reimbursement form. There are three big problems with these outdated submission methods:

No confirmation for the member that the form was ever received by the insurer.
The information on the form is not secure in transit.
It creates the opportunity for the member to forget to attach the receipt.

Yes, one could pay extra to add tracking to the mailed form, however we can assume few people will go through the effort given the relatively low dollar amount of each reimbursement (up to $12 per individual test).

Some might say that a fax machine will tell the member whether the transmission was successful, and that is true. But what if the member mistakenly dialed the wrong fax number? This poses security concerns for personally identifiable and/or protected health information. What if the insurer uses a fax server? The member will never know until the reimbursement check shows up that the right department received the form. With faxing, there’s likely to be an interim step – copying the receipt onto a standard-sized sheet of paper so it will fax better. This wastes the member’s time and money and increases the risk that the receipt will not be legible. Besides, how many members in 2022 have easy access to a fax machine?

Desired Future State:

Cloud-native, digital forms solutions are accessible using any internet-connected device via a web browser. They leverage device capabilities like cameras for taking pictures of receipts, which can be attached electronically. Digitizing the end-to-end process eliminates handwriting and handling.

Processing the Claims Forms

Current State:

When relying entirely on physical forms, the chances of a large number of submissions being Not in Good Order (NIGO) are high. Potential errors or issues include a skipped a field, illegible handwriting, a forgotten receipt, a missing signature, date and more. We estimate that at least 10% of forms will be rejected for some reason other than the purchase was made prior to the start of the program.

Consider this: All the forms submitted via fax or mail will need to be (re)digitized and then run through optical character recognition (OCR) software. No OCR package claims accuracy greater than 99% on a page level (so 990 out of 1,000 characters will be correct), and that’s with typed characters; research has shown that the accuracy often drops for handwritten or photocopied material.

If the average COVID-19 test claims form has 100 fields and if the average field has five characters (FYI, the average email address is 21.9 characters long and the average last name in the U.S. is more than five characters), then at least five characters will be incorrect on every form processed. Will it be the transaction details, rendering the form useless? Will it be the member’s name, rendering the check null and void? Or will it be the mailing address, rendering the check undeliverable?

Desired Future State:

Digital forms for COVID-19 related claims allow health plans to use business logic to ensure that forms are in good order prior to a member submitting. They can integrate with e-signature solutions, thereby negating the need for printing, mailing or faxing anything to the payer. And, these solutions can generate PDF documents so the member has a record of what was submitted, and the insurer has something that can be provided to an auditor or a regulator if required.

Where to Go from Here

The implications of COVID-19 have shed a light on the need for digital forms transformation. As the course of the pandemic continues to change, so too will state and local governments, public health officials and health insurers’ responses. In such a fast-moving climate, it’s more important than ever to have sophisticated, cloud-based technologies that enable health plans to be innovative, agile and efficient.

When faced with all the areas in healthcare that are ripe for transformation, it can feel overwhelming to decide where to start. At Smart Communications, we believe in identifying certain processes that can be transformed quickly and provide near-immediate results. Investing in forms transformation is a key step in modernizing healthcare and optimizing the end-to-end member experience.

Beyond collecting information and checking boxes, redefining how information is gathered means health insurers can respond quickly and via preferred channels – a critical component of every stage within the member experience. Intelligent interviews modernize the collection and use of member information, empower members to initiate conversations with their health plans and remove friction from critical interactions.

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SmartIQ from Smart Communications is a low-code form automation and digital process software that takes manual form processes and reimagines them—turning one-way, disjointed form processes into innovative, two-way interactions that expedite processing times and create experiences customers appreciate. To learn more about how SmartIQ enhances digital forms for COVID-19 related claims, check out our ebook 5 Ways Health Insurers Can Reimagine Forms.

Pssst….There is a Better Way for Life Insurers

Posted on January 20, 2022 by SmartComm

By: Ruth Fisk, VP Insurance Marketing at Smart Communications

All too often, life insurers are slow to adopt new technologies – especially when compared to other segments within the insurance industry. The good news? Life insurers no longer need to accept inefficient, manual intensive, primarily paper-based processes as the standard.

Fortunately, we are starting to see leaders in the industry actively look for methods to enhance the customer experience and improve life insurance selling strategies. However, we understand that sometimes when you are in the thick of it, it is difficult to see the forest through the trees. In this blog, we will explore how best-of-breed technologies can be used to better the new business process and improve the turnaround time in insurance.

Life Insurers need to accelerate their “speed to coverage” by improving the end-to-end insurance sales cycle process. A focused effort in improving their life insurance selling strategies will enable Insurers to improve the customer experience and reduce Not in Good Order (NIGO) rates, while also increasing the productivity of the underwriting function. To start, Life Insurers should leverage low code digital platforms to deliver intelligent, adaptive interviews that are intuitive and easy to use. These solutions offer reflexive questioning that enforces business rules and helps to automate manual intensive processes to draft amendments and exclusions, streamline the placement of facultative reinsurance and reduce the effort required to prepare policy contracts packages.

Easier said than done? Not really. Technology is the easy part. Most often, it is the culture change within the organization that prohibits positive change. Below are three easy steps to implement across the new business life cycle that when incrementally adopted, can fundamentally change the way Life Insurers operate:

Acquisition: Leverage a low code digital platform to reduce friction in the submission process by providing adaptive, intelligent interviews that guide the buyer through relevant questioning across any preferred channel on any device.

Onboarding: Improve turnaround time in insurance by investing in a pure cloud, modern conversations platform to enable automated requests for underwriting reports, including labs, para-meds and Attending Physician Statements (APS) with digital adaptive interviews, data management and ACORD messaging. Utilize a low code digital platform to guide the underwriter through a streamlined process that improves the ability to complete facultative reinsurance shopping in a simplified, automated fashion. Leverage on-demand, interactive draft editing tools to create Amendments & Exclusions, easily integrating the use of regulatory and legal language as required by jurisdiction or product.

Policy Issuance: Enhance the creation of the tangible aspect of the Life Insurance new business process – the policy contract – with a modern customer communications management (CCM) solution. This eliminates the manual intensive process typical for collating the mandatory documents required to order and assemble for the policy contract package. Once compiled, orchestrating the digital delivery of the product to the customer’s preferred channel offers a true omnichannel experience.

Life Insurers have a significant opportunity to modernize their operations by adopting proven, digital-first technologies that will enable them to dynamically modernize their life insurance selling strategies and improve their insurance sales cycle process. Core to this transformation is the adoption of low code digital platforms that are purpose-built for the cloud and can be business owned and led. This ultimately reduces reliance on IT and positively impacts revenue by decreasing the turnaround time in insurance. Key to this strategy is the ability to introduce incremental change – allowing the business to evolve and adapt – while gaining value from the benefits delivered to all their constituents through means of increased revenue, higher retention rates and improved customer satisfaction.

By leveraging pure cloud solutions and taking advantage of true SaaS offerings, Life Insurers will uncover the ability for fast implementation – often in weeks versus months or years. Those who adopt these platforms will be early-to-market with new product offerings as well as be seen as leaders in the field.

Life Insurers are at an apex of change, and the time is ripe. There is an easier way to meet a new generation of customers by switching to digital-first interactions and managing the entire life cycle from new business submission to issuance.

Leveraging Low Code Digital Platforms to Reduce Administrative Burden for Life Insurers

Posted on December 10, 2021 by SmartComm

By: Ruth Fisk, VP Insurance Marketing at Smart Communications

Life Insurers have previously been slow to adopt new technologies, but in recent years have placed a significant focus and investment in more digital-first strategies. The pandemic was the catalyst behind this shift in focus, and is allowing Life Insurers to address the ever-changing demands of today’s digital-savvy consumer.

But what isn’t discussed enough is some of the additional benefits of these digitalization strategies, such as how to reduce administrative expenses, that are equally important to improving the customer experience and also help to reduce operating costs.

While improving the customer experience should always be a top imperative for Life Insurers, they must also focus on how to reduce administrative expenses and burdens necessary to issue policies. Across the entire insurance value chain, leveraging low code digital platforms in their digital transformation initiatives has been proven to deliver value with specific benefits, including:

Operational Efficiency. Eliminate waste in processes surrounding submission, underwriting, facultative reinsurance, amendments and exclusions and policy issuance.
Cost Reduction. Significantly reduce the costs to issue and service a life insurance policy.
Improved Quality. Reduce Not in Good Order (NIGO) rates to improve quality, reduce rework and decrease turnaround time.
Speed to Market. Issue policies quickly to increase customer satisfaction and speed to revenue.
Effective Use of Resources. Reduce redundant manual processes, giving back more time to focus on the customer experience.

Enhanced operational efficiency, increased speed to coverage and reduced NIGO rates will be essential for the future of life insurance. As we move into this new era for the industry, let’s investigate an approach that ultimately will improve quality and efficiency while also greatly enhancing time-to-market.

Low Code Digital Platforms for Forms Transformation can Make Your Business SMARTER

Forms transformation is a key area of any Life Insurers’ digital strategy. Providing adaptive, intelligent interviews that guide customers and employees through any process that requires specific information to be collected, verified and then acted upon are good candidates for low code digital platforms. Using real-time data and customized workflows to create intuitive, interview-style forms empowers customer-focused businesses to streamline data-driven interactions along the entire customer journey, from acquisition and onboarding to servicing and growth. These could include processes that are both internal and external to your operations, including New Business Submission, Facultative Reinsurance Shopping, Amendments and Exclusions and Claims to name just a few!

As the need for transformation intensifies, companies are looking for proven solutions that provide more intuitive forms experiences, manage risk and deliver compliant and automated digital interactions. Below is a real-life example of just some of the benefits that a Top 10 North American Life Insurer was able to achieve in their forms transformation journey.

Significantly reduced turnaround time to process claims, saving thousands of employee hours

40% faster turnaround time

Reduced NIGO rates, leading to faster claims approvals and payments for customers

67% reduced NIGO rates

2,000 employee hours saved annually

Reduced Call Center Volumes

5% reduction in call center volume

The Key Benefits of Low Code Digital Platforms

Capgemini, a leader in the digital transformation space, recently released a new report that supports the industry’s need to leverage flexible, agile solutions built on low code digital platforms.

The key benefits and value of low code digital platforms according to the report include:

Enabling cohesive alignment between business and IT teams to enhance productivity.
Requiring significantly less capital and operational investment than traditional software development approaches.
Taking products to market quickly and making product updates on the fly.
Freeing IT team bandwidth, enabling members to focus on high-impact and complex projects.
Standardizing technical assets and development methodologies across the organization.

It’s time for Life Insurers to transform traditional forms-based processes into intelligent, conversational user experiences. Attract customers – and keep them loyal – by delivering seamless, mobile-friendly, guided interactions while also streamlining internal systems, managing risk, and reducing demand for support services. The result? More customers ready to transact and less friction, more efficient processes – from the acquisition to onboarding to service of your customers.

Smart Communications provides an integrated solution that allows customers, employees and stakeholders to harness the value of adaptive and intuitive digital forms with the key capabilities of The Conversation Cloud. Don’t procrastinate, letting inaction risk stifling your insurance business. Connect with us today and we will show you how to reduce administrative expenses and engage your customers in SMARTER conversations via digital experiences.

Smart Communications has long been recognized  by all major analysts (Gartner, Forrester, Novarica and IDC ) as a Leader and Innovator in enterprise-scale Workflow and Content Automation (WCA) and Customer Communications Management (CCM) – and most recently by Aspire in its 2021 Leaderboard Assessment, based both on our proven cloud approach, our strategy for enabling meaningful two-way customer conversations and our platform that’s purpose-built for an optimized end-to-end customer experience.

The Power of Integrated Insurance Solutions a Key Theme at Guidewire Connections 2021

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Mary Featherstone

By: Ruth Fisk, VP Insurance Marketing at Smart Communications

Earlier this month, the Smart Communications team gathered with insurance industry leaders at Guidewire Connections 2021. It was great to be able to meet in person (with precautions in place, of course) and learn from the people driving innovation for the industry. We were especially thrilled to celebrate 100 mutual customers with Guidewire!

As consumers increasingly prefer more personalized interactions and insurers navigate keeping up with the pace of change, the power of integrated insurance solutions is clearer than ever. Feeling inspired to dive into this topic a bit more, in this post we gather our three biggest takeaways from our time at the event.

Takeaway #1: The insurance industry is evolving and innovating.
In an earlier post, we discussed that the insurance industry is at an inflection point, where insurers need to take a more proactive approach to risk management. The combined trends of increasing customer expectations for personalized, real-time interactions, growing access to data and sophisticated technology and rising competition from insurtechs are forcing insurers to rethink how they manage risk and engage with customers.

This was a core theme at the show, and Mike Rosenbaum, CEO of Guidewire, highlighted the power of integrated insurance solutions – like Smart Communications and Guidewire – to enable insurers to engage customers, innovate and grow efficiently in this new era.

Takeaway #2: Maintaining the status quo will hamper success.
Companies across industries are being forced to challenge the status quo in an effort to respond to increasing customer demands, competition and more. No action is simply not an option – those that fail to innovate and evolve will be left behind.

Adopting a strategic approach to innovation and technology investments is possible, however. One of the most motivating sessions came from Andy Taylor, CEO of Gore, where he highlighted how a digital-first strategy helped the 180-year-old company transform 80% of its business in under two years. Accelerating technology replacements enabled the business to scale operations and become a high-performing national insurer.

Takeaway #3: There is an urgency to commit to innovation now.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Guidewire Connections? It’s critical to commit to innovation now.

Together with Kurt Markus of Mountain West Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, we presented how we are working together to exceed customer expectations through a digital-first policy and claims strategy. The integrated insurance solutions of SmartCOMM^TM and Guidewire Insurance Suite what used to take days and hours now only takes minutes.

Mountain West had decades-old processes and knew they needed to move to a digital-first approach and sophisticated technology. Previously, print was the only communication channel available, which led to challenges meeting consumer and agent expectations. With its new processes and technologies, however, Mountain West has scaled and automated personalized policy communications that also meet compliance requirements – without any heavy administration burdens.

The lesson? It’s important to commit to change now and with partners like Smart Communications and Guidewire, insurers will start realizing value.

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Interactions between insurers and their customers have never been more important and the best way for companies to succeed is to prioritize digital-first, omnichannel customer experiences. Powerful integrated insurance solutions empower insurers to deepen customer relationships, drive loyalty and build amazing customer experiences.

In his keynote, Mike Rosenbaum indicated that the Guidewire ecosystem will deliver 100x more value to the insurance industry over time. We are so proud to be a part of this and to continue delivering value to our mutual customers. Together, our innovative cloud solutions enable smarter policyholder conversations across multiple channels and allow for meaningful interactions that simply aren’t possible via legacy systems and outdated processes.

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To learn more about becoming a digital-first claims organization, check out our latest white paper where we discuss how to improve claims accuracy, reduce claims expenses and increase CSAT scores.

Omnichannel Insurance Solutions – the Next-Generation of Greatness

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Mary Featherstone

By: Ruth Fisk, VP of Insurance Marketing at Smart Communications

We are living in an always-on world – everything from ordering dinner, to opening a new bank account or filing an insurance claim can be done from a mobile device, in real time and when it suits the customer rather than the business. This is forcing the insurance industry specifically to rethink how they interact with their customers across a variety of channels and puts pressure on them to invest in omnichannel insurance solutions to effectively orchestrate interactive, two-way conversations as opposed to transactional, one-way communications.

The insurance industry has a long history – centuries, in fact – of adapting to change like this. In this post, we dive into how an omnichannel distribution model is helping leading insurers to deliver upon their guiding principles at the same time that customer needs evolve. We also provide a real-world example of an insurer doing this today.

Omnichannel Insurance Solutions for the Future

Times have changed and so too have insurers – yet their principal purposes remain the same, including:

Payments of Losses – ensuring insured individuals are less dependent on public assistance or relatives
Anxiety Mitigation – lets people know they are covered if a loss occurs
Support for Credit – aids in obtaining loans if insured
Accident Prevention – lives and property are saved

While insurers continue to focus on delivering these same important benefits to society, today’s modern insurer depends on new technologies and strategies – including advanced omnichannel insurance solutions – to meet the changing needs and expectations of their policyholders.

It’s no secret that the industry has seen more rapid change in the last 10 to 15 years than in the combined 350 years before, with today’s most meaningful contrast tied to how insurers deliver their products and services.

Today, insurers must effectively manage – or orchestrate – customer interactions to make them part of a continuous conversation rather than isolated, disjointed transactions. An effective omnichannel distribution model enables insurers to add digital channels to their print efforts, automate common customer interactions, effectively promote two-way conversations and more. This ensures that approved, compliant communications are delivered in real time and initiated when the customer demands it.

Wawanesa Insurance and the Power of a SMART Integration with Guidewire

This rapid evolution in the last few years has prompted industry leaders to build an ecosystem that brings together the best of breed solutions with pre-built code, accelerating the delivery of this combined functionality for today’s modern insurer. Leading insurers like Wawanesa Insurance want to focus on delivering value to their customers, not on the intricacies of integrating platforms. They rely on SMART partners to make this as seamless – and effective – as possible for their teams and their policyholders.

To address this, Guidewire, a leading technology platform provider for property and casualty insurance carriers, created their Ready for Guidewire accelerators. Smart Communications has worked closely with Guidewire to develop more than a dozen of connectors available to InsuranceSuite on the Guidewire Marketplace.

Smart Communications is proud to provide the #1 Customer Conversations Platform that Guidewire customers count on to uniquely deliver personalized, omnichannel conversations – empowering them to succeed in today’s digital-focused, customer driven world.

Wawanesa leverages Smart Communications pure-cloud communications platform to deliver hyper-personalized, omnichannel experiences that reinforce the organization’s commitment to member centricity. Through this work, the organization has streamlined communications, enabled greater consistency and improved the customer experience to:

Provide a fast and simple way to share information with policyholders
Boost productivity
Reduce reliance on IT to perform all CCM related work

By investing in cloud-based solutions like the Smart Communications Conversation Cloud^TM, Wawanesa has lowered operational costs and improved the user experience, so they’re always ready to deliver leading-edge service.

“The Smart Communications claims release is a game changer by automating a time-consuming process and rationalizing an inventory of more than a thousand documents to ensure that we provide consistent, professional and accurate customer communications. Wawanesa is committed to continuing to invest, listen, and more importantly, focus on being a trusted partner.” – Wawanesa Insurance

At Smart Communications, we are proud of the innovation we’re seeing across the insurance industry, both with leaders at insurance companies around the world and with our technology partners like Guidewire. Together, we’ll continue to chart a path toward excellence, driven by efficiency inside the organization and a top-notch experience for the policyholders that together, we support.

As we look forward to next month’s Guidewire Connections event in Las Vegas, we are ready to convince you to add more power to your Guidewire investments – and improve your customer communications strategy. More than 100 Guidewire customers across the globe trust Smart Communications to deliver SMARTER conversations across the complete customer lifecycle. We’re ready to tell you why live! See you at the Smart Communications booth (P2) at #GuidewireConnections!

Taking a Proactive Approach to Risk Management in Insurance

Posted on October 5, 2021 by SmartComm

By: Ruth Fisk, VP of Insurance Marketing at Smart Communications

Insurance exists to protect us – as individuals, as families and as businesses – and assist us when we need it most, after natural disasters, accidents, illness and more. When it comes to risk management in insurance however, the industry is at an inflection point. Today, insurers need to take a more proactive approach to risk prevention.

A convergence of several macro-level trends is forcing insurers to rethink how they manage risk and engage with customers. Those trends include:

Increasing customer expectations for personalized, real-time interactions
Growing access to data and sophisticated technology
Rising competition from up-and-coming insurtechs

For decades, insurers have used a reactive approach to business. If an event occurs, a customer will initiate a claim and the insurer will respond appropriately. Today however, insurance companies must evolve to become more proactive and minimize risks as much as possible.

In this post, we dive into why a more proactive approach is beneficial to risk management in insurance, how modern technology and new coverage models can be beneficial and why optimizing customer communications is integral to success.

Sharing Education Opportunities

A proactive approach to risk management in insurance begins with education. In the midst of hurricane season, for example, customers need to be better prepared from an insurance perspective. There are some customers that have probably been insured for decades but have never filed a claim. If insurers are providing helpful emergency preparedness advice up front, it ultimately creates a better experience for customers if they know what to do before disaster strikes.

We have also seen an increasing number of insurers sharing advice guides, which aim to steer customers to the kind of coverage they should have, their greatest areas of risk and more. Whether it’s preparing for storm season or advice for a young adult just starting out, there are countless areas where insurance companies can provide more education, such as:

How to protect property from further damage
Tips for preventing housefires
How to prepare a disaster plan
How to file a claim
Benefits of a connected home
Wellness tips, including nutrition, exercise and stress reduction

New Use-based Coverage Models

Many up-and-coming insurtechs are moving to newer service models that provide coverage on a need-only basis – think a “pay as you go” model. For example, Trov offers digital, in-app embedded insurance products while Slice provides usage-based insurance products anytime and anywhere.

By adopting new coverage models, insurers can meet customers where they are. With telematics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and more, insurers not only reduce risk, but also enhance the overall customer experience. The industry has already started adopting some of these practices with programs like safe driving apps that leverage telematics and data to help drivers secure better rates. And with homes becoming “smarter,” insurers need to take advantage of the data and insights newer technologies provide. Hippo, for example, offers monitoring systems that protect against fire, water damage and theft.

A New Era of Customer Conversations

Today, anything consumers want is only a few taps or clicks away. And with the pandemic forcing many people to rely solely on digital to meet even basic needs, customers have higher expectations than ever.

Insurers are increasingly being measured by how well they know their customers – experiences must be tailored to the individual. Successful personalization efforts depend on great data – collecting it in a way that is frictionless for the customer, and then leveraging a robust customer communications platform that can put it to use. Moving to a cloud model and leveraging open APIs will support a more modern and proactive approach to risk management in insurance. This will allow data from core systems, third-party solutions and more to be incorporated into tailored, personalized customer conversations.

Ultimately, customers want to feel like a name, not a number. Insurers that provide customers with risk mitigation tips and strategies, plus tailored advice to prevent (and what to do in the event of) an accident or natural disaster, will be the ones to come out on top of the competition.

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Smart Communications is thrilled to be a Platinum Sponsor of Guidewire Connections 2021. Please stop by our booth (P2 in the Partner Pavilion Pinyon Ballroom) to chat with us and learn more about how we empower insurers to deliver more personalized customer conversations.

You can also catch us at our speaking session:

Mountain West Enriching Policyholder Experiences with Digital-First Strategies

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021

3:45pm – 4:30pm PST

Ironwood 1-2

If you’d like to schedule a one-on-one meeting with one of our representatives, please contact us today.

How Financial Institutions Can Remove Friction from Data Collection for KYC and AML Compliance

Posted on September 14, 2021 by SmartComm

Financial institutions, especially those dealing with large deposits like wealth management firms, have a dilemma when it comes to compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) data collection and other regulatory requirements. On the one hand, firms and their advisors must comply with these regulations – they are in no way optional. On the other hand, the rules can be cumbersome and add friction to key client touchpoints – like new account opening and onboarding – taking time and making the customer experience more frustrating.

The combination of heightened customer expectations around digital experiences, shifting demographics and intensifying competition from robo-advisors, means wealth management and other financial services firms face increasing pressure to make data collection for KYC as smooth and painless as possible.

Let’s look at actionable strategies for proactively managing the process of collecting information and backup documents for KYC in a way that ensures regulatory compliance while actually delivering a fast, easy customer experience.

Technology Integrations Overcome New Account Opening KYC Compliance Challenges

The trend of opening new accounts completely online had been on the rise for some time but was accelerated by the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Deloitte, 63% of wealth management clients claim that online interfaces are a key component of satisfaction with their advisor’s firm.

And while this might be great news for consumers, it’s a massive headache for financial services firms that need to know exactly who these new applicants are. Running afoul of regulations because of not properly vetting applicants means more than just a slap on the wrist: financial firms have been fined $26 billion in sanctions for AML and KYC non-compliance since 2008.

The best way to avoid non-compliance during account opening, whether completely online or in-person, is to see data collection for KYC processes as a component in a technology ecosystem designed specifically to minimize compliance risks. By leveraging key integrations, wealth management, superannuation and other financial institutions can automate the process of assessing a potential new client’s risk of non-compliance.

Transforming Data Collection for KYC During Client Onboarding: From Static Forms to Dynamic Conversations

Often today the process of KYC data collection for identity and risk assessments starts with a static, non-fillable PDF form. Beyond the fact that they are tedious and time consuming, the problem with these forms is that the advisor or firm then needs to rekey in the information. This manual effort results in high rates of Not In Good Order (NIGO) rejections and a heavy lift on resources to manually correct information.

In addition, KYC regulations require a photo of government-issued ID, such as a passport. But investors don’t have the ability to effectively complete the data-capture process by simply leveraging their mobile device camera while completing onboarding documentation.

What financial services firms need is a solution that orchestrates digital customer communications, establishing two-way interactive conversations. If client information already exists in a CRM solution, why should the client need to enter it again? Instead, they can simply verify that the information is correct and update as necessary. Empower them to start and stop a digital interview on different devices as needed and enable collaboration by capturing information simultaneously from a spouse or other joint investor. The less time clients and financial advisors need to spend on data collection for KYC, the more time advisors have with them to build meaningful relationships.

More than 40% of wealth management firms already offer digital onboarding, and it is expected that nearly 70% will offer digital onboarding by 2022. According to Gartner, 82% of wealth management firms are investing in client-facing technology in the next two years.

SmartIQ^TM, Smart Communication’s guided digital interview solution, uses the open APIs connected by the Conversation Cloud to automatically send data to third-party systems to validate client identity. The solution also easily integrates with other tools that specialize in connecting data and case management for KYC risk assessments, such as OneSpan and Pega.

A guided digital interview solution like SmartIQ changes the entire dynamic of client onboarding in financial services. Instead of the dreary process of filling out paperwork, advisors can transform onboarding into an enjoyable experience that sets the tone for the relationship early on. There’s a huge difference between an exciting conversation around how best to secure a client’s financial future, and “First name? Last name? Address?” Advisors should ask themselves, “which experience would clients return to and tell their friends about?”

Creating Powerful Personalized Experiences – One Client at a Time

At the end of the day, clients want to feel special, whether they are investing $10,000, $100,000 or more. They want to feel like they are receiving preferential treatment and can avoid common tasks that are perceived to be low value, like filling out paperwork. Unfortunately, static PDF forms send the opposite message. And while specific data points are necessary for KYC compliance, the approach to data collection can make or break a client’s experience.

SmartIQ enables wealth management and superannuation firms to avoid filling out information that already exists, but still capture the necessary data for KYC, AML and other compliance frameworks. The ability to do this from anywhere on any device makes discerning clients feel like a name, not a number. It shows that advisors care enough about the customer experience to invest in technology that makes their lives easier. That’s really the essence of personalization – meeting clients where they are with an experience they feel like was designed exclusively for them.

As we’ve seen, financial services firms can be proactive in removing the friction caused by KYC data collection while remaining fully compliant with regulations, both now and in the future – all while providing a personalized experience that high net worth individuals expect. With the right technology in place, wealth managers no longer have to choose between strict KYC compliance and a fantastic customer experience.

Lessons Through a Lens: Pandemics Changing Communication in Insurance

Posted on July 20, 2021 by SmartComm

By: Ruth Fisk, VP of Industry Marketing, Insurance at Smart Communications

More than 17 pandemics have plagued the world dating back as early as 430 B.C. Some are more well-known than others, but there is no doubt COVID-19 will be well remembered as a pandemic that changed the world. The 1918 Spanish Flu, the deadliest pandemic on record, and COVID-19 have a striking number of similarities. Just more than 100 years apart, each forced business to restrict operations, schools to close, stay at home orders to be enacted, masking and social distancing to become a must. The economic and social impact of each was devasting, forcing a shift in thinking about how we deliver products and services and – as importantly, how we communicate in new meaningful ways with the customers we serve.

Insurers too have been impacted by the outcomes of the pandemic, forcing them to readjust their business strategies so that they can better cater to the expectations of today’s consumers — especially during claims interactions where their customer retention and satisfaction rates are at the highest risk. There may be lessons insurers can glean from the pandemics to help them adjust to the next new normal. Let’s take a closer look.

Evolving the Way Products and Services are Delivered

Today’s “Hollywood” was born out of the 1918 pandemic, when 90% of movie theaters were shuttered. Adolph Zukor, co-founder of Paramount Pictures, had the vision to deliver full feature films through new channels, focused on the customer experience. Adolph purchased the closed theaters, built the movie empire, and transformed the movie industry. Similarly, insurance too will need to adapt to a new way of thinking by reevaluating the customer journey – every interaction can be a make-or-break moment in the retention strategy for that customer. It will not be enough to simply set up a digital front end, while still forcing your customer to engage in antiquated processes, e.g., filling out and returning a claim paper form.

EY reports “The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the transformational trends impacting the insurance sector and highlighting the need to take bolder actions in areas such as digital capability and effective engagement to address the customer’s needs post-pandemic.”

The insurance industry must rethink its business models to meet the expectations of policyholders. Consumers expect insurers to have the ability to have meaningful, two-way conversations whenever they need them to happen, across their preferred channels (mobile, web, human). Insurers must pivot in the way they deliver products and services; to do this, they should retool their communications platforms to have SMARTER conversations with their customers.

Technology Adoption Increases During Pandemics

Communications were difficult in 1918. Individuals relied solely on printed newspapers to receive updates on the pandemic. Businesses sought new and creative ways to reach customers. The 1918 pandemic dramatically changed the way we live and communicate today. One example – in-home telephones became a staple, helping individuals and households to feel less isolated and more connected.

Insurance companies can also learn from this lesson. The policyholder typically has little to no interaction with the insurer until a claim occurs and even then they often feel like communication is scarce, which makes them feel isolated during their greatest time of need. Best practices are now showing significant opportunities to improve customer satisfaction in claims if communications are approached as personalized, two-way conversations rather than broadcasting one-way messages that leave the insured feeling disconnected.

New Communications Methods Become Mainstream

As a result of the pandemics, we can now see the rapid adoption of essential technologies that offer new ways of doing things, driven by consumers’ demands for a more digital, personalized two-way interaction. As these technology imperatives become mainstream, insurers must take the necessary steps to implement a digital-first strategy to orchestrate conversations more effectively across all parties related to the policy.

Most significant will be the continued adoption of modern communications tools and platforms whose growth was fast-tracked because of the pandemic – think on-demand movies streamed via mobile or advanced video communications platforms like Zoom, where daily downloads have increased 30x to provide opportunities for online interactions. That alone is not enough. The digital age is accelerating at an even faster pace for the insurance industry, which now faces more urgency than ever to transform operations to be more nimble and agile. This requires an insurer to act with determination and speed in their adoption of a digital-first platform.

Insurance Industry Responding to New Demands

Insurance organizations have aspired to build truly digital-first businesses over the last several years, however most had not achieved this pre-COVID. Today, the “nice-to-have” imperative is no more, with a true ultimatum in place to shift priorities and focus aggressively on this new paradigm. The pandemic has brought a seismic shift in the way consumers expect insurers to be digitally available and to respond to their preferences or jeopardize their relationship.

Nearly 40% of consumers in the U.S. indicated they changed their preference from direct mail to digital communications due to factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To survive, insurers must accelerate their digital-first approach, which includes modernizing communication platforms. A large percentage of existing insurers are still running legacy Customer Communications Management (CCM) platforms, which impedes their ability to respond to the real-time expectations of policyholders and claimants.

Insurers can build the foundational components of a digital-first strategy by changing their approach to communications including:

STEP 1: Customer Conversations Roadmaps

Create customer roadmaps that define all the communications intersection points and opportunities, as well as customer preferences throughout the claims process.

STEP 2: Modern Customer Conversations Platform

Embrace a modern, cloud-based SaaS Customer Conversations Platform to provide digital-first, automated solutions like chatbots, self-service portals and mobile apps – providing new communications channels to engage customers in meaningful two-way conversations.

STEP 3: Cloud-First Adoption

Future-proof your strategy. Provide the scale, agility, multichannel communications, seamless integration, responsiveness and speed to market by embracing a modern conversations platform purposefully built for the cloud.

STEP 4: Enjoy the Benefits

Achieve long-lasting benefits of modernizing your communications platform as a top priority within your digital-first strategy, maximizing your ability to exceed customer expectations today and into the future, while also reducing costs.

The outcome of the pandemics presents insurance organizations the opportunity to learn from the past, by adopting the newer technologies that have proven their worth in the marketplace. Doing so will enable insurers to build a solid foundation for their digital transformation strategy, making it easier to meet consumer expectations, provide long-term value and carve out new competitive advantages.

Ready to apply these lessons learned to insurance? Contact us today to learn more about how your peers used the experiences from the pandemic to provide SMARTER conversations.

Smart Communications has long been recognized by all major analysts (Gartner, Forrester, Novarica and IDC ) as a Leader & Innovator in enterprise-scale Workflow & Content Automation (WCA) & Customer Communications Management (CCM) – and most recently by Aspire in its 2021 Leaderboard Assessment, based on our proven cloud approach, our strategy for enabling meaningful two-way customer conversations and our platform that’s purpose-built for a post-pandemic customer experience.

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