Insurers in Australia Turn to BPO Providers to Improve Customer Experience

Spurred by competition and rising customer expectations, insurance carriers in Australia are rushing to design and deploy innovative digital products, and they are turning to specialized business process outsourcing providers for help, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Insurance BPO Services Report for Australia finds carriers in the country looking to improve customer experience, reduce costs and better leverage data for competitive advantage. The COVID-19 pandemic, specifically, has prompted carriers to empower agents with tools and technologies to support the best possible customer experience.

“Australian insurance carriers are being challenged to grow their businesses, respond to higher customer expectations, fend off intense competition from Insurtechs and other startups, and adapt to challenges created by the pandemic,” said Scott Bertsch, partner and regional leader, ISG Asia Pacific. “Many are turning to business process outsourcing service providers to help them meet these urgent priorities.”

BPO service providers are helping carriers offer modern digital experiences to customers and agents at all touchpoints, including applications, onboarding and claims, the report says. In many cases, insurance carriers are strapped to legacy technology systems, including mainframes, large database servers and expensive data centers that limit their ability to offer innovative new tools to customers and agents.

In contrast, BPO providers free carriers’ internal resources so they can focus on more strategic initiatives instead of trying to extract new functionality from aging, unwieldy and costly systems, the report says. BPO providers offer deep expertise in essential modern technologies like the cloud, artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, the IoT and chatbots.

The report suggests optimizing customer experience is essential for insurance carriers to grow their business. Today’s tech-savvy customers expect all interactions with carriers to be frictionless, efficient and mobile, and BPO providers offer a variety of technologies that can help insurers streamline customer-facing processes.

In addition, BPO providers are enabling insurers to grow by helping them launch products faster, the report says. Providers with analytics and data management expertise can use technologies like AI and machine learning to help insurers derive new insights from the vast data assets. Advanced analytics capabilities can give insurers a competitive edge.

Finally, BPO providers can help insurers improve their operational efficiency through services such as policy administration outsourcing, the report says. Many BPO providers also offer enhanced cybersecurity tools that can help insurance carriers protect their customers’ sensitive personal data.