©2012 by EliNext Group

Insurance Portals: Today and Tomorrow

Stiffening competition, market volatility and heightening

customer service expectations are some of the challenges

facing the insurance industry today. In order to achieve

growth in this environment, insurance companies enhance

their services by providing more targeted offers, increasing

response times and automating data exchange.

©2012 by EliNext Group

Information is the lifeblood of the insurance industry. With a growing

number of consumers switching to online services and taking control

of their insurance-buying decisions, web presence is becoming a

crucial success factor. This is fueled by the accelerating awareness

that online transactions are getting more secure.

To integrate people, procedures and a wide array of information

sources, many insurance companies are turning today to the flexibility

and capabilities of portals.

An insurance portal is a role-based environment where content,

business applications and work flow management system are

assembled in a unified way. Portals help insurance carriers administer

customer histories, product details, sales activities, corporate data and

other relevant information.

Modern insurance portals give an excellent opportunity for agents,

brokers, suppliers, partners, employees and customers gain easy

access to appropriate resources and collaborate in a smarter way.

Various portal applications, or portlets, facilitate execution of end-to-

©2012 by EliNext Group

end processes.

Some insurance portals work with multiple insurance providers and

offer individuals the ability to get and compare insurance quotes and

plans based on personal circumstances (postal zip code, age, gender,

marital status, etc.). This option boosts the interest in web insurance

portals.

©2012 by EliNext Group

What are the key business values of insurance portals? The following

items are worth mentioning:

• Streamlined information flow across business units and

processes;

• Reduced operational costs related to a high degree of process

automation;

• Customizable role-based access to information and applications;

• Faster claims processing;

• Higher employee productivity;

• A clearer picture of the most demanded services and products;

• Outreach to a larger customer pool with a possibility of moving

into new market segments;

• Increased data accuracy;

• Enhanced collaboration between users and insurance agents;

• Integration with customer relationship management (CRM)

systems and call centers;

• E-learning with role-specific training and guidelines;

• Improved customer satisfaction due to self-service and time-

©2012 by EliNext Group

saving applications;

• Increased sales efficiency.

Sensing technological, economical and social pressures, insurance

companies are interested in having up-to-date and reliable portal

solutions. In the near future hardly any insurer will be able to do

without a portal. Obviously, prosperous are going to be those

insurance companies that invest in their software infrastructure to

sustain robust IT agility as a critical competitive advantage.

Industries and Technology Areas

Industries: insurance

Technology Areas: software development, portal development, web

portal

©2012 by EliNext Group

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Suggested citation: EliNext Group.2012. “Insurance Portals: Today and Tomorrow”<http://www.elinext.com/insurance-portals-today-and-tomorrow>