Top Ten Trends in L/H Insurance E-Business 2007 and Beyond Report Published by Celent

Electronic application submissions have grown dramatically since 2004 but still account for less than half of all new business.

In 2004, Celent published a report on trends in life/health e-business that contained 10 projections for 2007. In a new report, Top Ten Trends in L/H Insurance E-Business 2007 and Beyond, Celent revisits those projections based on updated survey data from more than 20 life/health insurer executives and looks forward to 2010.

�In general, our predications from 2004 have held up,� notes Matthew Josefowicz, coauthor of the report and managing director of Celent�s insurance practice. �If anything, we underestimated the growth in electronic application submissions. Over 60% of this years� respondents said that more than a quarter of their apps came in electronically. This number represents more than twice as many as those experiencing this level of volume in 2004.�

�Policyholder portals are also an investment focus for life/health insurers, and if they do not have one already, most insurers have plans to implement one in the future. Policyholder portals will need to provide a higher level of functionality if insurers want them to remain competitive,� comments Jeff Goldberg, senior analyst in Celent�s insurance practice and coauthor of the report.

Looking forward to 2010, Celent sees the following developments on the horizon:

  • More sophisticated interfaces, built on AJAX or the next generation of web technology
  • A steady increase in the percentage of new business submitted online
  • An incremental increase in policyholder portal adoption
  • Ubiquity of online quoting and sales in term life and individual health, and an expansion of needs analysis and product guide tools for all product types
  • At least a 50% increase in online marketing spending, and a greater increase in search engine optimization

The 31 page report contains 21 figures analyzing survey data. A table of contents in available online. A companion report, Top Ten Trends in P/C E-Business 2007 and Beyond, was published in September 2007.

About Celent

Celent’s service offering falls into two categories, consulting and research, each of which is dedicated to technology in the financial services industry. We help banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies use IT to enter new markets in the shortest possible timeframes. All of our services are geared towards facilitating better informed, faster decision making. For more information visit www.celent.com.