New Novarica report on business and technology trends highlights growing use of analytics, challenges posed by lack of standards
Boston, MA (Feb. 25, 2020) – With plan sponsors seeking to drive out costs, group insurers are focusing their technology strategies on improving basic capabilities like benefit and policy administration, enrollment, marketing, and product design. In a new Business and Technology Trends report, Group Life and Voluntary Benefits, research and advisory firm Novarica provides an overview of group benefit providers’ business and technology issues, data about the marketplace, and almost 20 named examples of recent technology investments by group benefit providers.
“As products and the sales process have become more complicated, sales tools to help plan sponsors and enrollers explain the various product offerings are becoming more critical,” said Rob McIsaac, Executive Vice President of Research and Consulting, and lead author of Novarica’s new report. “Use of third-party enrollment platforms will continue to increase, requiring insurers to accommodate a more complex and less controlled environment. This means communications across the plan sponsor, enroller, and insurer systems are vital to keep each of them in sync.”
Among the key findings of the report are:
- Sales growth is robust for voluntary lines. Critical illness, accident, and term life products are showing strong growth. Dental and vision care offerings are gaining attention.
- Analytics are widely used for voluntary products. Applications include enrollment, identifying claims fraud, member conservation, sales reporting, and underwriting, among others.
- With no clear standard for group life and voluntary benefits information exchange, insurers are considering their next move. ACORD has proposed an enrollment standard—but with it based on one vendor’s offering, traction is uncertain at best. LIMRA recently introduced post-enrollment data standards, with plans for further enhancements over the next two years. InsureTechs may provide solutions for insurers.
- Innovation is still taking a back seat to execution, though insurers are expressing increased concern about the need for digital capabilities. Insurers are still focusing on issues of product design, enrollment, marketing, and continuing improvements to administrative systems.
Click here for the table of contents or to access the report.
Report Summary
Group insurers are focusing their tech investments on scalability and efficiency to support growth in a competitive market challenged by a lack of standards. This report provides an overview of group life and voluntary benefits provider business and technology issues, data about the marketplace, and almost 20 named examples of recent technology investments. Insurers are investing heavily in front-end and core systems capabilities across the board, including benefit and policy administration systems as well as distribution enablers.
Topics:
- Recent market and financial trends;
- Active insurer landscape;
- Technology issues, priorities, and examples by functional area;
- Top technology priorities for 2020 and beyond.
Click here for the table of contents or to access the report.
About Novarica
Novarica helps more than 100 insurers make better decisions about technology projects and strategy through retained advisory services, published research, and strategy consulting. Its knowledge base covers trends, benchmarks, best practices, case studies, and vendor solutions. Leveraging the expertise of its senior team and more than 300 CIO Research Council members, Novarica provides clients with the ability to make faster, better, more informed decisions. Its consulting services focus on vendor selection, custom benchmarking, project checkpoints, and IT strategy. For more information, visit www.novarica.com.
Source: Novarica
Tags: ACORD, analytics, InsurTech, LIMRA, Novarica, report, technology investment, trends
