Mobile Technology category: State Farm Insurance
State Farm Insurance was nominated by Chris Connolly.
Insurer: State Farm Insurance Companies
State Farm® has been serving Canadians since 1938, when it expanded into Ontario. State Farm currently operates in Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick only, providing insurance and financial services through our State Farm agents. Canadian Underwriter magazine named State Farm the fourth largest auto insurer and seventh largest property & casualty insurer in Canada (June 2009). The Canadian Head Office is located in Aurora, Ontario (north of Toronto) with 500 agents and over 1,500 employees serving Canadian customers.
In January 2015, Desjardins Group — the leading cooperative financial group in Canada — completed the purchase of State Farm Canadian property and casualty and life insurance operations, as well as its mutual fund, loan and living benefits companies. For more information, visit www.desjardins.com/ca/.
Distributor: Pocket Agent™ via the Apple apps store
Pam Sumner, State Farm (centre), with Doug Grant (left) and Dave Gibbons (right), Insurance-Canada.ca.
Description of Technology Used
Pocket Agent™ is a mobile application created specifically for the Apple iPhone. This technology will allow customers access to their account information, provide a virtual “insurance card” for their own use, provide a method of recording and an auto claim – along with providing pictures and diagrams of an accident and call a tow truck, find a repair facility, rental car etc. utilizing the GPS technology in the phone.
Deployment of Technology
The technology was deployed in 2009 to those customers. It is being released with little fanfare and some creative thinking to advertise. The application is available FREE to iPhone owners via the Apple apps store.
Impact of Technology
This technology empowers insurance customers to take advantage of mobile technology to better understand and to have control of their insurance benefits. This is a technology first in the Canadian insurance marketplace.
The application was introduced exclusively in the US and Canada and has already topped 100,000 downloads.
Feedback from customers has been limited due to the limited release time of this software.
An Analyst’s Opinion:
“Pocket Agent is just one of many examples of the myriad new opportunities enabled by the iPhone and Android platforms. Make consumers’ lives easier when they need it most, and they’re more likely to become — and remain — loyal customers.”
Springwise Financial Services
→ Back to 2010 Winners
General information about the Insurance-Canada.ca Tech Awards is available on the ICTA homepage.