#Insurtech - Harnessing the power of digital: Are life insurers up to the task? | LifeHealthPro
Given limited IT budgets, life insurers should target digital investments to a few key areas that will have the most bang for the buck, say McKinsey's analysts. (Photo: Thinkstock)
It's long been understood that life insurers have lagged other sectors in digitizing their business processes and directing money to new technologies to try to gain a competitive edge.
The only question is, how much have they underinvested?
One answer comes from McKinsey & Co. In a new report, "Harnessing the Power of Digital in Life Insurance," the market research firm suggests that most carriers will have to "quadruple" spending on information technologies — back-office policy administration and underwriting systems, customer-facing web portals, mobile solutions for agents and advisors, among other business operations — to boost sales and their bottom line. The task is all the more urgent, the report warns, because of two forces buffeting the industry:
a marked decline in industry revenue (annual sales of new policies have dipped from about 17 million contracts in the 1980s to roughly 10 million today); and
#Insurtech - Harnessing the power of digital: Are life insurers up to the task? | LifeHealthPro
Given limited IT budgets, life insurers should target digital investments to a few key areas that will have the most bang for the buck, say McKinsey's analysts. (Photo: Thinkstock)
It's long been understood that life insurers have lagged other sectors in digitizing their business processes and directing money to new technologies to try to gain a competitive edge.
The only question is, how much have they underinvested?
One answer comes from McKinsey & Co. In a new report, "Harnessing the Power of Digital in Life Insurance," the market research firm suggests that most carriers will have to "quadruple" spending on information technologies — back-office policy administration and underwriting systems, customer-facing web portals, mobile solutions for agents and advisors, among other business operations — to boost sales and their bottom line. The task is all the more urgent, the report warns, because of two forces buffeting the industry:
a marked decline in industry revenue (annual sales of new policies have dipped from about 17 million contracts in the 1980s to roughly 10 million today); and
