The second key is to use the most cost-effective channels without sacrificing a high level of customer service. Call center, agents, email, phone and self-service portals--how can your employees determine which channels are the most efficient and cost-effective for different target audiences and desired behaviors? Again, using customer analysis and behavior prediction, call center representatives, agents and brokers can target marketing and sales efforts through different channels depending on the target audience in question.
Going one step further, new and advanced email response, Web chat and self-service portal tools are drawing more and more customers to the Web each day, enabling a consistently high level of customer service while "pulling" customers to a communications medium which is much more cost-efficient than the phone. Particularly valuable are Web-based self-service portals, which can function as a first and last point of contact and eliminate valuable time spent assisting a customer who can just as well assist him or herself. Finally, Web-based interactions tend to deliver on the holy grail of customer service--speed and convenience.
The third key is automation of the more mundane insurance business processes. Given the myriad systems in the insurance world--claims, billing and policy systems, not to mention automobile, home, life and health insurance subsystems for each one--CRM systems in insurance will only add another layer of complexity, labor and expense if they are not pre-built to connect with legacy systems and automate the mundane work of keeping these systems updated.…