You’re living under a rock if you don’t know what software is. We use it every day, day in and day out. Even if you don’t work on software, you know it. A game is a software made for leisure purposes, there is specific work software. The apps on your smartphone are also software. The point to be clear is basically we are drowned in software. Welcome to the 21st century.
There is no lie in the statement that software has invaded the world. It has penetrated the deepest of our lives. As tech becomes more and more accessible, there is a sure chance it will grow manifolds. It has also penetrated the walls of industries, every company now is a software industry first and a product/service company second. SaaS, software as a service is the new trend. It has transcended boundaries and has leapt to the insurance world. This article talks about SaaS and its application in the insurance industry.
What is SaaS?
How Does Insurance Sector Works?
How SaaS can Transform the Insurance Industry?
Is there a Need for SaaS in Insurance Sector?
Benefits of SaaS in the Insurance sector
What is SaaS?
Even if you are naive, you will surely know something about this synonym. SaaS or software as a service is a business model that has been intriguing every business mind out there. It is a model in which software is used as a service and a whole business organisation is built around the walls of these services.
The reason for such popularity of software as a service model is simple to think of. They are easy to operate. Software is the best thing that has happened to humans after hardware tech. They are easy to use, have more efficiency, and are more effective for any scale of organisation. For example, Canva is a popular graphic design platform founded by Melanie Perkins, one of the world’s fastest-growing saas companies. It is valued at $40 billion.
Satyajeet Dash
How Does Insurance Sector Works?
Most people are insured but why is the sector even needed? The insurance sector works on a very easy model of work. You love someone/something and you want to make them safe. So, businessmen came up with a cash-making idea. The model of insurance was made.
Insurance companies will assure you of the monetary safety of the things/person you love and in return, they charge a little fee every month. That monthly charge is known to us as an insurance premium. And yes, you can even include yourself in the category of insurance and not just the precious things. The whole business is made on the basis of fear, or we can call it love. Many celebrities also ensure their body parts.
Insurance companies work for a lot of people, thus, they take insurance premiums from a lot of people. Now the hook is that there are fewer chances of ‘disaster or ruin’ happening every day so they just save and invest the premium money. Or the insurance companies can use some of that money to pay claims for some disaster that may have happened to some insured.
Insured things/people do not get ruined/die daily, so insurance companies save the premium and these earnings are invested. Making the whole business profitable.
Anagha S
How SaaS can Transform the Insurance Industry?
Now that we have discussed software and the insurance industry, it is safe to walk on the path of the intersection. Software is known to manage digital data and make sense of data of any magnitude. Insurance companies are companies that operate with a lot of people (Insurance clients). The intersection does make a lot of sense.
Software as a service has penetrated all the domains that humans have known, we mean, mostly though. In the industry of insurance, it has even more demand. It has made things simpler, easier and faster. That makes the work of the company, the firm and the client.
This hassle-free functioning was not possible before this new entrant in the domain. The insurance industry now saves a lot of time and money that can be used somewhere else. Which clearly is a benefit in daily operations as well as in the long term.
SaaS uses a licence and a delivery strategy that provides all the listed benefits of the insurance to the clients without even contacting the brick-and-mortar office. They kill the mediatory and increase the overall efficiency without even taking the support of a third-party source. This is cool and most people would love to pay for this software which actually gets the work done. SaaS provides the most up-to-date information to you and works on the new normal of the Internet.
Talking about the cash of the business, most software doesn’t take a cut for themselves while they cater to a company. By most, we meant the on-premises and hosted systems. The fact that this software in the insurance industry has to deal with a lot of data, does not really bother their efficiency.
Is there a Need for SaaS in Insurance Sector?
There are a lot of activities that an insurance company has to do. They have to constantly improve performance, speed up the writing and acquire new and new businesses (Investment) as soon as possible. With all these hassles, the insurers also have to increase efficiency and cut expenses, and the more the better.
With all this hard work, they still have to manage the clients’ risks well. They have to give strong competition and keep the existing customer happy while maintaining a good amount of new client base. All this can be easily overwhelming. This is the point in the picture when appropriate software comes into play.
If chosen suitable and relevant software services for an insurance firm, they can do wonders. Otherwise, it is not to mention that any insurance company is fragile and can come down like a house of cards. A suitable software as a service results in a fast and developed approach and better work management. Let us see how SaaS is shaking things up in the insurance world. Before we prepare a firm to jump into the software train let us read the benefits.
Benefits of SaaS in the Insurance sector
As discussed above, the insurance sector has a lot of work to do and a lot of data to manage. Incorporating suitable software can help address those mentioned challenges. This will enable the company to focus on its core business model and be more profitable. This is the basic thing that technology does. It simplifies things at any scale.
Catering to customer demands, lowering costs and providing security at a much better level are some of the benefits. Insurance companies can even entail cloud computing to use already-made configurations. Let us discuss the benefits in a little clear way.
Forward-thinking
Tell someone that you don’t want to use the software in your business, and watch them laugh. Forward-thinking is the phrase that properly explains the new innovations and the efficiency that they provide.
If an insurance company uses the best software in line, and they have everything automated, it is obvious that it will attract more customers. This is a great method to stay competitive. As this is a really good competitive advantage.
There are plenty of SaaS platforms like the Invoice cloud that companies can choose from and let them do the magic. Efficient software helps the IT department of an insurance company to manage more data with even more efficiency. Changes can be made easier and more rapidly than ever with no additional workloads.
This makes the business a little more flexible and we all know flexible businesses survive the most. There is also personalised software that crosses paths with users. You can customise, and enable-disable workings as per your specific business needs and requirements.
Greater customer retention
Customers or clients are good for any business out there. If you can increase the comfort for them, it will bounce back and they will be more loyal to the business. The insurance business is a big hard business and there are many rivals in the market.
In a market where everyone is trying to create differentiating factors, a great customer experience can go a long way in increasing retention. The software can make everything easy today, they can manage data, manage payments and improve the overall customer experience.
SaaS is easily expandable and is updated from time to time. The software can make things possible like automatic renewals, and automatic payments of premiums from bank accounts and there are a lot more ways. This is an investment in the comfort of clients and will pay in future retention rates.
Customisability and Scalability
Most of the Software that is provided as services is tailor-made to the needs and wants of organisations. They are super customisable and highly scalable in this sense. As the industry of insurance demands more and more rapid growth and scale. It becomes imperative to improve working management. If they are not calling fast and maintaining efficiency, they will not be able to hold customer demands and eventually lose customers. Thus, the software does the work for them, most software is extremely flexible and highly customisable that can take the shape of any organisation.
Data Guard
Data is the most important and precious asset in this digital world. If a company does not know how to keep its data safe then it is bound to not survive. In the insurance sector, they deal with millions of clients who are unique and have their own set of information. If the insurance company is unable to keep the data safe and secure then they will soon vanish from the competition.
SaaS systems are built with keeping in mind the security and guarding data that they will hold and manage in future. They have the capability to handle large sets of data with the same constant and clear security. They make sure that the insurance firm is never vulnerable in terms of data. These platforms are built with the thought of managing the data of each and every client while keeping a guard as they work and make sense of data for the company.
Insurance firms save the two most needed assets in the world today. With good, efficient software they save time as well as money. The Information technology department saves time by focusing on more important things. The finance department saves money to invest more and earn more returns in present as well as the future. Customers are happy too. For example, a firm can include a chatbot for prospectus clients that can improve the experience.
Albeit the fact that insurance software is effective and efficient, it is hard to prepare a company to incorporate software into the system. They have to look after many things before jumping into the storm. Let us see a few checkpoints before adding SaaS to an insurance corporation. For example, they have to plan everything in advance which can help decrease the hindrances in the process. Most software incorporates skill sets to handle all the data of the business architecture but they still have to be made personalised.
Insurance companies also have to look at integrations that they can provide. Once the software is at work, they have to check the value added to the company. If something is not bearing fruit, it is important to cut that part off. Only allow integrations that serve the users in a better way than before.
Damini Bhandary
Conclusion
We discussed that software is the new ‘workers’. Needless to mention that these workers are a million times more efficient than their human counterparts. That is the reason why software is transcending barriers and now is used in almost every domain. They are now even in the risky business of insurance.
Insurance companies can soar high with the help of these little thingies. They can manage data efficiently. They can improve the client experience which will help in more retention rates. They can save time and money with the help of suitable software.
All of these benefits while still managing to be more secure and alert with data security. This is almost heaven for the insurance world. Never before this was possible and it is delightful to see how companies can perform with these technological aids.
FAQs
What is SaaS insurance?
SaaS insurance is a delivery strategy that provides all the listed benefits to the clients without contacting the brick-and-mortar office. They kill the mediatory and increase the overall efficiency without even taking the support of a third-party source.
What are examples of SaaS?
Adobe, Google Workspace, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Atlassian are examples of SaaS providers.
Who is the largest SaaS provider?
Adobe Inc, which has a Market Cap of $198.9 billion, is the largest SaaS provider.
What is SaaS in business?
SaaS is a software-as-a-service model where an application is delivered over the internet and can be accessed from any device with an internet connection.
Why do companies use SaaS?
SaaS eliminates the cost of purchasing and installing software and maintenance. Also, SaaS applications are easy to install and maintain than hardware installations.
What are the most important aspects of SaaS?
It is easy to use, has enhanced security, saves costs and is scalable.
