The Document Strategy Forum 2018 conference I attended late last month provided attendees with a view of how technology is changing the way documents are being delivered, archived, and managed for customer experience. While DSF ‘18 wasn’t an insurance-specific conference, many of the attendees were IT managers with responsibility for CCM and ECM systems, along with business managers responsible for customer communication and experience at various insurance carriers.
The session presentations covered some interesting topics on document management and customer communications, from how GDPR regulations will affect document archiving to the impact that blockchain will have on document authentication. In addition, over 40 solution providers were available for attendees to visit in the exhibit hall. I had interesting discussions with attendees and vendors about the evolving nature of CCM and ECM in providing digital customer experience, and the use of AI/machine learning to better manage electronic documents, including content now becoming widely used, like video and imaging.
On the final day of the conference, I led an insurance industry roundtable with upwards of 30 people titled, “Top Trends for Document Strategies and Customer Communications in Insurance.” After presenting Novarica research on industry trends and how insurers are leveraging CCM and ECM solutions, including a recent Novarica Market Navigator, Document ECM/CCM Systems, the attendees participated in an engaged discussion around common challenges and best practices. Some of the topics discussed included:
- Business ownership of document management initiatives, including better engaging business owners through improved governance and balance of resources. One attendee shared his best practice, which involved creating a “forms team” intended to bridge the gap between business users working closely with customers and the IT group with deep expertise in managing the CCM/ECM solutions. As a result, the forms team has the expertise and the tools to translate business needs into the forms configuration required for the systems.
- Levers for funding document technology efforts. Many agreed that risk/compliance issues can be used to emphasize the need, but also to educate leadership on how new capabilities can better support the customer experience.
- Providing omnichannel experiences is a challenge. Attendees discussed how the needs of the call center, agent portal, CCM systems, etc. can lead to a disjointed customer experience across multiple digital channels. One participant suggested setting up metrics and a dashboard to show what channels are being used and how customers are using them, especially the difficulties they have in communicating with the carrier. These metrics can help with prioritizing improvement initiatives and provide valuable input to business owners.
- Customers don’t look at the terms and conditions in policy documents and tend to not open electronic bills and other documents sent to them in digital form. Some agreed that more discussion was needed with regulators and vendors to determine how to better ensure compliance while providing documents that customers understand and trust.
Insurance customers continue to evolve from buying policies based on price and coverage only to buying based on the overall experience. The experience continues to be shaped by documents, both traditional paper and newer digital forms, such as images and video. DSF ’18 provided some good insight into how technology is changing documents along with how those changes will continue to affect insurance customer experience.
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