InsurTech Takeover - ePayPolicy
The article discusses how InsurTech, exemplified by ePayPolicy's electronic payment processor, is revolutionizing the traditionally manual and slow insurance payment processes by enabling agents and insureds to make instant online payments, thereby improving efficiency, preventing policy cancellations, and streamlining fund transfers within the insurance industry.
Technology has the uncanny ability to influence and shape our lives. From the invention of paper in 105 AD to the unveiling of the first iPhone in 2007, great tech has the power to solve problems, altering the way we do things forever.
This is especially true for the insurance industry.
Insurtech, the practice of using new technology to help modernize the insurance space, is at the forefront of the industry, changing the way agents, brokers, carriers, and insureds interact and do business. In an industry where many processes are rooted in tradition and face-to-face interaction, those utilizing technology are nudging the landscape toward more cost-effective and efficient practices.
Payments, for example, used to be handled manually. Not long ago, if an insured needed to make a payment on their policy, the only available options were cash, wire, or paper check. Cash had to be handed off in person. Wire transfers could take up to five days to process. Paper checks also required in-person handoff and bank deposit.
If an agent needed a payment immediately, this was highly inconvenient.
Today, there are more options—specifically, electronic payment options. Fueled by passion and empowered by technology, our team created a payment processor that simplifies the process of submitting and accepting insurance payments. Agents and brokers now have the ability to offer insureds the choice to pay electronically, with clear positive implications for ePayPolicy customers.
“It used to be that if a policy was due to cancel that day, agents were scrambling to figure out how to get the funds to us,” said Teresa Hamm, Accounting Specialist for Towerstone Inc. “But now, agents can go online and immediately make payments. They’re helping their insureds’ policies from canceling, and I can turn around and get the funds to the carrier. It’s a win-win situation.”
Our integration capabilities also play a huge role in making things easier for agencies. ePayPolicy is integrated with several management systems, including Vertafore’s AIM, Sagitta, and FinancePro, as well as NowCerts, MGA Systems, and i-Engineering’s ALIS. These seamless system integrations mean that agencies, and specifically agency accounting teams, can process invoices faster and more efficiently. Gone are the days of paper checks and manual payment reconciliation.
“ePayPolicy has significantly improved the user experience for us as well as our clients,” said J. Archer Butler, Underwriter for Piedmont Premium Finance. “And, it saves our accounting team the extra work of going between multiple systems.”
Insurtech also has the power to improve communication in-house. Using a cloud-based service like Slack significantly cuts down on back-and-forth emails between colleagues and offers features to keep teams organized, such as chat room channels organized by topic, direct messaging, search functionality, and integrations with Dropbox, Trello, GitHub, and more.
Google Drive, another cloud-based tool, is used in-house to keep practices up-to-date. Drive is a file storage service with tools such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides—similar to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. These tools are auto-saved to Google Drive, and users can collaborate on projects together in real-time.
For insurance professionals, the advantages of Slack, Google Drive, and various other tech and software applications are plentiful. In a fast-paced world where things are expected to happen immediately, mobile apps for Slack, Drive, and many other services make the desire for immediacy a reality.
Old habits die hard, but when electronic payment processors, mobile banking, messaging services, file sharing, and more can fit in your back pocket, it’s hard to justify not adopting technology.
With insurtech, the question isn’t “why?” it’s “why not?”
The ePayPolicy team is passionate about insurtech and its positive impact on the insurance industry. To recognize this, we’ve launched our first annual ePayPolicy InsurTech Award. The award aims to recognize the insurance agency that has best adopted and leveraged technology to grow its sales, marketing, and customer service in 2018.
The winning agency will receive $7,500 in prizes, including a $1,000 cash prize, complimentary consulting time with insurance experts Mike Stromsoe and Chris Paradiso, a free two-year subscription to our payment processor, and more.
Additionally, each applicant will receive an Insurance Technology Adoption Score (ITA Score), a high-level score of an agency’s adoption of tech. Applications are free to submit, open to all agencies in the United States, and not exclusive to ePayPolicy customers.
For more information, or to apply for the ePayPolicy InsurTech Award, visit www.insurtechaward.com.
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