Q&A with Craig Beattie
Craig Beattie, Senior Analyst, Celent
Q
What are the top technology trends for brokers in 2014?
A
Mobility, cloud and data protection are the big things. The insurance industry is moving to the cloud, becoming more mobile. It’s becoming more customer-centric by making sure that the data that agents need when they’re talking to their customers is available on any device. To do that they’re leveraging the cloud, leveraging mobility. They’re also increasing the risk of exposure of data.
Q
How is mobility changing the industry?
A
People expect you to have access to the data regardless of where you are. The key challenge for the broker community is that mobility drives a new set of expectations about connectedness, about having access to the services and data. They need to do their job on behalf of the customer. If you aren’t able to do that, it alienates the customer. You can be that much more accessible to the customer as a broker. It’s a great thing, but it comes with a penalty, the ball and chain that people expect that now.
Q
What’s happening on the cloud?
A
People have accepted this culture now that you can get access to any of the resources you need anywhere through a mobile device, and it’s enabled by the cloud. The idea that data is only stored in one place, data is only available within certain four walls or on certain machines is kind of odd and alien to customers. It’s the new normal; people expect you to have a mobile device, they expect you to be connected and they expect you to have access to all of the data through something that’s cloud-like and secure.
Q
That brings us to data security, what’s going on there?
A
We’re in a state of flux. Some people are getting used to trading some privacy for some kind of reward, whether it’s relevant data, relevant services or discounts. This is the economy that Facebook relies on. Brokers leveraging mobile, leveraging the cloud, aren’t in the position of it being OK to make a small gaffe [with customer data]. This is about financial services, so they need to be on top of their game to make sure that they’re protecting customer data. They won’t be forgiven if something goes missing.
