The solution? Technology.

Turning to an intangible and nonhuman tool to reinstate empathy within the industry may sound counterintuitive. But the truth is that technology can reaffirm the insurance industry’s commitment to supporting consumers by enhancing customer experience. The fantastic work done by advisors, service representatives and everyone who encounters clients continues to be vital. However, it’s through streamlined processes, improved analytics and diversified communication channels, that distributors can make great strides in helping policyholders once again trust their carriers to support them when they need it most.

Technology can reform manual processes, freeing up agents to focus on policyholders.

Life insurance agents and financial advisors often must juggle multiple responsibilities, such as attending and leading client meetings, doing paperwork, completing certification programs or trainings, lead generation, prospecting, and more. This means that effective time management through optimized processes is essential. However, many life insurance carriers are still reliant on pen and paper. When there’s an important event in the policy lifecycle — such as gathering quotes, binding the policy, making changes or filing a claim — there’s often a mountain of paperwork to accompany it.

The right technology can help carriers better understand and tailor the customer experience.

Today, legacy style carrier-policyholder interactions aren’t enough. With the advent of streaming services, consumers can access libraries of content tailored to match their viewing preferences. Other financial services industries have also caught on, creating fast-paced, on-demand experiences for consumers. A simple check-in email from an insurance carrier every few months leaves much to be desired for consumers who are losing faith in the industry.

Additionally, advisors often work with hundreds of clients, and carriers service millions of policyholders, making it nearly impossible to send individualized outreach emails or touchpoints. But with the help of a strong customer relationship management solution, advisors and enterprises can spend less time maintaining data and more time engaging customers.

When seamlessly integrated with an organization’s streamlined core systems, carriers and advisors can use technology to extract trends and leverage them to help generate potential touchpoint communications. This takes some of the administrative burden off advisors’ shoulders and allows them to redirect their focus to customer support.