My friend and colleague Laura Drabik, Chief Evangelist at Guidewire, published a blog in January encouraging the P&C industry to set a goal to make 2020 the year we “make insurance convenient.” With the Aspen 2020.1H release in June, Guidewire customers gained new capabilities that are giving them a completely new path to achieving that goal.

One of our key strategies enabling the level of convenience and customer-centricity that insurers want to provide is the constant growth and cultivation of a robust ecosystem of partner solutions made available on the Guidewire Marketplace. Let’s take a look at some of the new capabilities from the Marketplace that are already helping insurers extend their Guidewire platform to deliver service excellence, enable digital transformation, and ultimately make insurance convenient.

Payment and Disbursement Apps

The claims payment transaction is one of the key points of interaction between insurers and their customers. And let’s face it: That’s one of the main reasons we buy insurance in the first place—to get paid after a claim. The payments process presents an opportunity to either increase the frustration of already-disappointed customers or delight them with a superb experience. The latter option has become even more attainable with the Marketplace. This year, Guidewire partners added many new digital payment and disbursement apps that give insurers the ability to stop printing and mailing checks and instead pay claims the way their customers want—whether that’s ACH, prepaid debit cards, or even completely digital options like PayPal, Venmo, and even Bitcoin.

Virtual Service

The intake of photos, videos, and inspections after a first-notice-of-loss (FNOL) is another key point of interaction that can either have your customers feeling even more distraught—or be the moment that reminds them why they chose you to protect them. The Guidewire Marketplace now has a full line of apps that enable virtual claims inspection via photos, videos, or even in-person through crowdsourcing. These apps enable you, the insurer, to make the whole process more convenient at a time when policyholders need you most.

Personalization

One of the key principles of customer-centric design is the ability to personalize the experience. Not everyone wants email or SMS communications. Additionally, customers expect recommendations tailored to them instead of generic one-size-fits-all solutions. For insurers running Guidewire, there are a wide variety of apps that can support this, from advanced customer communication platforms to integrated auto-repair lifecycle management apps.

Just as Aspen has re-defined what a core platform is, P&C insurers are redefining the customer experience with a rich ecosystem of supporting capabilities from the Guidewire Marketplace.

To help plan your customer experience journey, download the Guidewire e-book Building an Ecosystem to Improve the Customer Experience, and let’s continue to make 2020 the year that we “make insurance convenient.”