Why Cloud Telephony Is A Gamechanger For The Insurance Industry

IT Solutions

For the insurance industry, recent years have seen increasing demands from policyholders for faster, more efficient claims resolution and better customer service. At the same time, insurers have been hit by the challenge of maintaining high levels of customer service during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has decentralised workspaces and moved many workers from the office to their homes.

Because of this, there has been an increased emphasis on digital support options as the solution to these challenges. One of the most important tools that insurers can make use of is cloud telephony, which enables much greater agility and flexibility without compromising on quality of service.

What is Cloud Telephony?

Cloud telephony is essentially a phone system that runs through an internet connection rather than a landline. As such, it allows insurance companies to move their business phone service to the cloud.

Cloud telephony is a common aspect of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), which brings together various communications systems such as telephony, instant messaging, CRM, and more into a single solution. As such, investing in cloud telephony will often also enable you to move your other communications channels to the cloud as well.

How Does Cloud Telephony Work?

Cloud telephony operates through a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service provider. Because of this, it’s sometimes referred to as a VoIP-based hosted PBX solution – although cloud telephony is much less of a mouthful.

The VoIP service provider handles routing when you dial a number, and analogue voice signals from your device are converted into data packets before being transmitted to the receiving device via an internet connection.

Rather than using individual phone extensions, this means using either a VoIP desk phone (a phone plugged into a network connection rather than a landline) or a softphone (an app that connects your computer, tablet, or smartphone to the VoIP provider).

Cloud telephony typically allows you to manage your business phone system through an online dashboard provided by your service provider. This dashboard enables you to manage users, monitor call logs, and control functions such as call forwarding from one place.

Why Cloud Telephony Is A Gamechanger For The Insurance Industry

Cloud telephony offers a number of different advantages to the insurance industry. First and foremost, it taps into policyholder demand for seamless online service – most people looking for an insurer want to do it online, and 75% say they would switch providers if they didn’t provide a seamless policy service across digital channels.

Cloud telephony, therefore, enables much easier integration of your phone systems with digital channels such as chatbots and customer service messaging. Providing a seamless multi-channel experience is a powerful way for insurers to enhance policyholders’ customer experience and increase customer retention.

Besides this, cloud telephony also provides a number of other benefits to insurers.

Accelerated Claims

Cloud telephony enables easier deployment of intelligent routing systems and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) that can more efficiently rout policyholders to the member of your team who is best qualified to handle their claim or query. For simpler queries, cloud telephony also enables more efficient automation and self-service options.

As such, cloud telephony can lead to vastly accelerated claims processes, increasing your operational efficiency while also providing a more efficient service to policyholders. This enhanced service can then lead to increased customer retention rates.

Scalability & Affordability

Another advantage of cloud telephony is its flexibility. Unlike traditional phone systems that may need expensive upgrades to increase capacity – accompanied by additional upgrade charges from your service provider – cloud telephony services can easily be scaled up and down at minimal cost.

Most cloud telephony providers operate on a subscription model where the deciding factor in how much it costs you is your number of users. This pay-per-user model means that you can easily and affordably scale up during periods of peak demand without incurring any upgrade charges or needing to expand on-site hardware. You can also scale down just as easily once the peak demand period has passed, enabling much greater cost-efficiency.

Enables Decentralised Workforces

Working from home has seen a dramatic rise due to COVID-19, and cloud telephony provides a powerful means of keeping your business online even when your team can’t be on-site. Whether they’re working from home or at your claims centre, cloud telephony enables your team to access the same level of functionality wherever they’re based.

Call Recording, Storage & Insights

Traditional call recording services can get expensive quickly, especially if they run on a cost-per-minute basis. With cloud telephony, however, calls can easily be recorded and stored directly within the cloud, and since most service providers operate on a per-user basis rather than per-minute, it’s often a much more cost-efficient service.

What’s more, storing recordings and other customer data within the cloud enables you to easily analyse collected data to provide deep customer insights. Mass analysis software, AI and machine learning systems can easily be deployed via the cloud, opening the door to more intelligent business insights.

Conclusion

The cloud has already revolutionised how many industries operate, and cloud telephony looks set to do the same for the insurance industry. By providing a reliable, efficient, and cost-effective solution that enables a more unified, online-centred approach to communications, cloud telephony has the potential to deliver tremendous value to companies within the insurance industry.