Call centers are a well-established segment of an insurance carriers customer service program, but many insurers have been slow to incorporate a true e-mail function that transforms a call center into a contact center. A new study by research and consulting firm Celent Communications, Multi-Channel Contact Centers in Insurance, finds carriers have not immediately recognized what is needed to expand those customer service offerings.
Insurers understand what it means to respond to a call inquiry, says Matt Josefowicz, a senior analyst for Celent and author of the study. When e-mail was thrown into the mix, a lot of companies started off treating it like it was a separate animal. He explains an e-mail message often was printed out, placed in someones in-box, and then it wound its way through the intra-office mail system until the right person got his or her hands on it.
There are several best practices for carriers to follow in setting up an efficient contact center, says Josefowicz: You need to use a forms-based system to capture sufficient information without being onerous. Use an internal routing and tracking system similar to the way calls are routed and tracked to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. The over-arching best practice is to apply the same management discipline to e-mail that is applied to calls.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
