Is your digital transformation plan dashed or doable?
The pandemic is forcing insurance pros to reevaluate their digital initiatives to figure out what to start, continue, or stop.
For years, business leaders in insurance and other industries have understood that digital transformation must be a top priority to stay productive, innovative, and competitive. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, companies are facing an unprecedented level of uncertainty regarding their operations. And while they initially focused on revamping their services around their customers to ensure they could maintain business as usual, it’s clear now that the virus crisis will be a much longer-term affair.
With real ongoing concerns about rapidly evolving customer behavior, insurance professionals now have to completely reevaluate their digital transformation initiatives to figure out what to start, continue, or stop.
Proactive steps for real resilience
Because COVID-19 has placed virtually all business and social systems under scrutiny and pushed people to experiment with new options, the odds are good that we might never return to the way things were prior to the pandemic. And while we might not know yet exactly what the new post-COVID-19 normal might look like, companies that take proactive steps to ready themselves as much as possible may prove to be significantly more resilient.
What you should do right now
- Continue to realign digital programs. One of the first major concerns business leaders had when the pandemic hit was maintaining the levels of service customers expect during normal conditions. This should remain your top focus. Consider shifting your attention to projects that provide a better customer experience or that enhance your ability to deliver to your customers what they want virtually. Aim to make the digital experience consistent, streamlined, and integrated across channels that correspond to client needs and functionality.
- Rethink priorities. Even if your company budget is solid, some initiatives might no longer be valuable given projections about the disease and market conditions. New ways of working also might mean that some projects would not be feasible, while others might require more security or privacy than you can offer in a work-from-home situation. Systematically measure each initiative to confirm whether it’s something you can realistically implement, and if necessary, push out the projects you cannot take sufficient precautions for.
- Restructure workforce strategies. Usually, requirements workshops, change management, and other critical transformation activities that are necessary to execute digital projects would happen in person. But since teams now have to operate outside of the office, you must change your strategy to allow these activities to occur remotely. Take the time to find useful, reliable tools that make online collaboration truly effortless; this will combat the tendency for remote employees to end up working in silos.
- Reevaluate your investment. The pandemic has placed many companies under severe financial constraints, which is strongly influencing leaders’ decisions about how to proceed with digital transformation plans. So although it’s always smart to think in terms of cost-effectiveness, it’s now more important than ever to focus on how you can digitize so that you get the most substantial return and ensure effective outcomes. Remember, as you consider your choices, that your transformation solutions might need to continue to perform for you not only now through the pandemic but also after the virus is under control.
What you should do next
Once you’ve worked through the challenges outlined above and have some stability, identify the transformation opportunities the pandemic presents to you. For example, you might be able to:
- Revitalize operating models
- Build digital capabilities
- Find new talent
Initially, focus on high priority capabilities. Shorten your development cycle to introduce value-added functionality, as well.
What you should do in parallel
You can take some actions both now and in the future to support your digital transformation. One essential activity is taking a look at your enterprise infrastructure. Most companies simply were not designed with systems that supported a 100% remote workforce. Now that so many employees must work from home, we can no longer ignore the many shortcomings these legacy setups have. Enhance your digital infrastructure to support the new reality COVID-19 has brought on. Some functional areas to consider include application resiliency, cloud adoption, reliable data/voice network operation, security, and BCP.
As you try to improve your digital infrastructure, keep in mind that you don’t just want to create improved systems that survive the “normal” life. You want to create systems that also enable you to thrive through future crises, too, whether those are pandemics, natural disasters, hacking, or other problems. This type of digital infrastructure might be more expensive or complicated, and it’s important to be realistic about which risks are valid. Still, the added effort and investment can separate you from competitors that don’t make it.
A tough but worthwhile adaptation
COVID-19 is unlike anything most modern businesses have ever had to deal with. And with many companies struggling or even shutting their doors, it’s easy to become scared that it’s no longer possible to move forward with the digital transformation you need and hoped for. Rest assured, you can still push ahead.
In fact, digital transformation might be the adaptation necessary to keep your business alive. You have to let go of preconceived concepts about the way we “must” work and acknowledge that the future, although different from what we once expected and planned for, still holds perfectly viable solutions. It might be a tough work-in-progress right now, but with perseverance, collaboration, and real vision, we’ll move forward in a way that truly benefits everyone.
Priya Merchant (priya.merchant.writing@gmail.com) is a digital transformation and innovation expert with nearly two decades of experience in financial services and insurance. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
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