Digital office experience critical to attracting, retaining next gen of insurance pros
Nearly 70% of young employees indicated they would consider leaving a company if digital experience expectations were unmet.
It is not just policyholders seeking the ease and convenience that accompanies advanced digital experiences and communication tools. According to a report from Riverbed Technology LLC, 92% of financial services and insurance executives said advanced digital experiences will play a vital role in attracting the next generation of insurance professionals.
As a result of the growing importance of digital experiences, or DEX, 93% of executives surveyed indicated that investment in this area will be a top priority during the next five years.
Nearly 70% of Gen Z and millennial employees indicated they would consider leaving their company if DEX expectations were not met. Around the same percentage said failing to meet these expectations can hinder a company’s productivity, reputation and performance. In fact, a seamless DEX was viewed as a more important office perk, beating out weekly office happy hours and free coffee and snacks, Riverbed reported.
Around half of the survey respondents said artificial intelligence and the cloud are the most important technologies among those that will become increasingly “business-critical” in the coming 18 months. Other technologies growing in importance, according to Riverbed, are app and network acceleration, DEX management solutions and automation tools.
“Now with digital natives increasingly entering the FSI workforce, it’s more critical than ever that robust DEX solutions are in place. This is not just to keep Gen Z and millennial workers productive but also to avoid risk, automate processes, ensure client financial transactions are efficient and to empower top talent to work more strategically,” Jim Gargan, Riverbed CMO, said in a release.
He noted that while it is becoming more difficult to deliver enhanced digital experiences, it is encouraging to see that most industry leaders recognize the importance of DEX and are making investments to address any shortcomings.
When it comes to barriers hindering DEX improvements, 36% of executives said their company has inadequate observability tools, while 34% reported facing budget constraints and 32% said they had too much data to sort through. An additional 29% said they lack the appropriate cloud services or SaaS apps to deliver a seamless DEX.
At the same time companies are working to improve DEX, 34% of executives said they are facing IT personnel shortages. This is hindering business modernization, as 94% of survey respondents said IT is more responsible for business innovations now than three years ago.
Further, 45% of financial service and insurance decision-makers said they have the IT staff to enact changes, but they lack the necessary skill sets to implement enhanced digital tools. However, 85% of survey respondents said they have allocated funds to retrain staff.
Related: