wist u ook dat MultiNet een soort community/social network aan het wortden is.
4 Technology Solutions That Sizzle
While insurers often are cautious in their adoption of emerging technologies, carriers are investing in four solutions -- cloud computing, mobile, analytics and social networking -- that are just too transformative to ignore.
By I&T Staff
december 15, 2009
SOCIAL NETWORKING
Social Media Opens New Avenues for Insurers
Insurers have been dipping their toes in social networking for several years. But it no longer is enough merely to have a presence on a social networking site.
"[Carriers] are increasingly focused on using social media to access new markets [and] customer segments and to get the word out," says Joe Guastella, principal, insurance, Deloitte Consulting. "Now we're actually talking to the compliance people about that. ... It's a bit of a learning curve, but social media will develop quickly as an integral part of a company's presence and possibly distribution."
As such, carriers increasingly are customizing their social media sites. New York Life ($14 billion in 2008 operating revenue), for example, has joined forces with LinkedIn to offer a customized experience. "We have been participating in a beta program with LinkedIn that shows an agent recruiting view of the company to those in sales and a corporate jobs view to others," relates Kenneth Hittel, VP, corporate Internet department, for the New York-based insurer, which also maintains a Facebook page.
According to Ben Foster, senior strategy and content manager - social networking for Allstate Life Insurance, a business unit of Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate ($29.4 billion in 2008 revenue), there is huge value for a company that can create a personalized social Web experience. "The social Web can help us deliver a highly personalized experience that could so radically improve products, services and experience that leading brands in our industry could become as beloved as brands like Nike, Whole Foods or Apple," he asserts.
In addition to a Facebook page and multiple Twitter accounts (each with its own objective), Allstate also supports proprietary community microsites, where people can share ideas about "keeping families safe, saving money and preparing for what's next," Foster relates.
Meanwhile the dynamics of social media are forcing carriers to communicate much more openly -- both internally and externally -- than ever before. "People are more proactively asking us things, asking our opinions," says New York Life's Hittel. "Communication is much more conversation-based."
Under the auspices of carriers, agents also now have a pervasive social media presence -- although regulatory concerns are always top of mind. "They cannot conduct business on the site," Hittel explains, referring to New York Life's Facebook page. "When they communicate with anyone from a business perspective, they use their dedicated agents' e-mail, which we can monitor. We meet all of our SEC and FINRA requirements."
Adds Deloitte's Guastella, "It is a sign of maturity, if you will -- the fact that [social media have] been raised to the attention of compliance officers rather than just on the distribution side. Previously people were just brainstorming on how social media could help distribution and community presence. Now it has been elevated to something needing oversight and management as part of company operations. That represents a maturation of its perceived role in the company." -- Melanie Rodier