San Francisco, Calif. — Nine in ten (89 percent) insurance executives say inefficient business processes are having a negative effect on their organizations. Staff morale and productivity suffer as a result, but almost half (49 percent) of insurers still have no business process quality assessment in place.
In a recent poll conducted by Exigen Group, 85 insurance managers and executives were asked to identify the symptoms of business process inefficiency, or 'corporate cholesterol', prevalent in their business. Most (89 percent) had experienced at least one symptom, while 30 percent suffered from more than three. Almost a quarter (23 percent) said this led to frustration and low morale among employees, while 21 percent said it directly impacted productivity and 18 percent felt it affected customer satisfaction.
The survey showed that the most common symptom of business process inefficiency is that customer inquiries result in a flurry of internal calls and emails. Almost a third (30 percent) of insurers recognized this as a problem in their own organization, highlighting a lack of integration between departments, systems and processes.
Another indication of inefficiency, experienced by 20 percent of respondents, is that more established employees complete processes much more quickly than more junior staff, indicating a reliance on complex workarounds and know-how instead of intuitive systems.
Despite this, almost half (49 percent) of those polled indicated that their organizations do not have a business process quality assessment program, such as Six Sigma or ISO 9001, in place.
The greatest perceived obstacle to operational improvement was legacy technology, with 19 percent of respondents saying existing systems are to blame for lack of business process innovation. Insufficient management interest and inadequate skills were also cited as major hindrances to business process change.
"Although low investment in technology over the past few years has left many insurance managers dissatisfied with their systems, legacy technology is not entirely to blame for operational inefficiency," said Jim Logan, general manager, insurance at Exigen. "Lack of integration system silos is most likely to be the real culprit. This is hardly surprising when 78 percent of business processes targeted for improvement span multiple departments, according to this survey. Process integration can be achieved without ripping out existing systems. But that requires analysis and measurement which, as this poll indicates, are not yet standard practice across the insurance industry."
Exigen's guide to achieving business process efficiency, entitled 'Spotting the Symptoms of Corporate Cholesterol', is available at www.exigengroup.com/downloads/index.html#insurance.
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