Description
As of April 2010, several Swiss motor insurers offer mobile apps that enable customers to submit a loss report. This article discusses the emergence of mobile apps in the insurance industry and the impact of mobile technology on claims management in motor insurance.
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As of April 2010, several Swiss motor
insur ers offer mobile apps that enable cus-
tomers to submit a loss report. This article
discusses the emergence of mobile apps in
the insur ance industry and the impact of
mobile technology on claims management
in motor insurance. We also present a de-
monstrator that goes beyond existing solu-
tions by integrating a mobile app with a
commercial claims management enterprise
system. The technical aspects are comple-
mented by results from expert interviews on
mobile claims management, which cover
technology and market trends, distribution
channels for mobile apps, mobile strategy,
business processes in mobile claims manage-
ment, and the marketing potential of
mobile apps.
The Potential of Mobile Techno-
logy in Claims Management
Motor insurance is the class of business
with the largest premium volume within
property and casualty insurance. How-
ever, in most developed countries growth
opportunities are limited due to market
saturation and the low growth rates of
the underlying markets. At the same
time, new competitors from related in-
dustries (e.g., car manufacturers and
automobile clubs) entered the market
and put pressure on motor insurers.
Against this background, insurers are
searching for ways to gain market shares
and to improve their financial perform-
ance. The competitive pressure leaves
little room for price differentiation and
makes large-scale premium increases dif-
ficult to achieve.
A first approach to improve insurers’ mar-
ket position is competitive differentiation
by means of value-added customer ser-
vices. A second approach is to improve
the combined ratio by decreasing loss ad-
justment expenses and incurred losses.
However, there are several reasons why
cost savings are difficult to achieve. They
include late, incomplete, and in accurate
loss reports after car accidents, time-con-
suming claim investigations, and the in-
sufficient integration of business partners
such as repair shops in the claims man-
agement process.
1
Early and more detailed
information about an insurance claim
could enable the insurer to pro-actively
manage the process and shorten the aver-
age claim life cycle from the first notice
of loss to the closure of the claim. Based
on timely information and active process
management, insurers can benefit from an
increased process transparency while loss
adjustment expenses can be decreased. In
addition, an early notification of the in-
surer allows for the integration of business
partners to settle the claim and enables
insurance companies to decrease incurred
losses.
2, 3, 4
While insurance companies strive to de-
crease costs by streamlining their claims
management processes, customers lack
adequate assistance when it comes to an
insurance claim – the «moment of truth»
in claims management. In such unpleas-
ant and emotionally stressful situations,
customers require both immediate assist-
ance and support with the submission of
the loss report. As consumer research of
AXA UK amongst 2 000 motorists
showed, only 34 percent of the respond-
ents claimed to know exactly what to do
in case of an accident and just 57 per-
cent would remember to take photos of
the accident scene.
5
From a customer
perspective, mobile phones are ubiqui-
tously available and technology affinity
is steadily increasing. While the direct
contact to a human counterpart is a na-
tive need after a car accident, the mobile
phone has emerged as the most domi-
nant mediation device in safety-critical
situations. Qualitative interview data as
well as quantitative studies show that
The authors
Dr. des. Oliver Baecker is Senior Researcher at
the Competence Center I-Lab at the ETH Zurich
(D-MTEC) and the University of St. Gallen
(ITEM-HSG).
Lukas Ackermann leads the Competence Center
I-Lab at the ETH Zurich (D-MTEC) and the Univer-
sity of St. Gallen (ITEM-HSG).
Prof. Dr. Walter Ackermann is Director of the Insti-
tute of Insurance Economics, University of St. Gallen.
Prof. Dr. Elgar Fleisch is Professor of Information and
Technology Management at the ETH Zurich and the
University of St. Gallen (ITEM-HSG).
Oliver Baecker
Walter Ackermann
Elgar Fleisch
Lukas Ackermann
Mobile Claims Management: Smartphone Apps in Mo-
tor Insurance
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Sigorta), and the US (iClaim offered by
the Farmers Insurance Group, which
belongs to Zurich Financial Services).
AXA offers different apps in the United
Kingdom, Germany, France, Luxem-
bourg, and Switzerland. From a corpo-
rate strategy perspective, it is interesting
to note that the apps differ in terms of
their functional range, while some of
them do not even follow a common
look and feel.
All of the investigated apps are available
for the iPhone, while only a few apps are
also available for phones based on the
Google Android operating system or for
Blackberry devices. A first-mover in
terms of platform diversity is the US in-
surer GEICO, who offers a mobile
claims app for the iPhone, Google An-
droid devices, and Apple’s iPad. Further
insurers that support platforms beyond
iPhone OS are American Family Insur-
ance (supports BlackBerry devices), Atos
Worldline (Google Android), Progressive
apps).
9
The evolvement of the competi-
tive landscape of mobile claims apps be-
tween April 2009 and November 2010
is visualized Figure 1.
The outlined trend started with the US
insurer Nationwide launching the first
mobile claims app in April 2009. Until
November 2010 nine out of the ten
largest US motor insurance companies
(based on direct premiums written in
2008) offered a corresponding app.
During the last couple of months the
trend reached Europe and in April 2010
three out of the five largest motor in-
surance companies in Switzerland
launched a mobile claims app almost
simultaneously. While most companies
still offer their app in just one country,
some apps were successively released in
several countries. As an example, Zurich
offers apps in Switzerland (Zurich Help-
Point and Zurich Connect), Germany
(Zurich Unfallhelfer), the United King-
dom (Zurich Connect), Turkey (Zurich
peoples’ perception of mobile phones is
to never be alone in emergencies.
6
Against this background, the application
of mobile technologies in claims man-
agement can address the outlined needs
of insurance customers as well as the
challenges of insurance carriers. Accord-
ingly, mobile technology can support
customers in the aftermath of car acci-
dents to quickly submit a structured loss
report and to benefit from faster access
to assistance services. From an insurer’s
point of view, a mobile solution that
supports customers during the claims
management process can address the out-
lined cost savings potential and can be
offered as a value-added customer ser-
vice. In addition, the mobile phone can
be considered as a new communication
channel that increases the interaction fre-
quency between insurance carriers and
their customers.
7
Emergence of Mobile Claims
Apps
The outlined advent of smartphones of-
fers a new opportunity for insurers to
turn a customer’s unpleasant and emo-
tionally stressful claim situation into a
positive service experience. Starting in
April 2009, the first motor insurers be-
gan to address the outlined opportunities
and launched smartphone apps that sup-
port customers after car accidents. We
refer to them as «mobile claims apps»,
while the underlying processes are de-
noted as «mobile claims management».
Between April 2009 and November
2010, 57 insurance companies launched
apps that enable customers to submit a
loss report from their smartphones and
to benefit from value-added assistance
services such as requesting a tow truck.
To give an overview of the competitive
landscape and to understand which in-
surance companies shape this trend, a
market survey of mobile claims apps was
conducted.
8
The survey analyzed smart-
phone apps offered in the three largest
online stores: Apple App Store (300 000
available apps as of November 18, 2010),
Google Android Market (87 000 apps),
and BlackBerry App World (14 486
Figure 1: Competitive landscape of mobile claims apps
Figure 2: Most frequent functions of mobile claims apps
60
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Others
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app in
the US
1
st
European
app in UK
1
st
D-A-CH app
in Germany
0
10
US
4.09 5.09 6.09 7.09 8.09 9.09 10.09 11.09 12.09 1.10 2.10 3.10 4.10 5.10 6.10 7.10 8.10 9.10 10.10 11.10
Date
1. Call insurance company
2. Find nearby insurance agent
3. Call emergency numbers
4. Step-by-step loss report
5. Photo of the accident
6. Automatic localization
7. Other party support
8. Witness support
9. Digital loss report
10. Check claim status
11. Manage account / vehicle info
12. Find approved repair shop
13. Find taxi / rental car
14. Find tow truck
15. Pay the insurance bill
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In urgent cases, the customer can direct-
ly place an emergency call and submit
the current position as well as personal
data. In addition, the loss report can be
enriched with information such as pic-
tures of the accident scene. After the
claim was submitted to the claims man-
agement enterprise system, the insurance
company offers additional location-based
services to the customer. For example,
the customer can request a tow truck or
receive directions to the closest author-
ized repair shop. The app also provides
helpful information like a customer’s eli-
gibility for a rental car as well as the ar-
rival time of a requested tow truck. From
the insurer perspective, claim personnel
can review the transmitted information
(e.g., pictures of the accident scene or
crash sensor data) in the claims manage-
ment enterprise system. The claim file
also contains information about the busi-
ness partners that are associated with the
claim and offer the various third party
services.
The solution concept was development
for three different platforms (Figure 4).
Mobile apps were implemented for
HTC’s G1, the HTC Magic, the Nexus
One (all based on the Google Android
used and re-branded by seven different
companies.
Technical Integration between
Mobile Apps and Claims Man-
agement Enterprise Systems
All mobile apps analyzed during the
market survey assist insurance customers
in the aftermath of a car accident. This
includes support with the loss report as
well as value-added assistance services
such as the navigation to the closest re-
pair shop. However, solutions currently
available on the market lack a technical
integration between mobile apps and
claims management enterprise systems.
This media break prevents insurers from
leveraging the full potential of mobile
apps in terms of process efficiency, data
accuracy, and business partner integra-
tion.
10
To put our theoretical findings to
practice, we developed a dedicated inte-
gration architecture that connects mobile
apps with a claims management enter-
prise system. As shown in the resulting
application scenario in Figure 3, a smart-
phone is used to submit a loss report to
the claims management enterprise system
via an integration architecture.
(Google Android), Allstate (BlackBerry),
UNIQA (BlackBerry), Generali (Google
Android), and HUK-COBURG (Goog-
le Android). The most frequent func-
tions are listed below and are considered
the defining functions of a mobile claims
app, while all additional functions are
mainly used by insurers to differentiate
a specific app and to reflect the brand
image.
The most frequent functions (Figure 2)
are the direct call of an insurance agent,
the step-by-step loss report, the auto-
matic localization, and the possibility to
attach photos of the accident scene. Be-
sides the listed core functions, insurers
focus on two areas when designing
mobile claims apps: the alignment with
their brand image and the integration of
functions that ensure that the app is
used frequently. Since a car accident sta-
tistically happens only every five to seven
years, the integration of frequently used
functions makes it more appealing for
customers to download the app and to
use it even when not in an emergency
situation. Examples include a parking
spot finder (Sternhelfer app offered by
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services), a gas
station finder (GloveBox by GEICO and
Auto Accident Help by Travelers), a
weather alert (Baloise by Basler), and a
cab service (GloveBox by GEICO). This
way, insurers create incentives for cus-
tomers to install an app and use it also
when not involved in an accident. As a
consequence, customers experience the
insurer’s brand more frequently and in a
useful context. In addition, insurers in-
tegrate content into their apps that is
well-known from their marketing activi-
ties and associated with the brand by
customers. The Basler app focuses on the
company’s Safety World, Zurich brings
the HelpPoint to the iPhone, Mobiliar
integrates its Claim Sketches, and Pro-
gressive and GEICO use characters
known from their TV and radio com-
mercials. However, there are also mobile
claims apps that do not contain differ-
entiating elements. In fact, they are to-
tally identical apart from the branding
(logos, corporate colors, etc.). As an ex-
ample, Mondial Assistance developed a
white-label mobile claims app, which is Figure 3: Application scenario
Call center agent
Claims management
enterprise system Third party service provider
Integration
architecture
Smartphone
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apps strive to differentiate from competi-
tors, to increase the interaction frequen-
cy with customers, to increase customer
retention, and to support their market-
ing activities. However, experts are con-
vinced that existing channels will not
disappear and instead a new multi-chan-
nel perspective is required.
The technology trends are considered as
enablers for the industrialization of
claims management business processes by
the interviewed experts. They expect
faster claim settlements and the avoid-
ance of media breaks based on mobile
technology, but note that the technical
integration between smartphones and
claims management enterprise systems is
not there yet.
However, the trend that an increasing
number of insurers offer mobile claims
apps is assessed as a technology push
rather than a market pull by most of the
interviewed experts. After a few innova-
tors started to offer mobile claims apps,
many others followed and tried to move
with the market. Experts expressed the
opinion that in the first place most in-
surers mainly want to build a mobile
presence even though their internal pro-
cesses are not ready yet to automatically
process a loss report submitted from a
smartphone.
While the focus is currently rather on
marketing and increased customer reten-
tion, experts see cost savings potential,
given the integration with claims systems
and a higher adoption rate amongst cus-
tomers. Consequently, experts believe
that investments make sense at this point
terviews were audio-recorded and a
quali tative content analysis was conduct-
ed to extract key results.
11, 12
Technology and Market Trends in
Mobile Claims Management
Almost all of the interviewed experts
stated that they carefully observe the
trends in mobile technology and see an
opportunity for their company. Several
key technology and market trends in
mobile claims management were identi-
fied by the 13 interviewed experts.
Interviewees expect that smartphone-
based communication between insurers
and their customers will increase along
with changes in customers’ communica-
tion behavior. For the interviewees, mo-
bile technology offers the opportunity of
an additional channel to get in touch
with their customers. Experts believe that
most insurers that launch mobile claims
operating system), the Blackberry Storm
9500, and the iPhone. For our proto-
typical implementation, we connected
the smartphones with the «SAP Claims
Management» solution as indicated in
Figure 5.
The Expert View on Mobile
Claims Management
To assess the expert view on mobile
claims management and to evaluate the
demonstrator presented in the previous
chapter, the I-Lab conducted 13 inter-
views with experts from ten leading in-
surance and assistance companies from
Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and the
US. Five interview partners worked with
Swiss motor insurers, while two persons
worked with Swiss assistance service pro-
viders. In addition, three interview part-
ners represented German motor insurers,
two persons worked with a US motor
insurer, and one interview partner repre-
sented an Austrian motor insurer.
Amongst the interviewees were repre-
sentatives of the four largest Swiss motor
insurers. The interview partners were de-
cision-makers from claims management,
marketing, and corporate strategy. The
interviews covered the key topics of tech-
nology and market trends in mobile
claims management, the distribution of
mobile claims apps, mobile strategy in
claims management, the business process
perspective on mobile claims manage-
ment, and the marketing potential of
mobile claims management. Expert in- Figure 5: Technical integration with SAP Claims Management
Figure 4: Smartphone demonstrators
Google Android iPhone OS Blackberry OS
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level. The following areas of improve-
ment were identified: first notice of loss,
status updates, and process efficiency and
business partner integration.
With respect to the first notice of loss,
experts identified the following pain
points: the duration between accident
and first notice of loss, the completeness
and quality of case circumstances, media
breaks and manual data entries when
processing the first notice of loss, and
the automated categorization and further
processing of incoming claims.
The most frequently mentioned area of
improvement was status updates. Mobile
claims apps can be used to provide up-
dates about the current status of an in-
surance claim and thus reduce call cent-
er volume and decrease the amount of
follow-up calls. Experts mentioned the
long duration of receiving loss reports
and answering status inquiries via phone.
According to the interviewed experts, a
digital loss report and push-based status
updates could address the aforemen-
tioned pain points.
Another area of cost savings concerns the
overall process efficiency and the integra-
tion of appropriate network partners.
The increased process efficiency is ex-
pected to decrease loss adjustment ex-
penses and comprises a faster loss report,
increased data completeness, and de-
creased need for manual data entries. The
integration of appropriate network part-
ners such as repair shops can lead to de-
creased incurred losses. However, this is
a tough challenge given the multitude of
network partners. Several experts said the
overall processing time of claims is a pain
point that could be addressed by mobile
technology, while others believe that it
can improve the integration of business
partners. In this context, the timely
knowledge about customers’ whereabouts
enables insurers to integrate close-by net-
work partners such as repair shops.
ny’s mobile claims app. Four of the in-
terviewees said their sales force already
actively refers to their mobile app offer-
ing.
Mobile Strategy in Claims Manage-
ment
According to the interviewed experts, the
potential of mobile claims apps for com-
petitive differentiation lies in the skillful
bundling of value-added services. It is
important to note that a true differen-
tiation is based on services that are hard
to replicate by competitors, because they
leverage the ecosystem of assistance ser-
vice partners an insurer develops around
the app. That is, the differentiation hap-
pens at a business process-level and the
service that is visible for customers is a
proxy to leverage the differentiation po-
tential. However, streamlined backend
business processes alone will not differ-
entiate the app from competitors, if the
front-end, i.e. the mobile app, is not ap-
pealing to customers. The combination
of clarity at the front-end layer and
speed at the backend layer needs to lead
to fast and straightforward assistance for
customers and can become a true differ-
entiator.
Almost all of the interviewed experts
consider mobile claims apps as a market-
ing instrument in the short run and do
not see immediate cost savings. The
most frequently mentioned reasons why
immediate cost savings are unlikely to
materialize include the so far low adop-
tion rate of mobile claims apps, the lim-
ited smartphone market penetration, and
the missing integration with claims man-
agement enterprise systems. However, if
the outlined hindering factors can be ad-
dressed, experts see potential cost savings
in the medium term, which concern loss
adjustment expenses and incurred losses.
Business Process Perspective on
Mobile Claims Management
The expert interviews included an analy-
sis of the impact of mobile apps on
claims management at a business process
in time in order to be prepared once
there is a widespread market penetration
of smartphones.
Seven out of the ten companies covered
by the expert interviews already offer a
mobile claims app, while experts work-
ing with the remaining insurers and as-
sistance service providers said their re-
spective companies plan to release a mo-
bile claims app in the future. A key en-
hancement that is expected to leverage
cost savings potential is the integration
with claims management enterprise sys-
tems. In addition, one of the interview
partners outlined that the further inte-
gration of claims management business
processes with repair shop business pro-
cesses can lead to additional value for
both insurers and customers, who ben-
efit from mobility and increased conven-
ience.
Distribution Channels for Mobile
Claims Apps
An area of significant challenges con-
cerns the distribution of mobile claims
apps. Up to now, insurers offer their
apps via the respective app stores and re-
fer to the offering in associated market-
ing campaigns or via their website. How-
ever, the most important challenge of
mobile claims management is to help
customers understand that an app is
available to support them in case of an
accident. Consequently, all communica-
tion and marketing activities need to ref-
erence the app and explain the added
value to customers. A second key chal-
lenge is that customers that downloaded
the app also remember it in case of a
stressful accident situation. As insurance
is a low-interest commodity product, it
is important to integrate value-added
services with the app in order to increase
the frequency of app usage.
An opportunity to foster the distribution
of mobile claims apps that is conceivable
for most of the interviewed experts is to
leverage the unique market access of
their sales force. Insurance sales agents
can benefit from their immediate cus-
tomer contact and promote the compa-
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of loss events, the bundling with helpful
and frequently used assistance services is
a key success factor for the market pene-
tration of mobile claims apps.
Notes
1 B. El Hage and B. Kaeslin, «Motorfahrzeug-
Repara turmanagement: Ansätze zur Kostenein-
sparung», Schweizer Versicherung, vol. 9, 2007,
pp. 8–11.
2 T. Bieber and S. Hoberg, «Aktives K-Schadenma-
nagement gemessen und bewertet», Versiche-
rungswirtschaft, vol. 12, 2007, pp. 992–995.
3 V. Guyan and D. Hollander, «Unlocking the Value
in Claims», Accenture – Insurance Solution
Group, 2002.
4 K.-W. Mueller and R. Kuefner, «Schadenmanage-
ment in der Versicherungswirtschaft», Bearing-
Point, 2003.
5 AXA UK, «AXA launches AXAdent: Bringing
motor claims into iPhone age»,http://www.axa.
co.uk/media-centre/media-releases/news-story?
id=20091229_0000, 2010.
6 R. Ling, «The Mobile Connection: The Cell
Phone’s Impact on Society», San Francisco, US:
Morgan Kaufmann, 2004.
7 Capgemini and EFMA, «World Insurance Report
2007».
8 O. Baecker, L. Ackermann, and A. Bereuter, «Titel-
thema Strategie: iPhone & Co. – Helfer in der
Not», Schweizer Versicherung, vol. 7, 2010,
pp. 10–12.
9 Distimo, «App store analytics»,http://www.disti-
mo.com/appstores, 2010.
10 O. Baecker and A. Bereuter, «Technology-Based
Industrialization of Claims Management in Motor
Insurance», Proceedings of MKWI 2010, Goettin-
gen, Germany: Universitätsverlag Goettingen,
2010, pp. 1883-1895.
11 P. Mayring, «Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse: Grundlagen
und Techniken», Weinheim, Germany: Beltz, 2008.
12 K. Krippendorff, «Content analysis: An Introduc-
tion to Its Methodology», Thousand Oaks, US:
Sage Publications, Inc., 2004.
13 O. Baecker, T. Ippisch, F. Michahelles, S. Roth, and E.
Fleisch, «Mobile claims assistance» Proceedings of
the 8th International Conference on Mobile and
Ubiquitous Multimedia, Cambridge, UK: ACM,
2009, pp. 1–9.
14 T. Ippisch and S. von Watzdorf, «An analysis of the
perception of insurance-related mobile phone
applications amongst insurance clients» Pro-
ceedings of the 13th Annual Asia-Pacific Risk and
Insurance Association Conference, Beijing, China:
2009.
Perspectives on Mobile Claims
Management
The use of mobile apps in the insurance
industry is still in an early phase and ex-
isting solutions are mostly limited to
stand-alone apps that assist customers
with the loss report after a car accident.
Consequently, mobile strategies, if exist-
ent, range from marketing-centric apps
to first steps towards a more efficient
processing of customers’ digital loss re-
ports and an integration of business part-
ners. Results from expert interviews in-
dicate that the integration between
smartphones and insurance enterprise
systems will be a key enabler for cost
savings in the medium term. However,
technology investments need to be
aligned with process innovations and a
positive customer experience. The result-
ing technology adoption along with the
increasing smartphone share are pre-
requisites for a successful mobile strategy.
The paper at hand focused on the insurer
perspective of mobile claims management,
while previous work investigated the com-
plementary customer view.
13, 14
Since cus-
tomers’ technology adoption is a key suc-
cess factor when introducing mobile
claims management, the previous panel-
based studies need to be complemented
by field studies. So far field studies of mo-
bile claims management were not feasible,
because few customers recently used a
mobile claims app to report an insurance
claim. However, based on the increasing
market penetration of mobile claims apps,
field studies will viable in the near future.
The corresponding findings will be closer
to reality compared to results from previ-
ous online questionnaires on mobile
claims management, which could only ap-
proximate a field study design. Field stud-
ies will also show which assistance serv-
ices are suitable to positively emotionalize
the loss event. In addition, it will reveal
if customers are ultimately able to report
a car accident via a mobile claims app,
given the exceptional circumstances. Ulti-
mately insurers will need to focus on the
suitability of their mobile claims apps for
everyday usage. Given the low frequency
Marketing Potential of Mobile
Claims Management
Most of the experts assess mobile claims
apps as a new channel to provide cus-
tomers with status updates as well as ad-
ditional product and service information.
As several experts outlined, value-added
service can increase customer retention
while apps can help to increase the in-
teraction frequency and positively impact
customers’ intention to use the app in
the future. However, insurers should not
completely digitize the highly emotional
accident situation, because it is a unique
chance for differentiation. Based on his-
torical data, it is evident that a positive
claim settlement creates additional sales
leads and establishes cross- / up-selling
potential. Consequently apps should not
become the exclusive communication
channel between insurers and their cus-
tomers. One the interviewees pointed
out the psychological aspect of a mobile
claims offering. While only few custom-
ers actually download an app, many
others might know about its existence
through marketing activities. For those
customers that rely on the fact that they
could use the app if necessary, a positive
effect on brand image is expected as well.
The role of mobile apps in the market-
ing mix of insurers is assessed differently
by the interviewed experts. While some
experts believe that mobile apps will play
an increasing role in future marketing
mixes, others do not think that market-
ing budget will be invested in app devel-
opment in the future. One argument for
the increasing relevance of mobile apps
in marketing is the fact that the com-
munication behavior of customers is
changing, which requires insurers to
adapt their marketing activities accord-
ingly. In other words, insurers need to
use the same communication channels as
their customers. A second argument for
the increasing importance of mobile apps
in marketing is the comparatively low
variable costs of providing customers
with information about product and
service offerings via mobile apps com-
pared to print ads.
doc_967220146.pdf
As of April 2010, several Swiss motor insurers offer mobile apps that enable customers to submit a loss report. This article discusses the emergence of mobile apps in the insurance industry and the impact of mobile technology on claims management in motor insurance.
13 Trendmonitor 4
.
2010
Fokusthema 3
As of April 2010, several Swiss motor
insur ers offer mobile apps that enable cus-
tomers to submit a loss report. This article
discusses the emergence of mobile apps in
the insur ance industry and the impact of
mobile technology on claims management
in motor insurance. We also present a de-
monstrator that goes beyond existing solu-
tions by integrating a mobile app with a
commercial claims management enterprise
system. The technical aspects are comple-
mented by results from expert interviews on
mobile claims management, which cover
technology and market trends, distribution
channels for mobile apps, mobile strategy,
business processes in mobile claims manage-
ment, and the marketing potential of
mobile apps.
The Potential of Mobile Techno-
logy in Claims Management
Motor insurance is the class of business
with the largest premium volume within
property and casualty insurance. How-
ever, in most developed countries growth
opportunities are limited due to market
saturation and the low growth rates of
the underlying markets. At the same
time, new competitors from related in-
dustries (e.g., car manufacturers and
automobile clubs) entered the market
and put pressure on motor insurers.
Against this background, insurers are
searching for ways to gain market shares
and to improve their financial perform-
ance. The competitive pressure leaves
little room for price differentiation and
makes large-scale premium increases dif-
ficult to achieve.
A first approach to improve insurers’ mar-
ket position is competitive differentiation
by means of value-added customer ser-
vices. A second approach is to improve
the combined ratio by decreasing loss ad-
justment expenses and incurred losses.
However, there are several reasons why
cost savings are difficult to achieve. They
include late, incomplete, and in accurate
loss reports after car accidents, time-con-
suming claim investigations, and the in-
sufficient integration of business partners
such as repair shops in the claims man-
agement process.
1
Early and more detailed
information about an insurance claim
could enable the insurer to pro-actively
manage the process and shorten the aver-
age claim life cycle from the first notice
of loss to the closure of the claim. Based
on timely information and active process
management, insurers can benefit from an
increased process transparency while loss
adjustment expenses can be decreased. In
addition, an early notification of the in-
surer allows for the integration of business
partners to settle the claim and enables
insurance companies to decrease incurred
losses.
2, 3, 4
While insurance companies strive to de-
crease costs by streamlining their claims
management processes, customers lack
adequate assistance when it comes to an
insurance claim – the «moment of truth»
in claims management. In such unpleas-
ant and emotionally stressful situations,
customers require both immediate assist-
ance and support with the submission of
the loss report. As consumer research of
AXA UK amongst 2 000 motorists
showed, only 34 percent of the respond-
ents claimed to know exactly what to do
in case of an accident and just 57 per-
cent would remember to take photos of
the accident scene.
5
From a customer
perspective, mobile phones are ubiqui-
tously available and technology affinity
is steadily increasing. While the direct
contact to a human counterpart is a na-
tive need after a car accident, the mobile
phone has emerged as the most domi-
nant mediation device in safety-critical
situations. Qualitative interview data as
well as quantitative studies show that
The authors
Dr. des. Oliver Baecker is Senior Researcher at
the Competence Center I-Lab at the ETH Zurich
(D-MTEC) and the University of St. Gallen
(ITEM-HSG).
Lukas Ackermann leads the Competence Center
I-Lab at the ETH Zurich (D-MTEC) and the Univer-
sity of St. Gallen (ITEM-HSG).
Prof. Dr. Walter Ackermann is Director of the Insti-
tute of Insurance Economics, University of St. Gallen.
Prof. Dr. Elgar Fleisch is Professor of Information and
Technology Management at the ETH Zurich and the
University of St. Gallen (ITEM-HSG).
Oliver Baecker
Walter Ackermann
Elgar Fleisch
Lukas Ackermann
Mobile Claims Management: Smartphone Apps in Mo-
tor Insurance
14 Trendmonitor 4
.
2010
Fokusthema 3
Sigorta), and the US (iClaim offered by
the Farmers Insurance Group, which
belongs to Zurich Financial Services).
AXA offers different apps in the United
Kingdom, Germany, France, Luxem-
bourg, and Switzerland. From a corpo-
rate strategy perspective, it is interesting
to note that the apps differ in terms of
their functional range, while some of
them do not even follow a common
look and feel.
All of the investigated apps are available
for the iPhone, while only a few apps are
also available for phones based on the
Google Android operating system or for
Blackberry devices. A first-mover in
terms of platform diversity is the US in-
surer GEICO, who offers a mobile
claims app for the iPhone, Google An-
droid devices, and Apple’s iPad. Further
insurers that support platforms beyond
iPhone OS are American Family Insur-
ance (supports BlackBerry devices), Atos
Worldline (Google Android), Progressive
apps).
9
The evolvement of the competi-
tive landscape of mobile claims apps be-
tween April 2009 and November 2010
is visualized Figure 1.
The outlined trend started with the US
insurer Nationwide launching the first
mobile claims app in April 2009. Until
November 2010 nine out of the ten
largest US motor insurance companies
(based on direct premiums written in
2008) offered a corresponding app.
During the last couple of months the
trend reached Europe and in April 2010
three out of the five largest motor in-
surance companies in Switzerland
launched a mobile claims app almost
simultaneously. While most companies
still offer their app in just one country,
some apps were successively released in
several countries. As an example, Zurich
offers apps in Switzerland (Zurich Help-
Point and Zurich Connect), Germany
(Zurich Unfallhelfer), the United King-
dom (Zurich Connect), Turkey (Zurich
peoples’ perception of mobile phones is
to never be alone in emergencies.
6
Against this background, the application
of mobile technologies in claims man-
agement can address the outlined needs
of insurance customers as well as the
challenges of insurance carriers. Accord-
ingly, mobile technology can support
customers in the aftermath of car acci-
dents to quickly submit a structured loss
report and to benefit from faster access
to assistance services. From an insurer’s
point of view, a mobile solution that
supports customers during the claims
management process can address the out-
lined cost savings potential and can be
offered as a value-added customer ser-
vice. In addition, the mobile phone can
be considered as a new communication
channel that increases the interaction fre-
quency between insurance carriers and
their customers.
7
Emergence of Mobile Claims
Apps
The outlined advent of smartphones of-
fers a new opportunity for insurers to
turn a customer’s unpleasant and emo-
tionally stressful claim situation into a
positive service experience. Starting in
April 2009, the first motor insurers be-
gan to address the outlined opportunities
and launched smartphone apps that sup-
port customers after car accidents. We
refer to them as «mobile claims apps»,
while the underlying processes are de-
noted as «mobile claims management».
Between April 2009 and November
2010, 57 insurance companies launched
apps that enable customers to submit a
loss report from their smartphones and
to benefit from value-added assistance
services such as requesting a tow truck.
To give an overview of the competitive
landscape and to understand which in-
surance companies shape this trend, a
market survey of mobile claims apps was
conducted.
8
The survey analyzed smart-
phone apps offered in the three largest
online stores: Apple App Store (300 000
available apps as of November 18, 2010),
Google Android Market (87 000 apps),
and BlackBerry App World (14 486
Figure 1: Competitive landscape of mobile claims apps
Figure 2: Most frequent functions of mobile claims apps
60
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u
m
b
e
r
o
f
m
o
b
i
l
e
c
l
a
i
m
s
a
p
p
s
50
Swiss insurers
40
D-A-CH
30
Others
20
1
st
app in
the US
1
st
European
app in UK
1
st
D-A-CH app
in Germany
0
10
US
4.09 5.09 6.09 7.09 8.09 9.09 10.09 11.09 12.09 1.10 2.10 3.10 4.10 5.10 6.10 7.10 8.10 9.10 10.10 11.10
Date
1. Call insurance company
2. Find nearby insurance agent
3. Call emergency numbers
4. Step-by-step loss report
5. Photo of the accident
6. Automatic localization
7. Other party support
8. Witness support
9. Digital loss report
10. Check claim status
11. Manage account / vehicle info
12. Find approved repair shop
13. Find taxi / rental car
14. Find tow truck
15. Pay the insurance bill
15 Trendmonitor 4
.
2010
Fokusthema 3
In urgent cases, the customer can direct-
ly place an emergency call and submit
the current position as well as personal
data. In addition, the loss report can be
enriched with information such as pic-
tures of the accident scene. After the
claim was submitted to the claims man-
agement enterprise system, the insurance
company offers additional location-based
services to the customer. For example,
the customer can request a tow truck or
receive directions to the closest author-
ized repair shop. The app also provides
helpful information like a customer’s eli-
gibility for a rental car as well as the ar-
rival time of a requested tow truck. From
the insurer perspective, claim personnel
can review the transmitted information
(e.g., pictures of the accident scene or
crash sensor data) in the claims manage-
ment enterprise system. The claim file
also contains information about the busi-
ness partners that are associated with the
claim and offer the various third party
services.
The solution concept was development
for three different platforms (Figure 4).
Mobile apps were implemented for
HTC’s G1, the HTC Magic, the Nexus
One (all based on the Google Android
used and re-branded by seven different
companies.
Technical Integration between
Mobile Apps and Claims Man-
agement Enterprise Systems
All mobile apps analyzed during the
market survey assist insurance customers
in the aftermath of a car accident. This
includes support with the loss report as
well as value-added assistance services
such as the navigation to the closest re-
pair shop. However, solutions currently
available on the market lack a technical
integration between mobile apps and
claims management enterprise systems.
This media break prevents insurers from
leveraging the full potential of mobile
apps in terms of process efficiency, data
accuracy, and business partner integra-
tion.
10
To put our theoretical findings to
practice, we developed a dedicated inte-
gration architecture that connects mobile
apps with a claims management enter-
prise system. As shown in the resulting
application scenario in Figure 3, a smart-
phone is used to submit a loss report to
the claims management enterprise system
via an integration architecture.
(Google Android), Allstate (BlackBerry),
UNIQA (BlackBerry), Generali (Google
Android), and HUK-COBURG (Goog-
le Android). The most frequent func-
tions are listed below and are considered
the defining functions of a mobile claims
app, while all additional functions are
mainly used by insurers to differentiate
a specific app and to reflect the brand
image.
The most frequent functions (Figure 2)
are the direct call of an insurance agent,
the step-by-step loss report, the auto-
matic localization, and the possibility to
attach photos of the accident scene. Be-
sides the listed core functions, insurers
focus on two areas when designing
mobile claims apps: the alignment with
their brand image and the integration of
functions that ensure that the app is
used frequently. Since a car accident sta-
tistically happens only every five to seven
years, the integration of frequently used
functions makes it more appealing for
customers to download the app and to
use it even when not in an emergency
situation. Examples include a parking
spot finder (Sternhelfer app offered by
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services), a gas
station finder (GloveBox by GEICO and
Auto Accident Help by Travelers), a
weather alert (Baloise by Basler), and a
cab service (GloveBox by GEICO). This
way, insurers create incentives for cus-
tomers to install an app and use it also
when not involved in an accident. As a
consequence, customers experience the
insurer’s brand more frequently and in a
useful context. In addition, insurers in-
tegrate content into their apps that is
well-known from their marketing activi-
ties and associated with the brand by
customers. The Basler app focuses on the
company’s Safety World, Zurich brings
the HelpPoint to the iPhone, Mobiliar
integrates its Claim Sketches, and Pro-
gressive and GEICO use characters
known from their TV and radio com-
mercials. However, there are also mobile
claims apps that do not contain differ-
entiating elements. In fact, they are to-
tally identical apart from the branding
(logos, corporate colors, etc.). As an ex-
ample, Mondial Assistance developed a
white-label mobile claims app, which is Figure 3: Application scenario
Call center agent
Claims management
enterprise system Third party service provider
Integration
architecture
Smartphone
16 Trendmonitor 4
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2010
Fokusthema 3
apps strive to differentiate from competi-
tors, to increase the interaction frequen-
cy with customers, to increase customer
retention, and to support their market-
ing activities. However, experts are con-
vinced that existing channels will not
disappear and instead a new multi-chan-
nel perspective is required.
The technology trends are considered as
enablers for the industrialization of
claims management business processes by
the interviewed experts. They expect
faster claim settlements and the avoid-
ance of media breaks based on mobile
technology, but note that the technical
integration between smartphones and
claims management enterprise systems is
not there yet.
However, the trend that an increasing
number of insurers offer mobile claims
apps is assessed as a technology push
rather than a market pull by most of the
interviewed experts. After a few innova-
tors started to offer mobile claims apps,
many others followed and tried to move
with the market. Experts expressed the
opinion that in the first place most in-
surers mainly want to build a mobile
presence even though their internal pro-
cesses are not ready yet to automatically
process a loss report submitted from a
smartphone.
While the focus is currently rather on
marketing and increased customer reten-
tion, experts see cost savings potential,
given the integration with claims systems
and a higher adoption rate amongst cus-
tomers. Consequently, experts believe
that investments make sense at this point
terviews were audio-recorded and a
quali tative content analysis was conduct-
ed to extract key results.
11, 12
Technology and Market Trends in
Mobile Claims Management
Almost all of the interviewed experts
stated that they carefully observe the
trends in mobile technology and see an
opportunity for their company. Several
key technology and market trends in
mobile claims management were identi-
fied by the 13 interviewed experts.
Interviewees expect that smartphone-
based communication between insurers
and their customers will increase along
with changes in customers’ communica-
tion behavior. For the interviewees, mo-
bile technology offers the opportunity of
an additional channel to get in touch
with their customers. Experts believe that
most insurers that launch mobile claims
operating system), the Blackberry Storm
9500, and the iPhone. For our proto-
typical implementation, we connected
the smartphones with the «SAP Claims
Management» solution as indicated in
Figure 5.
The Expert View on Mobile
Claims Management
To assess the expert view on mobile
claims management and to evaluate the
demonstrator presented in the previous
chapter, the I-Lab conducted 13 inter-
views with experts from ten leading in-
surance and assistance companies from
Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and the
US. Five interview partners worked with
Swiss motor insurers, while two persons
worked with Swiss assistance service pro-
viders. In addition, three interview part-
ners represented German motor insurers,
two persons worked with a US motor
insurer, and one interview partner repre-
sented an Austrian motor insurer.
Amongst the interviewees were repre-
sentatives of the four largest Swiss motor
insurers. The interview partners were de-
cision-makers from claims management,
marketing, and corporate strategy. The
interviews covered the key topics of tech-
nology and market trends in mobile
claims management, the distribution of
mobile claims apps, mobile strategy in
claims management, the business process
perspective on mobile claims manage-
ment, and the marketing potential of
mobile claims management. Expert in- Figure 5: Technical integration with SAP Claims Management
Figure 4: Smartphone demonstrators
Google Android iPhone OS Blackberry OS
17 Trendmonitor 4
.
2010
Fokusthema 3
level. The following areas of improve-
ment were identified: first notice of loss,
status updates, and process efficiency and
business partner integration.
With respect to the first notice of loss,
experts identified the following pain
points: the duration between accident
and first notice of loss, the completeness
and quality of case circumstances, media
breaks and manual data entries when
processing the first notice of loss, and
the automated categorization and further
processing of incoming claims.
The most frequently mentioned area of
improvement was status updates. Mobile
claims apps can be used to provide up-
dates about the current status of an in-
surance claim and thus reduce call cent-
er volume and decrease the amount of
follow-up calls. Experts mentioned the
long duration of receiving loss reports
and answering status inquiries via phone.
According to the interviewed experts, a
digital loss report and push-based status
updates could address the aforemen-
tioned pain points.
Another area of cost savings concerns the
overall process efficiency and the integra-
tion of appropriate network partners.
The increased process efficiency is ex-
pected to decrease loss adjustment ex-
penses and comprises a faster loss report,
increased data completeness, and de-
creased need for manual data entries. The
integration of appropriate network part-
ners such as repair shops can lead to de-
creased incurred losses. However, this is
a tough challenge given the multitude of
network partners. Several experts said the
overall processing time of claims is a pain
point that could be addressed by mobile
technology, while others believe that it
can improve the integration of business
partners. In this context, the timely
knowledge about customers’ whereabouts
enables insurers to integrate close-by net-
work partners such as repair shops.
ny’s mobile claims app. Four of the in-
terviewees said their sales force already
actively refers to their mobile app offer-
ing.
Mobile Strategy in Claims Manage-
ment
According to the interviewed experts, the
potential of mobile claims apps for com-
petitive differentiation lies in the skillful
bundling of value-added services. It is
important to note that a true differen-
tiation is based on services that are hard
to replicate by competitors, because they
leverage the ecosystem of assistance ser-
vice partners an insurer develops around
the app. That is, the differentiation hap-
pens at a business process-level and the
service that is visible for customers is a
proxy to leverage the differentiation po-
tential. However, streamlined backend
business processes alone will not differ-
entiate the app from competitors, if the
front-end, i.e. the mobile app, is not ap-
pealing to customers. The combination
of clarity at the front-end layer and
speed at the backend layer needs to lead
to fast and straightforward assistance for
customers and can become a true differ-
entiator.
Almost all of the interviewed experts
consider mobile claims apps as a market-
ing instrument in the short run and do
not see immediate cost savings. The
most frequently mentioned reasons why
immediate cost savings are unlikely to
materialize include the so far low adop-
tion rate of mobile claims apps, the lim-
ited smartphone market penetration, and
the missing integration with claims man-
agement enterprise systems. However, if
the outlined hindering factors can be ad-
dressed, experts see potential cost savings
in the medium term, which concern loss
adjustment expenses and incurred losses.
Business Process Perspective on
Mobile Claims Management
The expert interviews included an analy-
sis of the impact of mobile apps on
claims management at a business process
in time in order to be prepared once
there is a widespread market penetration
of smartphones.
Seven out of the ten companies covered
by the expert interviews already offer a
mobile claims app, while experts work-
ing with the remaining insurers and as-
sistance service providers said their re-
spective companies plan to release a mo-
bile claims app in the future. A key en-
hancement that is expected to leverage
cost savings potential is the integration
with claims management enterprise sys-
tems. In addition, one of the interview
partners outlined that the further inte-
gration of claims management business
processes with repair shop business pro-
cesses can lead to additional value for
both insurers and customers, who ben-
efit from mobility and increased conven-
ience.
Distribution Channels for Mobile
Claims Apps
An area of significant challenges con-
cerns the distribution of mobile claims
apps. Up to now, insurers offer their
apps via the respective app stores and re-
fer to the offering in associated market-
ing campaigns or via their website. How-
ever, the most important challenge of
mobile claims management is to help
customers understand that an app is
available to support them in case of an
accident. Consequently, all communica-
tion and marketing activities need to ref-
erence the app and explain the added
value to customers. A second key chal-
lenge is that customers that downloaded
the app also remember it in case of a
stressful accident situation. As insurance
is a low-interest commodity product, it
is important to integrate value-added
services with the app in order to increase
the frequency of app usage.
An opportunity to foster the distribution
of mobile claims apps that is conceivable
for most of the interviewed experts is to
leverage the unique market access of
their sales force. Insurance sales agents
can benefit from their immediate cus-
tomer contact and promote the compa-
18 Trendmonitor 4
.
2010
Fokusthema 3
of loss events, the bundling with helpful
and frequently used assistance services is
a key success factor for the market pene-
tration of mobile claims apps.
Notes
1 B. El Hage and B. Kaeslin, «Motorfahrzeug-
Repara turmanagement: Ansätze zur Kostenein-
sparung», Schweizer Versicherung, vol. 9, 2007,
pp. 8–11.
2 T. Bieber and S. Hoberg, «Aktives K-Schadenma-
nagement gemessen und bewertet», Versiche-
rungswirtschaft, vol. 12, 2007, pp. 992–995.
3 V. Guyan and D. Hollander, «Unlocking the Value
in Claims», Accenture – Insurance Solution
Group, 2002.
4 K.-W. Mueller and R. Kuefner, «Schadenmanage-
ment in der Versicherungswirtschaft», Bearing-
Point, 2003.
5 AXA UK, «AXA launches AXAdent: Bringing
motor claims into iPhone age»,http://www.axa.
co.uk/media-centre/media-releases/news-story?
id=20091229_0000, 2010.
6 R. Ling, «The Mobile Connection: The Cell
Phone’s Impact on Society», San Francisco, US:
Morgan Kaufmann, 2004.
7 Capgemini and EFMA, «World Insurance Report
2007».
8 O. Baecker, L. Ackermann, and A. Bereuter, «Titel-
thema Strategie: iPhone & Co. – Helfer in der
Not», Schweizer Versicherung, vol. 7, 2010,
pp. 10–12.
9 Distimo, «App store analytics»,http://www.disti-
mo.com/appstores, 2010.
10 O. Baecker and A. Bereuter, «Technology-Based
Industrialization of Claims Management in Motor
Insurance», Proceedings of MKWI 2010, Goettin-
gen, Germany: Universitätsverlag Goettingen,
2010, pp. 1883-1895.
11 P. Mayring, «Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse: Grundlagen
und Techniken», Weinheim, Germany: Beltz, 2008.
12 K. Krippendorff, «Content analysis: An Introduc-
tion to Its Methodology», Thousand Oaks, US:
Sage Publications, Inc., 2004.
13 O. Baecker, T. Ippisch, F. Michahelles, S. Roth, and E.
Fleisch, «Mobile claims assistance» Proceedings of
the 8th International Conference on Mobile and
Ubiquitous Multimedia, Cambridge, UK: ACM,
2009, pp. 1–9.
14 T. Ippisch and S. von Watzdorf, «An analysis of the
perception of insurance-related mobile phone
applications amongst insurance clients» Pro-
ceedings of the 13th Annual Asia-Pacific Risk and
Insurance Association Conference, Beijing, China:
2009.
Perspectives on Mobile Claims
Management
The use of mobile apps in the insurance
industry is still in an early phase and ex-
isting solutions are mostly limited to
stand-alone apps that assist customers
with the loss report after a car accident.
Consequently, mobile strategies, if exist-
ent, range from marketing-centric apps
to first steps towards a more efficient
processing of customers’ digital loss re-
ports and an integration of business part-
ners. Results from expert interviews in-
dicate that the integration between
smartphones and insurance enterprise
systems will be a key enabler for cost
savings in the medium term. However,
technology investments need to be
aligned with process innovations and a
positive customer experience. The result-
ing technology adoption along with the
increasing smartphone share are pre-
requisites for a successful mobile strategy.
The paper at hand focused on the insurer
perspective of mobile claims management,
while previous work investigated the com-
plementary customer view.
13, 14
Since cus-
tomers’ technology adoption is a key suc-
cess factor when introducing mobile
claims management, the previous panel-
based studies need to be complemented
by field studies. So far field studies of mo-
bile claims management were not feasible,
because few customers recently used a
mobile claims app to report an insurance
claim. However, based on the increasing
market penetration of mobile claims apps,
field studies will viable in the near future.
The corresponding findings will be closer
to reality compared to results from previ-
ous online questionnaires on mobile
claims management, which could only ap-
proximate a field study design. Field stud-
ies will also show which assistance serv-
ices are suitable to positively emotionalize
the loss event. In addition, it will reveal
if customers are ultimately able to report
a car accident via a mobile claims app,
given the exceptional circumstances. Ulti-
mately insurers will need to focus on the
suitability of their mobile claims apps for
everyday usage. Given the low frequency
Marketing Potential of Mobile
Claims Management
Most of the experts assess mobile claims
apps as a new channel to provide cus-
tomers with status updates as well as ad-
ditional product and service information.
As several experts outlined, value-added
service can increase customer retention
while apps can help to increase the in-
teraction frequency and positively impact
customers’ intention to use the app in
the future. However, insurers should not
completely digitize the highly emotional
accident situation, because it is a unique
chance for differentiation. Based on his-
torical data, it is evident that a positive
claim settlement creates additional sales
leads and establishes cross- / up-selling
potential. Consequently apps should not
become the exclusive communication
channel between insurers and their cus-
tomers. One the interviewees pointed
out the psychological aspect of a mobile
claims offering. While only few custom-
ers actually download an app, many
others might know about its existence
through marketing activities. For those
customers that rely on the fact that they
could use the app if necessary, a positive
effect on brand image is expected as well.
The role of mobile apps in the market-
ing mix of insurers is assessed differently
by the interviewed experts. While some
experts believe that mobile apps will play
an increasing role in future marketing
mixes, others do not think that market-
ing budget will be invested in app devel-
opment in the future. One argument for
the increasing relevance of mobile apps
in marketing is the fact that the com-
munication behavior of customers is
changing, which requires insurers to
adapt their marketing activities accord-
ingly. In other words, insurers need to
use the same communication channels as
their customers. A second argument for
the increasing importance of mobile apps
in marketing is the comparatively low
variable costs of providing customers
with information about product and
service offerings via mobile apps com-
pared to print ads.
doc_967220146.pdf