With the holidays—and a whole lot of 2015 strategic planning activities—behind us, you’re probably have a few gifts you’d like to return and hopefully, a few gift cards you’d like to make use of. If you were really good last year,Santa left you the budget needed to develop or enhance that mobile insurance app or site you’ve wanted.  

But how do you spend that budget so that the app or site that results doesn’t disappoint like those sea monkeys or x-ray glasses that you also once wanted?

It’s not hard to uncover this kind of disappointment in the mobile insurance marketplace:  Mobile services that are little more than insurer bill boards, require too much data entry from users, and lack features that users have come to expect from banks, retailers, and airlines.  To play catch- up with competitors and quell internal political concerns, many insurance eBusiness and technology management teams were put on the spot, rolling out mobile functionality without considering if it solved a problem for customers. While this approach addressed the business urgency, these hastily -built mobile insurance apps often fell short.

Earlier this year, Forrester enterprise architecture analyst, Jost Hoppermann and I put our heads together to survey core insurance systems vendors, digital agencies, and consultants to understand their mobile insurance solution portfolio. The result? In December, we published the Mobile Insurance Playbook Tools & Technology report that looked at the capabilities of 27 service providers across insurance and mobile platforms.  What did we learn in the process?

  • The best mobile decisions encompass multiple layers. Delivering the best mobile experience spans business lines, processes, people, and the underlying core application systems of an insurance organization. eBusiness and technology management teams will need to look broadly across the insurer and deep into core business process to ensure mobile initiatives deliver on expectations.
  • There’s more than one way to build a mobile insurance solution.Insurance eBusiness and technology management teams can choose from a host of mobile implementation flavors, ranging from purely off-the-shelf to 100% custom built. Your business strategy, not availability or lack of internal resources, must determine the approach best suited to you.
  • Mobile isn’t once and done: Expect ongoing reviews and updates.Get ready for a long journey, but bear in mind that your customers and the market won’t wait. Be smart about mobile vendor selection processes, keep your eyes on interesting mobile start-ups, and work shoulder-to-shoulder with technology management teams in the context of their business technology agenda.

Want to stay on the good side of your mobile Santa for next year?  Download the full report here. Questions or comments? Feel free to ask them here or directly via email.