U.S. Insurance Carriers Engage BPO Providers to Recover From Pandemic

ISG Provider Lens™ report sees U.S. insurance firms also turning to BPO providers to improve customer experience

U.S. insurance carriers are turning to business process outsourcing (BPO) providers to help them navigate a new way of doing business and meet rising customer expectations stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Insurance BPO Services Report for the U.S. finds insurance carriers in the country looking for provider expertise to supplement their in-house talent after large employee turnover during the pandemic.

Insurance BPO providers offer technologies that help insurance carriers automate processes and reduce manual handling of insurance processes, allowing carriers to reduce employee headcount in some areas, the report says. Carriers also are looking to BPO providers to help them build and grow their online sales channels, cut costs and optimize processes.

“During the pandemic, insurance carriers needed to be able to sell remotely with mobile applications that deliver a first-class customer experience,” said Paul Schreiner, partner and insurance industry lead for ISG Americas. “Carriers that were far along in their digital transformation efforts before the pandemic were able to shift easily to remote work models because they could offer customers and employees tools and technologies that automated many processes.”

The report sees many insurance carriers in the U.S. still dealing with pre-pandemic issues like legacy technology system constraints while they market their services to an increasingly tech-savvy customer base. Carriers also are facing increasing competition from traditional and new competitors, such as Insurtechs, as well as cybersecurity concerns and data handling challenges.

To meet their growth and innovation goals, many carriers are looking to BPO service providers to help them bring new customer-facing technologies to market, the report adds.

Carriers in the U.S. are also engaging BPO providers and third-party administrators (TPAs) to provide sophisticated analysis tools, the report says. Many providers now offer data analytics and data management capabilities that help carriers make sense of their data and glean insights to inform strategic business decisions.

In addition, U.S. carriers are looking to BPO providers and TPAs to help them contain costs and optimize efficiencies across their businesses, the report adds. Automating parts of the underwriting process can, for example, free trained staff from performing redundant and manual tasks.

Finally, many carriers see engaging with BPO providers and TPAs as a key to improving customer experience, the report says. BPO providers and TPAs can help carriers create personalized services, facilitate processes from applications through claims, and create omnichannel communications with policyholders.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Insurance BPO Services Report for the U.S. evaluates the capabilities of 34 providers across three quadrants: Life and Retirement Services, Property and Casualty Services and Life and Retirement TPA Services.

The report names Accenture, Cognizant, DXC Technology, EXL, Infosys and WNS as Leaders in all three quadrants. Genpact and TCS are named Leaders in two quadrants, and NTT DATA, ReSourcePro and SE2 are named Leaders in one quadrant.

In addition, Genpact, Illumifin and Teleperformance were named Rising Stars—companies with “promising portfolios” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition—in one quadrant.

A customized version of the report is available from WNS.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Insurance BPO Services Report for the U.S. is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research



The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, the U.K., France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, the Nordics, Australia and Singapore/Malaysia, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 800 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.

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