Time is of the essence

The consumer has become used to getting what they require with as much ease as possible.

Time is of the essence

David Smith (pictured) ischief innovation officer atUinsure

We live in an age of convenience.

The consumer has become used to getting what they require with as much ease as possible and are disapproving of difficulties in the process.

General insurance (GI) is traditionally an industry that moved behind this social change, and in turn it left an out-dated and time-consuming process.

It is not a difficult problem to solve, if a customer looking for insurance and can complete a search process to find what they are looking for in five minutes compared to sixty, it is a no brainer which option they will choose.

The power of time is undisputed, and this is not just focussed on the millennial generation who seek to do everything online – from mortgages to their food shop – the power of time is relevant across all generations.

Our ‘Zero Questions Asked’ approach was fundamentally based on this process.

We now pride ourselves on having the quickest and easiest GI system in the marketplace, and it has allowed us be awarded with a five-star rating from Moneyfacts for six consecutive years.

But with the power of time, working smarter is key.

By cutting time out of a process such as in GI, it must be understood that time saving doesn’t mean cutting corners.

All of the best features of a process must be included in seconds rather than minutes, and that is what we strive for.

We wanted the quickest to be even quicker, so decided to use several trusted data sources so that once a postcode has been entered, the information of the property is provided.

The UK has many trusted data sources and we are lucky to be able to use this data to provide an accurate and faster process.

The previous complications presented in the GI journey were eliminated as part of our 'Zero Questions Asked' proposition so that rather causing unnecessary confusion for the customer, the adviser can simply list any item and its value and our system will automatically allocate it appropriately in the policy.

The point is, that speed is of the essence but with time saving comes the pressure of precision. Remaining competitive and market-leading means all features have to be taken into account.

Making the insurance process quicker is one of our biggest targets and 2020 will be the year where we aim to further refine our process.

However making the GI journey as precise and efficient as possible is just as important.