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What is Insurance API And How Does it Impact Different Industries?
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Business processes are changing at the speed of technology. While insurance has typically fallen behind in technological advances, the industry is experiencing a digital transformation that promises to make insurance processes more convenient for consumers, agents, and carriers.
Insurance is a document-heavy business that typically requires several direct interactions with customers. The process can be frustrating and time-consuming for potential customers and the insurance agents trying to serve them. Insurance APIs provide a new approach that can streamline the process and allow agents to seamlessly prepare a new and accurate quote while still providing the advisory role customers depend on.
What is an API?
An application programming interface (API) is a tool that connects data from one application to another. APIs work behind the scenes with efficient technology to connect services. Essentially, they pull data from one place to be used in another. Practically all industries rely on different types of technology to streamline processes and improve customer experiences. APIs are the backbone of how various technological devices share information. Essentially, they are a bridge that allows different types of technology to communicate.
What is an API in Insurance?
APIs for insurance connect insurance technology to internal systems, allowing consumers, agents, carriers and external parties to securely, accurately, and instantly share information with one another. Since APIs can automatically be integrated with many software tools and online applications today, companies can simply choose the information they want to access through the API. Such connections can be helpful for collecting consumer insurance information, verifying insurance policies, preparing insurance quotes, and managing claims.
How Can APIs Be Used for Insurance?
APIs can automate many insurance processes, making it easier for consumers to receive accurate coverage at the best price.
Most insurance APIs complete one of these functions.
- Data Collection & Aggregation
- Workflow Connection
- E-commerce & Billing
- Insurance Quoting
Insurance Quoting Inefficiencies
Collecting insurance information from consumers can be a long process, and sometimes the information provided is incorrect. This information could sometimes amount to 100+ different types of data points, which are all needed to receive an accurate quote. Most quotes are retrieved by manually entering the consumer’s 100+ data points into a comparative rater or to an individual carrier by either their online broker portal, phone, fax, or other means.
This process is inefficient for agents and carriers as agents waste a vast amount of time requesting, waiting, and retrieving quotes from carriers.
Insurance APIs like InsurGrid’s API, can instantly collect consumer insurance data from any online application with a fast, easy, and secure method that doesn’t require the customer to locate and share 100+ different pieces of information. Agents receive insurance data in a structured format to be organized, analyzed, and displayed in a way that accommodates any workflow.
Efficient And Secure Way to Share Insurance Information
Consumers must share private and sensitive information to obtain insurance quotes and purchase policies. The most common ways of sharing this information are through multiple phone calls, texts, or emails. There are now insurance APIs available in the market today to instantly receive information from consumers in a secure and structured format.
Improve the Customer Experience
The customer experience is very important to insurers. Consumers do not want to shop for insurance, they just know they are required to have insurance. They also want the best coverage at the most affordable cost. Most consumers don’t realize that to accomplish this, they need to share all the information they have on their existing insurance policies, vehicles, properties, and other data points. Without sharing this information, they will not receive the best coverage at the most affordable cost.
To provide the best customer experience, insurers need to quickly and easily obtain the necessary information from their customers. With an API, insurers can collect this information and then automatically populate fields in their applications with the customer’s data. This not only saves time for the customer but it also reduces the chances of errors, which will provide the consumer with the best coverage at the most affordable cost.
If you're looking for a fast and secure way to collect insurance data from consumers, InsurGrid's API can help. With InsurGrid, you can easily embed their policy connect interface into any application, making it simple to collect and verify insurance information.
Who Uses Insurance APIs?
Insurance APIs can be used by insurance professionals that need consumer insurance data in a structured format to be organized, analyzed and displayed to accommodate any workflow. For instance, agents can use APIs to connect their systems together to securely and easily pass data to save a ton of time when managing their clients. APIs can be leveraged by different types of professionals within the industry.
Agents & Brokers
Insurance agents communicate with current and potential customers in a variety of ways. APIs can streamline the processes of communication and information gathering. For example, agents can use APIs to automate communication with chatbots. APIs can also be used for cloud storage for client records or to pull marketing data from social media.
Insurance Partners
Third-party companies that produce insurance technology and other tools that support the insurance agency can benefit significantly from using APIs. Insurance tools used to generate data can be more effective when APIs automatically create an effective bridge to pull data from different apps or IoT devices. As a result, such tools offer an improved experience for insurance companies and customers.
Carriers
Insurance carriers often work with third-party agents to sell policies to customers. APIs can be used to allow these agents to obtain quotes quickly, so carriers don't have to complete this task manually. When quotes are automatically displayed through APIs, customers can commit to purchases with no delay.
Collect information and verify insurance policies without the hassle by implementing our API. Get started with InsurGrid's API.
How Do Insurance APIs Work?
There are three main types of insurance APIs. They include public APIs, partner APIs, and private APIs. Partner APIs are implemented by a third party and can be customized to your needs or fully managed for a monthly fee. An internal IT team generally implements private APIs. Both of these options are less common than public APIs, which are easily accessible for all types of operations.
Public APIs
Public APIs can often be implemented by simply choosing the options you'd like to use. Some are customizable to meet the specific needs of the end user.
Public APIs for insurance can be used to collect customer information from various sources seamlessly. For instance, APIs help agents collect consumer insurance information including:
- Contact Information: Email, phone, and address
- Policy: Premiums, limits, deductibles and discounts
- Properties: Address, house materials and details
- Vehicles: VIN, year, make, model, mileage, and uses
- Driver Data: Names, license numbers, and DOBs
- Leinholder: Name and address
- Claims History: The claims history of the customer with their current insurer
- Insurance Documents: Dec pages, ID cards, endorsement binders, and renewals
Use Cases for APIs in Insurance
With the use of modern technology, business interactions are becoming more streamlined and convenient than ever before. Consumers have come to expect quick and efficient transactions that improve service - think Amazon or Uber like service. APIs work in various ways to provide quick access to services and products in the insurance industry.
Reach - New Partnerships
APIs can help insurance companies connect with external businesses that depend on the industry. For example, insurance APIs can be used to connect brokers and carriers, removing the need for manual underwriting processes and allowing data to be shared seamlessly. They can also be used to connect agents with external businesses like real estate or vehicle sales, providing insurance estimates to potential buyers at the time of a sale. This way, APIs can help insurance companies reach new partnerships and better serve their customers.
Speed - Claims Management
Large, cumbersome data systems can make it difficult to access information quickly. During claims management, claimants, carriers, and adjusters often access information from different systems. APIs can reduce the friction during this process by integrating the systems to provide a single source of truth during the claims management process.
Cost Savings - Devices
With the use of specific data, insurers can help customers address dangers before they occur to mitigate risks and prevent the need to file claims. IoT devices in vehicles and smart homes can detect issues that potentially lead to accidents. For example, devices in homes can detect critical measurements like water pressure and humidity levels, while those in cars can detect anything from tire pressure to fluid levels to indicate mechanical issues. There are even telematic devices that can be installed on some vehicles to track driving behaviors of consumers, which could translate to additional discounts for safe drivers! APIs can feed all this information directly to insurers so they can better advise clients about the protection they need.
Insurance APIs Benefiting Other Industries
P&C insurance is designed to protect customers and their assets in the event of a covered event. As a result, the coverage and claims processes are related to other industries. APIs can create connections that help streamline the workflows of professionals in these related industries.
Finance
Banks and other lenders require customers to insure big-ticket items that aren't paid in full at the time of purchase. APIs can be integrated into bank lending software to collect consumer insurance data and incorporate insurance products when assessing financial risks and conducting financial planning. The information can also be used to allow lenders to immediately verify policies for automotive and residential coverage for loans.
Legal
The claims management process is one of the most important interactions customers have with insurance. Legal professionals are often involved for various reasons. With insurance APIs, legal professionals, like a personal injury lawyer, can easily access information about a client's auto insurance policy. This information can be used to help assess the value of a claim and negotiate a fair settlement. In addition, the API can verify that a client has the required coverage for their claim.
Auto Dealerships
Vehicle purchases are often taken care of in-house with financing provided directly through the dealership's third-party connections. Yet, all states require vehicles to be insured. APIs can immediately supply information to auto dealerships to streamline the vehicle purchasing process. APIs that connect to customer apps and insurance websites can even allow the customer to add the necessary insurance coverage immediately.
Insurance APIs Streamline Insurance Processes for Improved Customer Satisfaction
APIs bring technology to the insurance industry for more convenient, smoother processes, from instant quotes to seamless claims management. InsurGrid's API allows agents to collect insurance data quickly, easily, and securely in any application.
InsurGrid provides a safer way for people to connect insurance accounts to an app. Start providing your customers with a secure, convenient way to conduct insurance transactions with the InsurGrid API.
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