Abstract
In this paper, we focus on the impact of digital transformation on traditional ways to sell insurance products. Our goal is to investigate how widespread the use of digital technologies in insurance sales is and which values of these digital technologies are perceived by insurance intermediaries. Moreover, we aim to analyze underlying influencing factors in this regard. We conducted a survey in July 2020, i.e., after the first wave of COVID-19, in which 671 exclusive agents from various insurance companies, independent agents and independent brokers from Germany participated. Our results show that even at this point of time, in a high proportion of sales workforces, digital transformation is not yet very advanced. Further analyses show that exclusive agents and younger people are further ahead in digital transformation even though COVID-19 pushes digital life across all ages and social classes. Based on our results, we derive initial recommendations for action for the insurer.
Highlights
IntroductionThe insurance industry is strongly affected by digital transformation (see Eling and Lehmann 2018; Eckert and Osterrieder 2020)
Like most other industries, the insurance industry is strongly affected by digital transformation
For each digital application from our survey, we investigated whether there is a statistical difference between the group of exclusive agents and the group of independent agents/brokers regarding the use of this digital application
Summary
The insurance industry is strongly affected by digital transformation (see Eling and Lehmann 2018; Eckert and Osterrieder 2020). We follow Eling and Lehmann (2018), who understand digital transformation to refer to the integration of the analogue and digital worlds using new technologies, which improve customer interaction, data availability and business processes. According to Eling and Lehmann (2018), digital transformation affects the whole value chain of insurance companies. It allows the automation of business processes and decisions. The way insurance companies interact with their customers is fundamentally changing, which is why insurance sales are affected
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