As the insurance industry continues through radical technology transformation - with 85% of insurance CEOs saying the pandemic has accelerated digitization of their operations and creation of next-gen operating models, according to KPMG - much of the current focus is now on rebuilding the talent acquisition processes and pipelines. 

As insurers look to increase their number of digital employees and attract top talent, they need to enable a flexible, hybrid working policy. And to do this, they must offer a hybrid working environment, which allows staff to thrive from wherever they work, while remaining fully compliant as they fulfil customer requests remotely and collaborate with dispersed colleagues.

In fact, since the pandemic, insurers have successfully transformed their service delivery models in line with their hybrid workforce needs, providing remote insurance advice, and the ability to handle policy sales and routine claims management remotely.

However, insurers now need to be able to integrate new platforms and applications without compromising network reliability, customer, and employee experience, and the security of highly confidential information. Doing all this is key to transforming the short-term success of pandemic adaptation into the long-term triumph of hybrid working. 

So, how can insurers continue to deliver new, secure, digital services while guaranteeing that functions can be fully deliverable from anywhere, over any device?

To ensure seamless delivery for back-office functions, such as claims processing and policy underwriting, and customer-facing functions - such as customer onboarding and claim submission and settlement - firms need a hybrid cloud solution that guarantees continuous superior service delivery, next-level security and reliability. 

As a number one priority, insurers should invest in hybrid cloud technology to fuel the service reliability that powers their essential offerings and products of differentiation. The key is leveraging the right tools, such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) or  next-generation Desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) - a plug-and-play preconfigured delivery models that offer a unified control plane for any workload, whether working on the Cloud or Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI). These solutions will power liberated and secure hybrid workforces - along with driving seamless user experiences and product differentiation, and elevating service quality.

There are three key considerations for insurance firms to make when deciding on which technology to invest in:

1. Open finance models, hybrid working, and hyper personalization using data, analytics, AI and automation to provide relevant and timely targeted customer experiences are examples of insurance industry trends that continue to gain traction. However, for an insurance organization to continue to innovate and stay ahead of the curve in these areas, advanced hybrid cloud infrastructure - with the power to adapt, scale, and inter-operate to meet changing demands - is a pre-requisite

2. When time to market, guaranteed performance, and scalability are primary indicators of success, a plug-in-and-play preconfigured delivery model such as an integrated Desktop as a Service (DaaS) solution can empower insurers to overcome complex implementation projects quickly. With this kind of delivery model, insurers can virtualize, manage, stream, and remotely display applications and desktops with minimal upfront costs and no deployment delays.

3. Adopting a managed approach, with an outcomes-based focus, can prevent downtime in the migration process and enable teams to work productively. Additionally, as the need for technological skills in the sector is set to increase by more than half (55%) through to 2030, process standardization and automation can bridge the labor gap in manual processes. As the talent squeeze continues across many verticals, it will be vital for insurers not just to enhance the user experience for employees but to also account for gaps in the workforce - the gaps where they don’t have the resource to implement these solutions - by partnering with the right managed services providers. 

Implementing these measures will realize two vital goals for insurance firms: 1) the ability to retain and attract top, digitally savvy talent - and 2) the ability to guarantee optimized service delivery for customers. 

With the nature of insurance not defined by an exchange of physical products, it’s vital the sector differentiates itself in the form of superior experiences. For customers this looks like the provision of a quick and highly personalized service, underpinned by flawless connectivity. For employees this looks like seamless network connectivity, which enables collaboration across dispersed teams, end-to-end visibility, security - and the flexibility to work from anywhere on any device.

Successful hybrid working can also broaden the potential talent pool available to insurers, who will no longer be limited to hiring based on geographical location and can instead look further afield to find the best possible people to drive their organizations forward. And with the capacity to continually optimize service delivery and bring new products to customers, firms can simultaneously drive business outcomes - such as higher revenues, lower cost-to-serve and better retention.

Recent research from Statista reveals that more than half of senior insurance executives surveyed globally said their employees would follow a hybrid work model throughout 2022. One fifth of them said their employees will be required to come to the office on specified weekdays but can work remotely some or all other days - and 35% said their employees will follow a rotating schedule and should work in the office when it's their designated day or week.

With hybrid working here to stay, it’s an exciting time for insurers to grasp the opportunity for successful transformation. The technology and expertise now exist to help reimagine when, where and how work is done, and workforces can be liberated from outdated work processes to thrive from anywhere, and on any device.

Wipro and Citrix combine best-in-class cloud technology with maximum data and application security. Our digital workspace is a secure, high performant Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) built to empower productive, seamless enterprises. The partnership is reloading the future of insurance work and transforming IT by driving business outcomes, improving employee experience, and enhancing operations visibility and service delivery with single-pane-of-glass health monitoring. 

We have partnered for over a decade to help enhance business outcomes for some of the biggest names in insurance. To find out how you can develop a secure, productive hybrid working model for the future of insurance, visit our dedicated site here: