E-Signatures in Life Insurance: A Vendor Spectrum

Celent research has found that insurers are finally utilizing e-signatures across many functions and processes in an effort to lower costs, shorten cycle times, and improve the services they provide to both business partners and consumers. But despite the ease of using e-signatures and their obvious benefits, one quarter of insurers surveyed in our report have not implemented e-signatures. This report serves to provide a brief overview of the vendors who compete for life insurance e-signature market share to help make the vendor selection process easier.

In this report, Celent profiles e-signature vendors that have North American life insurance clients or are targeting the market. Many of the profiled vendors have been in the market since the inception of the e-signature laws took effect. Others have recently entered the North American life insurance market after having had success in other geographies or industries. All but two profiled in this report have a significant number of insurers using their e-Signature systems either through a direct license with the vendor or through resellers and third party vendor systems.

“Celent believes that all the vendors profiled have a chance to capture a piece of the life insurance e-signature market. Besides having products that allow for electronic signature capture, these vendors have experience in other financial services sectors that can be applied to the specific problems found in insurance,” says Karen Monks, Analyst with Celent’s Insurance Group and author of the report. “Life insurers that investigate e-signatures will be pleasantly surprised by how quickly and relatively inexpensively they can be implemented and how easily and securely a paper signature process can be automated.”

This report examines the technology behind e-signature applications for life, health and annuity insurance. It briefly reviews current e-signature approaches and summarizes the market for e-signatures. It also identifies the major e-signature software vendors, and provides information and comparison on the marketed products.