Closing the deal with e-signature

E-signature has become such a part of my life that I am surprised when I am asked to provide a wet signature. I sign for credit card purchases, deliveries and legal documents, even my tax returns (!), using a click or a digital signature pad. But, if I want to change my beneficiary for my life insurance, I have to download a .pdf, sign the document with a pen, and mail it to the insurer. Insurance has been a slow adopter of e-signature. However, as the process of buying life insurance and receiving post-issue service is becoming increasingly more digitized, insurers are working to remove paper from everyday processes.

The adoption of e-applications, web portals, and mobile technology is helping to drive the change, but it is my belief that it is primarily driven by customer expectations set by other industries offering easy-to-use digital processes. Consumers expect companies to be easy to do business with and will choose the company they purchase goods or services from based on the ease of use. E-signatures provide a way to offer a digital experience that is easy to use, fast, and secure.

In our new report, Putting a Lock on Straight Through Processing, my colleague Karen Monks and I profile 11 providers of e-signature technology for insurance. This is the final report in a series that began last year. During the year, we looked extensively at new business acquisition and the technologies that power it. We wrote reports on solution providers for illustrations, e-application, and new business and underwriting in addition to e-signature. Along with the vendor reports, the series included two benchmarking reports and a report in which insurers compared their level of automation to Celent's automation capability matrix to determine if they are minimally, moderately, or highly automated.

With the increased emphasis on cycle time and cost, e-signature is being increasingly being adopted as a way to check the box on making processes fast, flexible, and efficient. E-signature software frequently integrates with other solutions to support new business acquisition as well as post-sale service.

The ability to collect an electronic signature for a new application at the time of sale providing the legal authorization to obtain underwriting requirements and evidence from third party providers has enabled straight-through processing and the ability to provide a decision to the applicant within minutes, instead of weeks.

Common e-signature use cases for life insurance:

• New policy application
• Disclosure delivery
• Agent licensing and appointment
• E-delivery of policies
• Beneficiary change and other policy servicing
• Premium payments

Life insurers that investigate e-signatures will be pleasantly surprised by how quickly and relatively inexpensively e-signature can be implemented as well as how easily and securely a paper signature process can be automated. I am a big fan, as I’m sure you are, of less paper and more automation!