Insurance Carriers Increase Small Businesses' Digital Access to Certificates of Insurance, Demos

WILMINGTON, Delaware, Nov. 2 -- The Hartford Financial Services Group, a property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds provider, issued the following news release on Nov. 1, 2023:

Keynova Group, the principal competitive intelligence source for digital financial services firms, today announced the results of its 2023 Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard. For the fifth consecutive year, The Hartford secures first place in the Scorecard for its digital user experience catering to small businesses. Keynova Group's annual evaluation of the desktop and mobile offerings of the 10 largest U.S. insurers of small businesses highlights how carriers are advancing digital support and servicing to meet the unique needs of small firms.

The Scorecard's findings show that even as the top carriers have made improvements in the efficiency of digital Certificate of Insurance (COI) requests and in offering demos and other informative content to build the use of digital channels, there is significant opportunity to enhance additional digital capabilities that support small businesses.

"There continues to be a substantial disparity in the degree of carriers' digital enablement for small businesses, especially when compared with the more advanced capabilities provided to consumers," said Beth Robertson, managing director of Keynova Group. "The leading carriers are delivering more sophisticated experiences, such as for self-service COI requests, or developing useful tools like video demos that enable investments in digital servicing to yield both customer experience gains and savings by reducing the need for live agent support."

* * *

Key Findings:

Digital Self Servicing Improves Efficiency of Certificate of Insurance Requests

With increasing requirements for companies to show proof of sufficient insurance coverage, requests for a Certificate of Insurance are among the most common insurance needs for small firms. All of the insurance carriers reviewed in the Scorecard support a standard digital COI request; however, best in class carriers allow for greater flexibility, enabling small companies to select a desired format, add custom wording or an additional insured, manage and edit recipient lists, and choose recurring delivery options. Today, 50% of Scorecard carriers offer the ability for businesses to customize a COI's text, and these same firms also each support customized COI requests via a mobile device. Additionally, while half of carriers provide an online list of past recipients, only The Hartford enables edits to a COI recipient list and the ability to select automatic reissuance of a COI when the relevant policy is renewed.

* * *

Content Improvements Include Video Demos that Showcase Self-Servicing Capabilities

This year, 70% of reviewed carriers have enriched their educational content with video-formatted topics for small businesses, and 50% offer educational series on business management themes. In addition, to highlight their website and mobile tools and provide policyholders with guidance on completing tasks digitally, 20% of reviewed carriers now supply videos depicting key authenticated tasks and capabilities. As well, carriers have increased their Spanish-language content, with 60% now providing insurance information for small businesses in Spanish on their websites.

* * *

Opportunities to Enhance Digital Services for Small Business Policyholders

Despite many digital advances, both public site and authenticated servicing capabilities for small businesses continue to lag the digital options that carriers offer consumers. In 2023, 70% of carriers provide online quoting for business policy types such as business owner policies (BOP), property, or business liability; however, only 40% bind these policies online and just 20% quote and bind commercial auto policies digitally. Similarly, 70% of reviewed carriers support digital claims reporting for small businesses, but only 30% have claim reporting for an array of business policy types including workers compensation. And just 20% of carriers enable online changes to a business or commercial auto policy via their authenticated servicing sites for small firms. These inconsistencies present an opportunity for carriers to enhance their capabilities, better assisting the small business market by supplying the types of digital tools that owners and operators have come to expect in other aspects of managing their businesses.

* * *

About the Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard

Keynova Group's annual fact-based Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard evaluates the online and mobile offerings of 10 of the leading U.S. small business insurers including Allstate, Chubb, GEICO, Hiscox, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Progressive, State Farm, The Hartford, and Travelers. Evaluating approximately 300 objective criteria and measuring competitive digital capabilities and user experience elements, the Scorecard identifies evolving trends and actionable insights that influence digital strategies for carriers serving small firms.

For more information about Keynova Group's 2023 Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard, please visit https://www.keynovagroup.com/scorecards/#insurance.

* * *

Original text here: https://newsroom.thehartford.com/newsroom-home/news-releases/news-releases-details/2023/Insurance-Carriers-Increase-Small-Businesses-Digital-Access-to-Certificates-of-Insurance-and-Demos-Opportunity-to-Add-More-Digital-Servicing/default.aspx