Banking and Insurance: Money Making with Real-time Communications

Banking and insurance are among the world’s most important industries. The two are inextricably linked, as they track and guarantee finances, investments, and properties. As consumer behavior continues to become more mobile, both industries are responding with solutions that enable users to carry out banking and insurance work with modern technology.

What’s Happening Now in Banking and Insurance

Mobile banking and insurance apps enable faster communications and messaging. This allows banks to move money faster and enables insurers to process claims more quickly. Technology such as WebRTC is bolstering communications for both industries. Powering real-time communications that can be run through just a web browser, WebRTC is making its way into banking and insurance websites to enable organizations to carry out user interactions at a rapid pace.

From superior customer service to stronger security, WebRTC powers better interactions between banks or insurers and their clients.

Market Size of Banking and Insurance

The insurance and banking industries are among the largest in the United States, with insurance industry revenue estimated at $1.2 trillion and commercial banking estimated at $691 billion.

Today’s banking industry is in the strongest position in nearly a decade. It has recovered since the financial crisis of 2008, which Ernst and Young believes is a key driver leading the industry toward growth. Insurance solutions across emerging markets like China are propelling growth throughout the insurance agency.

Deloitte estimates that mobile banking will be a key driver in the future growth of the industry, and McKinsey sees trends suggesting mobile behavior is also driving future growth of the insurance industry.

What Banking and Insurance are Used For

Banks and insurers are using WebRTC to help improve the customer experience. To eliminate the need for users to visit a physical location, real-time video and audio communication enables banks and insurers to directly communicate with clients through mobile applications. Video and audio chat also adds additional levels of security, ensuring organizations are speaking to the correct account holder or policyholder.

Across the insurance industry, mobile devices are also enabling insurers to identify claims in real-time. In one instance, American Family Insurance offers users a discount for using a Ring video doorbell to monitor a home remotely. In the event of a burglary, Ring pays a user’s deductible. Real-time video communication offered through platforms such as WebRTC makes it possible to remotely monitor these situations. This allows insurers to verify insurance claims without having to be on site and enables users to get reimbursed quickly and accurately.

Main Concerns

Data security remains one of the greatest concerns for mobile banking and insurance solutions. Whether they’re dealing with hacked data or unauthorized account access, keeping private or sensitive financial information is one of the most challenging and crucial responsibilities for banks and insurers to handle. Without proper security protocols, valuable user data can be leaked, lost or stolen with a simple tap of the touchscreen.

For customer service interactions, communication over chat or video can be seen as less preferable than face-to-face communication — even as mobile video technology proliferates and enables better communication possibilities.

Where Banking and Insurance are Headed

Video chat is predicted to continue replacing contact centers, giving users more flexibility in the way they carry out customer service interactions with banks and insurers. Going forward, the banking industry and financial sector see the addition of voice verification as a necessary security step. Through WebRTC, banks will be able to verify transactions by identifying a user’s voice as well as other security credentials such as facial or fingerprint recognition.

The rise of chatbots will also continue to revolutionize the way users interact with banks and insurers. Rather than having to speak directly to a live agent, a chatbot built around an organization’s purpose and linked directly to a user’s data will be able to intelligently handle insurance claims and common banking tasks. As artificial intelligence continues to improve, expect better chatbots that can handle more tasks that were typically carried out by a human being.

Originally published at www.callstats.io.