Celent has released a new report titled Life Insurance Mobile Apps for Producers in Latin America.The report was written by Luis Chipana, an analyst with Celent’s Insurance practice.
Producers are the most significant channel for life and health insurance in Latin America. Overall, there are more than 202,000 producers or agents in the region, 20% more than two years ago, and they are selling around 85% of the premium in the region.
In 2014, Celent explored the produced-focused app offering in Latin America and learnt that 2% of insurers in the region had developed this technology for producers. In this edition, Celent revisited each insurer’s website in the Latin American region and revised the apps they had available by Q2 2016. We reviewed Apple’s iTunes App Store, Google Play, BlackBerry World, and Windows App store in search of apps provided by Latin American insurers and analyzed the type of functionalities available.
Celent gathered data on 172 life and health Latin American insurers in 20 countries and determined the number of apps in the market, features, and processes supported. Through a review of mobile apps and case studies from around the world, Celent offers a possible short-term path for insurers and provides an outlook for the future
Life and health insurance apps for producers are now found in 9 out of 20 countries. Only 14 insurers (or 8%) out of 172 are offering a total of 22 producer-focused apps.
At a country level, availability ranges from 10% to 30%. Producer-focused apps offer a variety of functionality such as sales and marketing, policy servicing, self-reporting tools, inquiry tools, general information, and communication tools. Although the producer-focused apps are rated 4.4 out of 5 (considering Android only), reviews show that there is still work to do on performance and to meet customer expectations. Most insurers are failing in both areas.
“The growth of smartphone users and the growth of the sales forces in the region have insurers rethinking and redefining better ways to serve the producers through digital channels, channels in in which mobiles are important components,” commented Chipana.
“About 8% of insurers in Latin America are offering producer-focused apps, and the majority of insurers in the region are interesting in investing in mobile technology for producers,” he added.
