Travel insurance in the digital era

Travel insurance in the digital era | Insurance Business Canada

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Travel insurance in the digital era

Digital tools can help you get insurance ready, and utilize it when your client needs it

In this digital age, taking your shoes off at airport security should be the most onerous part of your trip – buying travel insurance shouldn’t be.

And with digital tools like Allianz Global Assistance’s (Allianz) AdvisorMax, its easier than ever to find the right insurance fit for your clients.

In the post COVID-19 pandemic world, the travel insurance industry has been transformed – and Allianz has been quick to respond to evolving customer expectations, making travel insurance easier to access for its broker partners and their clients.

Doing business the broker’s way

The pent-up desire to travel is, by now, well known. But having seen how tourism was disrupted in 2020 especially, 89% of travelling Canadians intend to be covered by travel insurance for their next trip, according to the “Allianz Global Assistance Vacation Confidence Study,” from November 2022.

In short, travellers are counting on their insurance advisors to help them explore the world securely, and brokers need to be able to offer them the right protection for their unique journey.

“When it comes to travel insurance, the selling process for brokers should be easy, accessible and convenient,” said Chris Van Kooten (pictured), CEO of Allianz Global Assistance Canada.

As such, in this new era, Allianz has reinvented its products, technology and processes to provide its partners with a more intuitively simple experience. Its point-of-sale system, AdvisorMax, provides brokers with a modern and stable front-end portal that makes selling policies simple. Its features include:

Convenient product displays offering side-by-side comparisons and flexible quoting by category.
Quick quoting for all customer and product scenarios.
Medical screening with only three intuitive questions to drive ease and speed of quotation (for outbound Canadian travellers aged 65 and older.)
Automatic renewal capabilities for annual plans, helping to efficiently generate ongoing sales.
Sales reporting.
All-in-one-place: Find resources, sales tools, policy wording and news from Allianz, right on the platform.

The program leverages best practices that Allianz teams use in the US, but was developed specifically for Canadian brokers and local products.

Allianz is also unlocking a wealth of opportunities for broker partnerships with its API integration.

“This is a key component in Allianz’s digital transformation strategy, allowing brokers to seamlessly scale their business with a leading travel insurance and assistance company,” said Van Kooten. “The opportunities are exciting when it comes to automating processes, streamlining data exchange and accelerating time to market.”

Allianz is already using digital business intelligence and surveys to monitor trends and gain valuable insights into travel insurance needs and purchase patterns.

Taking care of a broker’s customer

But that one tool is not where Allianz’s technical commitment ends. The company leverages digital solutions to provide a seamless experience for clients across all touchpoints – from point of sale to claims submission.

One of the points of pride for Allianz is that it is there for travellers when they need it most. In some cases, it can help a client in a medical situation virtually, without the client even needing to leave their accommodation.

Whenever a traveller needs medical assistance, they can call Allianz and they are asked symptom-specific questions, with the Allianz Guided Care algorithm. This determines if the client should speak with a medical professional virtually, or be referred to an emergency room at a hospital within Allianz’s qualified provider network.

Travellers with non-emergent symptoms, such as moderate to mild back pain or a minor stomach flu, can be referred to a “Virtual Care” consultation with a live medical doctor, accessible via their mobile device, tablet or laptop.

For example, “Virtual Care” medical professionals can help assess that a client’s insect bite is not serious or that their headache may be related to sunstroke or jetlag, which can go a long way in putting clients at ease for the rest of their trip.

Prescriptions can also be provided virtually and sent directly to the pharmacy that is nearest to the client’s location, offering exceptional convenience for the client.

Partner with Allianz and meet travellers’ evolving needs with relevant travel insurance solutions. Contact Allianz today.