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A 2016 TechCrunch article predicted that there would be more than 4.8 billion people using a
mobile phone by the end of the year.
Not surprisingly, this turned out to be an underestimation.
VentureBeat.com published an article almost one year to the day after the TechCrunch
prediction came out, and reported that global mobile connectivity had reached five billion people
(200,000,000 more users than projected).
That’s two-thirds of the world’s population.
To say that our world is mobile would be a gross understatement. We use our mobile devices to
do everything from navigate us while we drive, answer emails on the go, deposit checks, and of
course, take selfies.
There isn’t much we can’t do with our phones. And there isn’t much we like to do without them.
Think about it.
Would you want to wait in long lines at the airport to check in, the way we used to do in the “old
days”? Or would you prefer to check in, register your luggage, and obtain your boarding pass
with a few simple taps on your smartphone? I think the answer here is pretty obvious.
If given the choice, we as a society almost always opt to do things electronically.
The insurance industry is no exception.
It wasn’t too long ago that paper checks, wire transfers, and cash were the preferred (and only)
choices to pay an insurance policy.
But that isn’t the case today.
Mobile payments have flipped the insurance industry on its head. Insureds can now remit a
payment in seconds, and agents can turn around and deposit funds into a bank account just as
quickly.
Instantaneous results like this may seem the norm in 2018, but a few years ago this was still
unheard of.
Today, consumers expect a quick, seamless, payment process. Everything from insurance to
the restaurant business to freelancing photographers seems to offer an electronic payment
option. Without one, you’re sure to lose business to a competitor who does.
Even more “traditional” organizations are stepping up their game to keep up with technology.
The Girl Scouts, for instance, is a staple of American culture. One that is deeply rooted in
nostalgia and tradition. Not much has changed about the organization since its inception in
1912. That is, until recently.
The scouts implemented mobile payments into their business model. And the results are, to say
the least, impressive.
One troop in Ohio, “saw cookie sales increase almost 14 percent when using mobile
payments…with the per-girl average increasing from 156 boxes to 177 boxes (source:
Retaildive.com).
“Being able to offer credit card as a form of payments enables the Girl Scouts to sell cookies to
just about anyone, at any time,” said Paul Bridgewater, Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts
partner Sage Payment Solutions.
“[P]eople aren’t, as a habit, carrying cash and checks with them.”
Mr. Bridgewater makes a fine point. Mobile payments theoretically enable any business owner
the ability to sell products, goods, or services to anyone, at any time. The mobile payments
industry, say TechCrunch, is well on its way to becoming one of the next hottest sectors in tech.
This bodes especially well for the insurance space where money switches hands frequently.
The efficiency and convenience of e-payments is just too good an opportunity to pass up.
Insureds have a low-touch, easy payment option with very few steps. Agents and brokers
receive funds quickly and also have low-touch, easy options when it comes to making deposits.
Even accounting teams reap benefits. If an agency or brokerage is able to auto-reconcile
e-payments into their management system, this saves the accounting crew the headache of
having to do it manually. Talk about your win-win-win.
At the end of the day, consumers, insureds, and insurance professionals everywhere want a
more seamless, end-to-end solution for remitting, tracking, and reconciling payments.
With mobile payments, the question isn’t “why?” it’s “why not?”
