Personal Finances Blog

It’s a tired way to start a modern article by referring to the speed with which the world has been revolutionized by the computer but, in this instance, it’s highly appropriate. When the first green shoots emerged in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, computerization was all about automating in-house processes like the accounting system. The software to replace labor was still a few years ago. But, once it arrived, two things happened. The employers cut their costs and improved their profits by terminating the employment of tens of thousands. Second, by removing many of the people who used to deal with customers, the businesses began a slow decline in the quality of the services they provided. Today, corporations hide behind call centers and e-mail systems, rarely providing real people we can talk through our problems with.

Instead of using the Internet and automated systems as a smokescreen to suggest a reasonable quality of service, the new technology should be used to improve the customer experience. At some point, the quality of this aspect of service will come back into focus as a way of distinguishing between faceless corporations. Take the world of car insurance as an example of what can be done. If your vehicle is involved in an accident, what you want is a smooth system for handling your claim. This involves the minimum fuss in submitting the claim online, the identification of suitable bodyshops for performing the repairs, getting quotes with the least delay, and agreeing which bodyshop will actually do the repairs. All this administration needs to be fast because, if your vehicle is off the road, there are storage charges mounting up and rental charges for a substitute vehicle. Multiply this across all the policyholders and the cost to the insurers is higher than it needs to be. If this loss is controlled, premium rates can be stabilized if not reduced. It’s good for all.

That’s why it’s important to support a new website and mobile app for Android and the iPhone that will improve the current situation. They allow you to upload photographs of the damage using your cell phone or hand-held device with a camera, and circulate those pictures to bodyshops approved by your insurer near to where you live. The repair shops keep the site updated on whether they have spare capacity and offer an estimate of the cost of repairs within 24 hours. Because the site works with insurers to limit the list of repairshops to those preapproved by the insurers, there’s a minimum of delay in processing the claim and costs are kept to a minimum. At present, this is still at a beta stage with five insurance companies in a limited number of states. But, assuming the trial is a success, we could see this rolled out across the country. If it genuinely does reduce administrative delays and associated costs, we will see stable car insurance rates. It may not be the cheap car insurance we all want to see, but it’s a good step in the right direction. It should also act as a wake-up call to the other slumbering giants on both sides of the fence. There are creative software people and insurance companies who would benefit the customer by getting together.

If you listen to the commentators, they all sing the same song. We’ve now entered the internet age. This is supposed to convince us something new and wonderful has happened. It’s such a complete break with the past it heralds the beginning of a new information age in which, somehow, we can all get ahead and do things never possible before. This is, of course, pure rubbish. The only difference between the digital age and the hard-copy age that went before it is the ease of access. Having a PC or some other online device gives you access to a vast library with a search engine to help you find the pages you need more easily. But, when you have the right page on the screen in front of you, it’s the same words you could have found in a book or some other written material. All that’s changed is the way the words are presented to you.

So, if you go back in time, printed words have always been used to manipulate people. They sell ideas to you. This means real power lies in the power to control access the means of publication. If a group can control what gets printed and distributed, the words can always tell the same story. But if the means of publication is open to other voices, this can give a completely different view of the world. This is why reputations can be made or unmade depending on who has the power to publish.

The problem for modern companies is anyone today can start up a blog or website. Many internet services are free to use. Similarly, the networking sites like Facebook allow people to write their opinions and describe their experiences. In the past, we would never get to hear Anne from Denver bought a steam cleaner that sprayed boiling water over her hands. Now she can write it and thousands of people can tweet it. It makes it very difficult for manufacturers and service providers to protect their reputations. This explains, in part, why insurance companies very rarely allow interaction on their sites. Since they cannot control what sometimes angry customers may say, they try to deny them a voice. Except there are now some very high profile sites on which people can complain about bad products and services. This movement is not yet sufficient to damage the vast insurance industry, but individual companies are finding it more difficult to prevent their reputations from slowly washing away.

This makes the recent announcement of a new online forum all the more encouraging. The intention is to allow people from both sides of the insurance relationship a chance to ask questions and have their say. Instead of a blank screen on which insurers give you the news they think you should hear, you can now ask about how to get more affordable car insurance rates, what to do if a claims adjuster low-balls the fair market value offer, and so on. This does not mean everyone on the forum will be an “innocent” consumer. There will inevitably be anonymous industry experts giving balancing views and opinions. But this is a hopeful sign of change. You may even get cheap car insurance quotes because of pressure through forums like this.