An article by Mortgage Introducer reports that Insurers are set to widely adopt e-signatures.
Guy Williams, Sales and Marketing Director at insurance software developer LISS systems, predicts that Insurance providers will start using e-signatures “like dominoes” in the years ahead.
E-signatures – which are widely adopted in America using solutions like DocuSign – allow customers to securely sign off on documents electronically, using computers or mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.
As things stand, LV= is one of few UK insurers currently using e-signatures, however, Williams believes that the rest of the market will eventually catch up with the US, where more than 70% of providers already use the technology.
He said: “Once the early movers prove the benefits of using e-signatures the rest of the market will follow like dominoes. Trust is a big issue but it really doesn’t need to be. If you explain to people how they work they will use them. The Americans have been doing so for seven or eight years”,
adding; “When I first saw them a couple of years ago I thought using them is an absolute no brainer for our industry and they will become a hygiene factor in a few years’ time.”
Until recently, a major stumbling block was the lack of support from the British Medical Association (BMA). Williams says of this: “The objection was the BMA weren’t supportive of using these signatures, but I’ve been working with the Association of British Insurers and a number of others to address this problem and the BMA will give the green light with their approval.”
He went on to explain the benefits of using e-signatures in layman’s terms: “It takes £4 to send a piece of paper backwards and forwards but an e-signature will do the same thing instantly,” adding; “It can take two weeks out of the process.”
On the slowness of adoption in the UK, Williams said: “The frustration is we’ve got great stuff out there but the insurers have been slow to adopt it. We’ve got servers in the UK and servers in Europe so there are no data protection issues”.
Concluding: “The barriers are in thought process rather than anything physical.”
At Dajon, we welcome the news and hope to be actively seeking new partnerships with e-signature providers in the near future. If you’re having problems with outdated paper processes, get in touch to find out more about our wide range of scanning/digital services and how we can help you to simplify your processes and save money: http://www.dajon.co.uk/contact-us Original source: http://www.mortgageintroducer.com/mortgages/253114/5/Industry_in_depth/Insurers_will_widely_adopt_e-signatures.htm