In the highly competitive insurance industry, contact center agents play a critical role in winning and retaining customers. And while some insurers are leveraging technology to improve the digital customer experience, many providers are losing business by clinging to archaic business practices that no longer meet customers' expectations.

To understand the advantages that innovative contact center systems can offer, it helps to first consider how traditional operator protocols can fall short of the mark. In a new era when consumers are using electronic communications more than ever before, customers have come to expect calls and chats with contact center operators to provide the same prompt service and convenience they experienced in retail showrooms, if not more. Patience for waiting on hold, transfers, and being asked to repeat information grows shorter and shorter.

Nevertheless, nearly all insurance customers who reach out to a provider by telephone are placed on hold. On average, agents spend 26% of their time during a customer interaction searching for relevant data.