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Accenture research shows that digital is critical for advice—and that many insurers are not providing the right digital tools to help their advisors meet customer expectations.

When it comes to life insurance, the agency channel is crucial for insurers’ sales and distribution plans. While many life insurers have taken steps to offer their customers the ability to purchase or service life insurance or retirement products through online channels, the fact remains that they are selling personal (and sometimes complex) products. Advice, then, is key to the customer experience.

To better understand how life insurers are using digital capabilities to provide better advice, Accenture surveyed 300 North American financial advisors. The Accenture North American Insurance Financial Advisors Study revealed six factors that are fundamentally changing how life insurers do business.

In this podcast, my colleague Patrick Lyons shares the first of these six factors: that digital tools are critical to providing good advice, but there is a gap between what advisors and customers want—and what insurers are currently able to offer.

Join me next week as I discuss the second of the survey’s findings: that today’s clients are better informed than before and expect more from their advisors.

Learn more:

• Register to download Voice of the Advisor Executive Summary: Growing life insurance through the fusion of advice-based selling models and digital(PDF).
• For more information on robo-advisors, download The Rise of Robo-Advice: Changing the concept of wealth management (PDF).
• Email me to discuss how Accenture can help you augment your digital capabilities.