State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company is planning a national rollout of a platform designed with Amazon to help independent insurance agents better serve the insurer’s policyholders.

A beta testing began in the 2020 second quarter with select independent agencies, according to the Ohio-based property/casualty insurer. State Auto said it will expand the platform across the country through the rest of 2020.

State Auto Chief Technology Officer Ramu Lingala said that the insurer’s initiative with Amazon will help the insurer stay ahead of the technology curve.

“This project is a great example of how we plan to leverage an innovative mindset and cutting-edge technologies to continually raise the bar on the experience we’re able to provide our customers,” Lingala said in prepared remarks.

State Auto developed its cloud-based platform working with the Amazon Web Services Digital Innovation Program, which is focused on helping customers bring their ideas to markets faster. The new platform launched through a closed beta offering in the 2020 second quarter with select independent insurance agencies, according to the company.

As envisioned, the platform gives independent insurance agencies an easily accessible, multifaceted view of State Auto customers. By doing so, the idea is that agents can then rapidly resolve a number of customer needs.

Among the innovations incorporated into the platform: an integrated communication hub that brings together text, chat, email, and voice customer interactions into one simple view, along with easy to understand descriptions of policy transactions designed to greatly improve the customer experience.

By decreasing the amount of time and effort required to successfully address common customer service requests, the platform enables agencies to reinvest more of their valuable human capital into operating and growing their business.

State Auto said the platform brought together business leaders from State Auto’s Customer Service, Product, and Engineering teams.

Source: State Auto