What Change Management Means for Insurance Companies

The insurance industry is constantly facing change—the increased cost of living, changing customer behaviors, and evolving digital technologies are just a few examples. When change is constant, it’s hard to implement it successfully. Employees struggle with change fatigue, which increases resistance and reduces commitment.

Insurance leaders must adopt a holistic, people-focused approach to managing change to secure longevity, adoption and support.

Why Insurance Is Embracing Change Management

With a constant influx of change, insurers need to adapt quickly and efficiently. Change management facilitates this process, creating a culture of agility that puts people at the heart of the process.

Insurance leaders today gravitate toward project management practices when managing change. It’s practical for handling change logistics, but project management alone doesn’t consider the people side of changes. Without an approach that garners support from the people affected, successful change is unlikely.

To future-proof your business, you need to be agile and holistic in your approach to change. This means managing the technical side of change and the people side, ensuring every individual is prepared and equipped to adopt and use it in their work.

So how do you get from the former to the future?

A key part of the Prosci Methodology, the The Prosci 3-Phase Process  provides a structured, repeatable process for managing change across an organization:

Prosci 3-Phase Process

How Insurance Companies Benefit From Robust Change Management Practices

Large-scale transformation requires a well-rounded approach to change, combining new protocols, training material and strategic counsel. Prosci supports your efforts with our comprehensive suite of services, tailored to insurance professionals and implemented by our change management experts:

• Improve communication – Equip yourself with the communication skills required to explain the need for change, deliver updates, and gain support.
• Minimize disruption – Ensure teams experience minimal impact on their day-to-day work while change is underway.
• Increase stakeholder commitment – Show employees and other stakeholders why change is necessary and how it benefits the company in the long run.
• Strengthen change adoption – Encourage people to adopt new changes and policies to impact change success by deploying proven-effective strategies. Choosing Prosci as your change management partner means your insurance company will be ready for future changes and can use these challenges to grow stronger through change.

Challenges of Change Management in the Insurance Sector

The insurance industry faces several specific challenges when employing change management:

Regulatory environment

The insurance industry experiences constraints on how to implement changes and the speed they can apply them due to operating in a heavily regulated environment.

Complex product structures

The insurance industry works within complex product structures, which can make it challenging for stakeholders to understand the reasons changes are happening.

Customer expectations

Customers can have a change of heart—especially as new technologies become available—putting pressure on insurance companies to meet these demands and keep up with challenging change initiatives.

Legacy systems and processes

Many insurance companies get used to systems and procedures running a certain way, which can make employees feel resistant to changes associated with updating or replacing them.

Risk-averse culture

Insurance companies need to manage risks constantly, and the idea of change can cause change-resistant behaviors in people who experience the changes in their daily work.

Adaptations Change Managers in the Insurance Industry

Prosci research shows that although there are hurdles and stresses to overcome during change, there are practical solutions for insurance companies to consider.

Engage regulatory stakeholders

Ensure a smooth transition and remain compliant by actively involving regulatory stakeholders in the change process.

Simplify communications

Communication is key to keeping both employees and customers in the loop. Avoid complex communication processes with all parties to enable smoother transitions.

Use technology

Meet customers’ expectations by leveraging new technologies and other digital approaches that streamline and enhance the user experience.

Get expert support

Despite the challenges insurance companies face, you can overcome common hurdles. Prosci change management experts know the insurance business and landscape, and can help you navigate change successfully:

• Allow our Change Advisors with insurance experience coach your insurance leaders in their roles and activate sponsorship.
• Leverage strategic planning and leadership development to guide insurance leaders through the best practices in change management.
• Equip people managers to support their teams through change with effective communications, resistance management, coaching and more.
• Set clear and concise goals to measure progress and track the success of your change management efforts—because our research shows that 80% of teams with well-defined goals met objectives.

With a thorough understanding of the insurance industry's challenges, our specialists are ready to help you navigate change.

Change Success Starts Here

Change Management Data

Organizations that apply excellent change management are 7X more likely to meet their change objectives than those that apply poor change management.

Communicate with your organization

Prosci research shows that people have preferences about who shares communications around change management. This shows how important these communications are in gaining support for change. If the wrong person sends a communication about change, resistance may follow.

Prosci change management takes stakeholder preferences into account. We help you engage with them, listen to their concerns, and provide the support they need to navigate the change.

Increase support for change

Active and visible sponsorship is the single most significant contributor to a change initiative’s success. With effective change management practices, you can emphasize the value of change to increase sponsorship and generate more support for change throughout the organization.

Why you need a structured, flexible methodology

The Prosci Methodology helps you manage a constantly changing environment with a structured process, but the practices are flexible. It allows leaders to navigate the constantly evolving insurance industry as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

Partnering for Change Success in Insurance

See how Prosci helps workflow change management for insurance companies, integrates change management systems, and sets them up for success.

How we drive change for insurance leaders

AXA – This health and medical insurance provider grappled with how to manage simultaneous changes alongside ambitious strategic goals for the future. Today, the company uses the Prosci Methodology to manage significant changes simultaneously, demonstrating the value of change management to organizational stakeholders to increase change success.

Read the full AXA success story.

​​Fortune 500 insurance provider – A Fortune 500 insurance business struggled to overcome silos and address change saturation as they grew rapidly. Working with Prosci, the company created a better and more scalable approach to change management. As a result, they established an office of change management, standardized change management practices across the organization, and grew their management maturity while meeting their growing demand for change capabilities.

Read the full success story.

How Change Management Shows up in Insurance

Transformation at scale is often necessary for growing insurance companies. To tackle this scope of change requires a holistic solution, ensuring people support change and can adapt to changes effectively.

This is where Prosci can help.

Prosci combines effective protocols, training programs, change management tools, and strategic counsel to help growing insurance companies enact change successfully:

• Large-group training – Prepare employees, centrally or across the globe, with a foundational knowledge of change management to make the process more effective as the organization grows.
• Role-based change management training – Complete specialized training for specific change-enabling roles in your insurance company, ensuring that everyone has the tools they need to drive change success.
• Live discussions and learning opportunities – Create a culture of continuous learning so that insurance leaders are confident in navigating new and unexpected challenges.
• Tailored change management practices – Standardize change management practices to increase change competency as the company scales.

With Prosci, your insurance company can grow to view change as an opportunity—to maximize efficiencies, adopt regulations, improve processes, and take advantage of market disruptions.