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Gamification in an Insurance Industry ationMarketResearchIdeation/InnovationMarketingand entOnboardand itmentFigure 2Insurers can create targeted advertisingcampaigns that let customers play games,accrue points and convert them into tangibleor virtual rewards. This strategy works particularly well with audiences who favor mobileand social gaming. Insurers can also rewardexisting policyholders for referring friends andcolleagues. For example, insurers can replicateGroupon17 models that encourage customers tohunt for big discounts while enrolling a specificnumber of customers into their communities tobuy similar coverage.leader-board. From there, insurers can identifycross-sell and up-sell opportunities by encouraging the users to share additional content,particularly in their social channels. Performingsocial analytics on top of the increased usergenerated content can help insurers to spotreferrals and sales conversions.Improve Customer Engagement,Loyalty and Service For instance, if a family member purchasesindividual life coverage and encouragesat least five members of his household topurchase similar coverage, they could enjoyprivileged customer status or access premiumservices. Rather than rewarding them for thisdeal alone, the insurer should encourage thefamily to accumulate points and cross multiplelevels in their mission to consistently top theCustomer education: Gamification can beused by insurance carriers to educate theircustomers on risk exposure management,safe driving measures and safe maintenanceof vehicles, personal financial planning,smart investments, retirement planning andselection of the right coverage. This could bea serious game or a quiz hosted online, mobileor on a social channel. Upon completing thegame, customers should be awarded badges.Completion of certain assignments can be tiedCodifying GamificationDirect Marketingand SalesProducer-BasedMarketing and SalesDevise customerengagement strategy.Devise strategy to influenceagent behavior andmotivate sales force.Create engaging contenton online, mobile andsocial channels.Enable agents withcontent and tools toengage customers.Incentivizecustomers.Incentivize agentsand customers.Figure 3cognizant 20-20 insights4

back to transactions by providing discounts.For instance, traditional rebates such as “goodstudent discounts” can be applied to gamification to improve customer engagement(i.e., where students can be encouraged tosubmit evidence of improved grades or otheracademic accomplishments and be rewardedwith premium decreases). Top ranking studentscan be publicized. On a similar basis, consistentsafe driving and setting of driving improvement goals can be incentivized. Customer feedback: Insurers must developinnovative means of collecting feedbackfrom customers through gamification. Anymeaningful feedback that customers shareabout carrier products or services can qualifyfor incentives. A gamification approach mighthelp to encourage customers to providefeedback compared with traditional feedbackforums. Customer retention: Retention of customersis among the critical goals for an insurer; gamification can be of service by creating a senseof belongingness. Nexercise18 aims to cementuser activity levels like burning calories andreward them with points that can be redeemedon “healthy choice” deals. Insurers can createsimilar initiatives that focus on reducinghazards that will help with retention. Market research: Traditional market researchsurveys launched with an aim to provideenhanced customer-centric service involvingconsumer participation can be replacedwith game-like survey questionnaires. (Forexample, Nexercise’s game-based surveythat offers rewards to motivate consumersto lose weight.) Customers can be incentivized based on valuable feedback. Crowdtap19reduced research costs by 80% for key clientsby offering consumers gamified rewardsto complete research tasks and therebyconverting customers into brand advocates.The company raised 1 million in revenue andenrolled 100,000 users in just 90 days.jacking and other forms of identification theft.Such innovative ideas can be pooled fromthe customer community through gamification strategies to launch niche products in themarket. For instance, Fiat launched its FiatMio21 project Web site by inviting people to helpcreate a car for the future — in effect, designingthe world’s first crowdsourced car.Internal FacingOften, insurance company employees aresubjected to tasks that are tedious and laborintensive. For example a juniorunderwriter in commercial Gamification is oftenlines might need to collect considered a means ofhuge sets of data, resulting ininducing competition.user fatigue. Or an agent couldbe de-motivated in his pursuit The head fake is thatof stiff annual sales targets.gamification canByapplyinggamification become an effectivetechniques such as progress tool to enhancebars and badges, such employcollaboration andees could better understand their performance and maximize businesscompete against themselves value.and their peers to achievepersonal and business goals. They can be providedwith timely tips and the means to achieve thosetargets based on their current performance.Importantly, gamification, if applied correctly,can induce behavioral changes that enhanceemployee productivity. Overall, employees, thesales force in particular, gain a sense of pride,belongingness and accomplishment whenrecognized for smaller tasks that contribute to alarger business objective.Improve Employee/Partner Engagementand Productivity Gain Competitive Advantage Ideation/innovation: Insurers should look tocrowdsource ideas from customers on productdevelopment and reward top contributors.They can invite the customers to come upwith new product ideas based on changinglifestyle patterns. Recently, a UK-basedcompany, ALLOW,20 introduced a “social mediainsurance” product with the intent of protectingcustomers from reputational damage, accountcognizant 20-20 insights5Employee collaboration: Gamification isoften considered a means of inducing competition. The head fake is that gamificationcan become an effective tool to enhance collaboration and maximize business value. Forinstance, consultant Bluewolf22 has gamifiedenterprise knowledge sharing and incentivizedits employees to go social. In the insurancecontext, an SME from the claims departmentcould assist a junior claims adjuster on thesettlement dispute of a multi-vehicle collisioncase and earn the status of a top contributorin the carrier’s collaboration platform. A groupof agents, field sales and corporate sales representatives might be willing to collaborate with

each other if they are continuously remindedthat the agency is well positioned to bag tophonors for achieving the best sales conversionrate. Apart from personalized targets, settingup team goals by grouping teams based ondepartment or region and indicating theirprogress and visibility to the end result on aperiodic basis through a gamification platformcan yield richer dividends. Performance management: Gamification canbe effectively applied to the context of performance management if goals and key performance indicators are captured upfront andfed into the design of the platform. A leaderboard dashboard can be seamlessly linked withactivities that contribute to performance goals,while others might help employees qualify formere badges but not contribute to the actualKPIs. Figure 4 illustrates a sample leaderboardfor agents.Processimprovement: Gamified toolsdeployed to track tasks and daily assignmentsengage employees better than the traditionaltask tracking systems. Gamifying mundanework performed by call center representative or junior underwriters should be a keyfocal point. For instance, a call center representatives who attends to the first notice ofloss calls from customers can be motivatedif he is allowed to track his SLA through agamified platform. Reps could track their performance relative to the other team membersand also receive badges for completing taskson schedule, receiving customer testimonials,accurately capturing all relevant information,avoiding round-trip time for the claims adjusteror helping a fellow employee by answeringqueries. This should drive productivity gainsand encourage collaboration to share bestpractices across the call center team.Typically, leaderboards contain a visualdashboard that reflects the activitiespertaining to the logged-in user. The progressbars are used to provide real-time feedback andinfluence user behavior by indicating employeeprogress against goals.For example, a claims estimator would be ableto ascertain which scheduled tasks can earnhim points by being completed on time, whatexpert queries he can answer to accumulatemore points and his ranking relative to histeam, region and global standings. Similarly,an agent can view his relative rankings,check progress in terms of accomplishing thequarterly or annual sales target, see featuredsales challenges that can earn him more points,check on recent badges that he has won, etc.Gaming PerformanceFeaturedchallengesMy LeaderboardJohn MattQ2 2013 –Opportunity to win500 points andearn sales king ofthe quarter badge44,000 pointsTeam Ranking: 8Global Ranking: 102Click to viewDashboardYour ProgressYour recent badgesYour Annual sales target 25,000YourProgress72%LikeLikeJim earned 50points for newbusinessopportunityComment750Click here toRedeem pointsYour Team dolph44,500MoreJohn Matt44,000MoreGeorgeBeck42,500MoreFigure 4cognizant 20-20 insights1500View MoreChallenges15%6Recent ActivitiesTommy tops theglobal standingsfor Q1 2013CommentRecently completedchallenges6

Winning Leaderboard AttributesQualify for Qualify omer testimonyKudosbadge150NoYesSupervisor/peer appreciationKudosbadge125NoYesCompletion of internal trainingand certification programAcademybadge1 perprogram100YesYesCompletion of external trainingand certification programAcademybadge1 perprogram150YesYesQuarterly challengesChallengerbadge1 perchallenge150YesYesCompleting 5 years of servicewith agencyLongservicebadge1 per 5 years1000NoYesAnswering expert queries incommunity forumSME badge1 post50YesYesNumber of leads generatedMain KPI150YesNoNew business sales deal closedMain KPI1200YesNoRenewals sales deal closedMain KPI175YesNoUp-sellMain KPI1100YesNoCross-sellMain KPI1150YesNoCustom product ideasMain KPI1200YesYesAchieving annual sales targetMain KPI1500YesYesRetaining 90% clientele frompast yearAdditionalKPI1 per year250YesYesFigure 5Figure 5 highlights the sample list of activities,points and badges that an insurance agentleaderboard can award and track.For instance, SAP23 displays the number ofclosed deals of every region as app race scoresrather than pie charts. They have an interesting visualization of sales analytics. Nitro24 forSalesforce helps foster healthy competitionwithin its sales teams by providing motivational challenges, contests and quests. Suchleaderboards can be designed by insurers toinstitute a performance management systemthat increases employee efficiency.list to prove their credibility. For a carrier thatis looking to attract fresh talent, gamificationcan be included to encourage referrals fromthe existing employee pool. Similar to crowdsourced ideas, crowdsourced recruitment is aninnovative approach where existing employeesare effectively engaged to attract high-performing talent from the market. Reduce Operational Costs Recruitment: Gamification was recentlyleveraged by certain companies for recruitingskilled professionals. The knowledge of agents,for instance, can be virtually tested throughinterview questionnaires that include gamemechanics. They can also be encouraged tobring references from their existing clientelecognizant 20-20 insights7Onboarding, training and decision-making:While serious games are already quite popularfor onboarding and training, publicizing thetop and consistent performers through leaderboards can motivate employees to consistentlyupgrade their skills. One way insurers canleverage such platforms is to onboard/traintheir employees, agents, brokers, sales representatives and call center representatives.Another application is to provide a gamification platform for underwriters, claim representatives and risk engineers to simulate decisionmaking scenarios.

Increase Speed to Market Product development: Insurers should lookto gamify their current product developmentinitiatives to better engage their employees.Resulting product development ideas can beevaluated based on their feasibility, uniquenessand business value, and the contributors canbe recognized. Those who contribute consistently can be rewarded annually so employeeengagement is persistent and seamless. Theresult: agents, brokers and the associated salesforce are persuaded to remain close to thecustomer. As such, insurers should encourageall associates to participate in product development initiatives to build self-esteem andincrease speed to market.Ideation/innovation: Analogous to thecustomer context, insurers should crowdsourceideas from internal employees to drive andsustain innovation. This will help in effectiveproblem solving and exploring fresh territories, and it will serve as a creative outlet foremployees to stay motivated. A few breakthrough ideas from the workforce on theground could be a market differentiator.Looking AheadGamification provides ample opportunities forP&C and life insurers to strengthen customerrelationships, engage their employee workforceand motivate their sales people. Apart from this,insurers can generate useful content and conversations among internal and external audiencesactive on the gamified platforms.By applying advanced analytics on top of theseconversations, insurers can garner business intelligence insights that can generate new productideas or reveal sales promotion opportunities.Gamification drives users towards systems ofengagement and persuades them, either consciously or subconsciously, to achieve targetedgoals with improved effectiveness and efficiency.These techniques seed long-term relationships,increase customer loyalty, reward individualactions that roll up to achieve a larger businessobjective and provide instant feedbacks.While gamification has clearly proven to be aneffective engagement tactic, insurers should bemindful, prior to implementation, to deploy gamification as a means to solve business problemsrather than merely identifying areas to applygamification. Interactive design, knowing thetarget audience and clear definition of the rulesof engagement also play a crucial role in ensuringsuccess. By adopting best practices from otherindustries on the gamification front, insurersshould be able to capitalize on business opportunities before it is too late in the ore#q o100-june1-2012?year 2012.cognizant 20-20 insights8

t the AuthorsAkila Narayanan is a Manager with the Insurance Future of Work Group within Cognizant’s InsuranceBusiness Unit. She is a social business enthusiast and evangelist with vast experience managing complexand strategic projects for insurers. Akila is an avid blogger and specializes in enabling social businessfor insurers. She holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from University of Madras and is PMP, AINScertified. She can be reached at Akila.Narayanan@cognizant.com.Deepak Maruvapalli is a Senior Architect with the Insurance Future of Work Group within Cognizant’sInsurance Business Unit. He focuses on mobility strategies for insurers and has a keen interest in gaming.Deepak has architected and executed mobile projects for insurers and he also has vast experience inarchitecting and executing projects with diverse modern technologies. Deepak holds a bachelor’s degreein engineering and is a certified SOA Associate and TOGAF 8 Certified Enterprise Architect. He can bereached at Deepak.Maruvapalli@cognizant.com.Shyam Sundar Nagarajan is a Principal Architect with the Insurance Future of Work Group within Cognizant’s Insurance Business Unit. He has vast experience architecting and executing enterprise legacymodernization projects for insurance carriers. Shyam’s areas of interest include application architecture, legacy modernization, Agile methodologies, SOA, GIS, location-based services, location intelligence, mobility and social. His current focus areas include envisioning future of work for insurers withredefined application architecture. Shyam holds a B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology– Banaras Hindu University and a master’s degree in software systems from Birla Institute of Technologyand Science, Pilani. He is an IBM certified Service Oriented Architecture Associate and TOGAF 8 CertifiedEnterprise Architect. He can be reached at ShyamSundar.Nagarajan@cognizant.com.About CognizantCognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered inTeaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industryand business process expertise, and a global, collab

Gamification Efforts and Benefits. Business Objective Gamification Initiative Business Impact Gamification Approach. Increase Speed to Market Threadless, 5. a Chicago-based T-shirt company, crowdsourced T-shirt designs through weekly contests. Customers vote on the designs and winning design