CRM For Health Insurers: Some Assembly Required

Forrester defines customer relationship management (CRM) as a set of business processes and supporting technologies that is used to acquire, retain, and enhance customer relationships. While companies in many industries struggle with CRM, health plans face some especially unique challenges. Industry-specific needs like customized benefits configuration and complex rating models add an element of obscurity that traditional CRM suites do not address. Meanwhile, the consumer-directed health (CDH) movement is layering on new challenges in sales and service for health plans. In the absence of an end-to-end turnkey solution, health plans' business and IT executives must forge close partnerships and take a process-centric approach to CRM. Service-oriented-architecture (SOA) plays a critical role in customer data management, and niche technology solutions that s reamline industry specific process bottlenecks warrant careful consideration.