In-Client Book is a cloud-based file organization system personalized for IN Insurance Agency Ltd.
In-Client Book is a cloud-based file organization system personalized for IN Insurance Agency Ltd.
IN Insurance Agency is a, young, ambitious and growing Chinese-Canadian insurance brokerage located in Richmond, BC. IN Insurance aims to provide friendly yet professional insurance consultation and supervision for the Chinese-speaking population in the lower mainland.
“Our goal is to empower our clientele with knowledge on the insurance product they purchase so that they have peace of mind knowing that they are protected.”
Insurance management was an oblivious and obscure topic for us. Our team spent 3 weeks conducting an in-field study on IN Insurance Agency through observing their daily processes, interviewing key stakeholders, and conducting online research. According to our study, we straightened out the internal insurance network in IN Insurance Agency
The internal insurance network in IN Insurance Agency involves four stakeholders. IN Insurance Agency collaborates with external insurance agents and insurance providers to deliver the final insurance products to customers. In the majority cases, IN Insurance Agency doesn’t need to contact with customers directly, but serves as a bridge between the insurance providers and the insurance agents to organize, manage, and deliver insurance products.
Beyond understanding the insurance network, another challenge we encountered was communicating our investigation to the instructor and the class, who do not have any much knowledge in the insurance field. As I always believe, discussing my design considerations with other people effectively is as important as conducting a good design. I created the diagram below to graphically explain the complex insurance network to the lay audience.
* Customers contact insurance agents for insurance demands.
* Insurance agents communicate with customers about their needs and request advisable insurance from insurance brokerages. They have no access to contact the insurance providers directly.
* Insurance brokerages, like IN Insurance Agency, take requests from insurance agents and transfer to insurance providers with designated documents. Only certificated insurance brokerages have access to get insurance products from insurance providers.
* Insurance providers supply actual insurance products.
While synthesizing our findings from key stakeholder interviews into personas, we found the relationship between the IN insurance brokers, who work in IN Insurance Agency, and the external insurance agents is crucial in the insurance network. Therefore, we decided to choose IN Insurance brokers and their partnering insurance agents as our focus groups.
We designed and conducted a participatory workshops that identified top three common constraints in the insurance network.
Based on our findings, we framed our design challenge as below:
how might we tighten the relationships in the insurance network that IN Insurance Agency shares with its partners and clients by eliminating these constraints in the network?
Going further in the research, we discovered that the current insurance process involved 3 different systems to manage the insurance data. IN insurance brokers used folders to storage physical documents, window system to save digital files, and wechat/email system to transfer these files.
Based on the user journey maps, we noticed that IN insurance brokers used the above 3 systems in a high frequency and the pain points are usually around the moments that they tried to switch between different systems. To address this issue, we explored the possibility of creating an all-in-one system for IN insurance brokers to access all the datas they need.
In-Client Book is a cloud-based file organization system personalized for IN Insurance Agency Ltd. With In-Client Book, IN insurance brokers can better manage the insurance documents and client information in a single centralized location while collaborating with their collegial brokers and external insurance agents.
In-Client Book was based on the idea of a digital storing and sorting platform called “e-file”. Developing from “e-file”, we added features such as client profile and transferring network to utilize technologic capabilities to solve the stresses of physical documentation and filing.
Feature 1: Automated Case Filing System
When creating a new case, IN insurance brokers are asked to select attributes like insurance category, expiring date, and family members. Cases will be filed into relevant folders automatically based on their corresponding attributes.
Feature 2: Expiring Cases Shortcut
Upcoming expiring cases folder, which covers the most frequently accessed files, is also automatically generated and shown as a shortcut in the home page. Further, I suggested a notification feature for individual expiring cases to keep IN insurance brokers updated on upcoming expiring insurance.
Feature 3: Clients Profiling System
Clients’ basic information and personal preference can be saved in In-Client Book for IN insurance brokers’ reference. They can review clients’ information anytime, find a case within a client’s profile, and pin to specific profiles for timely notifications.
Feature 4: Easy Transferring Network
IN insurance brokers can share clients’ profiles or documents to their partnering agents within In-Client Book. This feature could diminish the efforts of organising files and going to another communication system, such as email/wechat. At the same time, it can also enhance the security when transferring files.
Mimicking Windows system for application
“We use Windows system to manage our files digitally because it is easy to use and it doesn’t require additional training for the brokers. Other applications are too complex, for us as brokers, we only need to scan documents and file them in folders on our desktop.”
-Michael, the general manager at IN Insurance Agency
General manager Michael mentioned that the over-complexity of the current insurance systems in the market made them to rather stay in the simple and familiar Microsoft Windows system. Keefe gave the suggestion to mimic the Microsoft Windows system in order to enlarge the level of learnability. We stimulated the Windows system by using the similar color theme, icons, and grid layouts.
Utilizing technological capabilities in the original experience flow
“In addition to insurance categories which also should include commercial insurance, there are also transfers and renewals which should be used to identify insurance cases.”
-extracted from user tests of Lauren and Travis, full-time brokers at IN Insurance Agency
After finishing the initial prototype of In-Client Book, we conducted user test with IN insurance brokers. All brokers appreciated that they were able to experience a similar flow to what they currently do in In-Client Book. The user testing also encouraged them to give more details about their working flow and habits for us to optimize the customization and functionality in In-Client Book.
See how In-Client Book works in a storyboard.
View our pitch slide deck.
Working with a client in an unfamiliar field gave me a chance to work outside of comfort my zone. I developed a better capacity to understand a new topic and communicate effectively to the lay audience. The other insight I gained from this project is prioritizing. We decided to leave out a fancy but complicated interface and decided to go for a simple Windows-looking interface so that the users could learn it fast and easily. I left this project inspired and truly understanding what it means when my professors tell me: “design is more than making things pretty”.