Digital First for Annuities
IRI is moving to a digital-first strategy that means adopting fast, modern, streamlined processes consistent across the industry for each step in the financial professional and consumer journey. Essentially, IRI is creating standardized rules of engagement for how the industry delivers essential data.
Our digital first model employs a “Build Once-Use Many” approach that lessens the burden placed on carriers to meet the needs of data consumers. And this model is scalable. The carriers build the solution one time, and it can be leveraged for all authorized implementations across the industry. This approach facilitates innovation and, ultimately, faster transactions and easier management of annuity products.
Listen to four leaders from IRI’s Board of Directors provide an overview of this critical strategic pillar to modernize our industry so we can deliver on the commitment to champion retirement security for all.
What is Digital First?
- Digital First is a strategy that emphasizes prioritizing digital solutions that work for the consumer and, in our case, would also include financial professionals.
- It means meeting customers and financial professionals in their digital channels and in the tools they support.
- It prioritizes fast, efficient data that is cost-effective, scalable, and flexible data to support these digital experiences.
- It means optimizing automation and digital tools to streamline processes and reduce manual work and friction in the process.
"Build Once, Use Many"
We must leverage a digital-first mindset to support the modern financial professional and consumer and manage costs. Doing so allows the industry to deliver essential information to financial professionals in the tools and solutions where they manage their business and work with consumers. Moving to a digital-first strategy also means adopting fast, modern, streamlined processes that are consistent across the industry for each step in the journey. These standardized rules of engagement support broader product understanding, faster transactions, and easier management of annuity products. Moreover, the digital-first mindset employs a "Build Once, Use Many" approach, which lessens the burden placed on carriers to meet the needs of data consumers and is scalable.
Benefits
Digital First will:
- Facilitate faster and easier methods to understand, transact, and manage annuities.
- Support financial professional in the tools they use to manage their business.
- Deliver essential information to financial professionals in digital tools.
- Streamline processes that support faster issuance with fewer manual touches.
- Develop standardized rules of engagement across the journey that can be implemented industrywide.
- Make annuities accessible in any tool or solution without the need for custom and costly one-off implementations.
Guiding Principles
- Support innovation easily through efficient digital data transmission
- Create a standard digital model for each data need throughout the journey
- Leverage a Build Once-Use Many model to eliminate one-off custom methods to deliver data.