The protection industry needs to challenge the thinking that policies are sold and not bought, F&TRC stated at the Protection Review conference this morning.
Speaking as part of a panel discussing the customer journey, director Ian McKenna said the current state of evolution of the protection market was "very distressing".
He said: "Historically IFAs have been brilliant at adapting. But the pace of evolution today is unparalleled. Some of the things you will see emerging in technology in the next three to five years are quite simply ming boggling.
"Life insurance still delivers its information on paper. Is it going to be immune from the technology advancement that is taking place? People want to buy whenever and wherever they want, so perhaps its time to adapt to that."
Fellow panellist, Wallace Dobbin, director and founder of Intrinsic, said the real challenge was not improving customer journey but getting them there in the first place.
He said: "The point is not whether the next bit of technology is coming along but that they need advice. We all need to take a cold look at what we do and raise our game.
"Technology is important but we need properly qualified and trained advisers to really engage with customers. They simply will not wake up one morning and buy it off their own backs."
Tom Baigrie, founder of Lifesearch, and audience member, asked the panel if low conversion rates from online enquiries to policy completion suggested more was needed than technology.
He said: "Technology will do everything one day, but today how can it deliver impulse to buy rather than complete the journey?"
One of six panellists Warren Copp, underwriter at reinsurer Pacific Life Re, said it was trialling linking policy sales to people's family and children.
He said: "People tend more to buy things for others rather than for themselves."
Questions from the attendees included concerns over increasing ombudsman complaints with the sole use of technology to complete policies; risk of lapse rates; and whether the rise of technology spelled the end for protection advisers.
Other panellists were Melissa Collett, ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman service, Alan Newman, psychologist at the Finance IT Network, and Andy Watts, director at LeanApps.
