Are Insurers “At-Fault” for Their Observability Gaps?

Digital tools such as mobile apps, quoting engines, and telematics are now table stakes in insurance. But behind every digital interaction lies a less visible challenge: technology that doesn’t always work as expected—and isn’t attended to until it impacts policyholders. Could gaps in network observability be silently costing insurers more than they realize?

Insurance Customers Have Gone Digital

51% of customers are more likely to purchase insurance from a company that offers a mobile-friendly quoting process. This statistic is particularly important as more consumers use their smartphones to manage various aspects of their lives, including purchasing insurance. — Google’s Insurance Mobile Shopper Study

Insurance customer journeys are now firmly digital-first—whether through virtual claims processing for auto policies or via sophisticated digital brokerages. In fact, Forrester anticipates an 8 percent increase in tech spending across the insurance industry this year in areas including advanced data analytics, automated underwriting, and AI-powered chatbots. Customers expect fast quotes, clear policy options, and instant claims delivered through seamless digital experiences such as:

• Online portals: Accessible platforms for policy management and inquiries
• Mobile apps: Convenient gateways for on-the-go claims and photo uploads, with fast access to storage to avoid delays
• AI-driven automation and chatbots: 24/7 online support for routine questions and tasks

But what happens when the desire to add digital services outpaces an insurer's ability to manage them? Observability gaps—blind spots in your IT infrastructure—can make troubleshooting a nightmare. And the real damage? Increased churn and a drop in customer lifetime value.

Case Study: Insurance Claims and the Hidden Cost of Digital Friction

Consider this scenario:

A customer on her way to work has a minor car accident and tries to file a claim using a mobile app. When the app freezes, she switches to an online portal—only to find it sluggish. Frustrated, she angrily calls customer support. While waiting on hold, the interactive voice response (IVR) system suggests that claims may be processed faster through the website or app. But those channels have already failed. After several dead ends, she finally reaches a boiling point—without answers, annoyed, and losing trust.

What may be happening behind the scenes:

Both the mobile app and online portal may be trying to access the same back-end claims system, which is experiencing delays due to packet loss and latency in a critical network segment. These issues may stem from anything: degraded links in a hybrid cloud path, misconfigured load balancers, or performance issues with InsurTech providers. Multiple IT teams are scrambling to diagnose the problem:

• Development and operations (DevOps) teams check application logs but find no errors
• Network operations (NetOps) teams detect elevated round-trip times but lack packet-level visibility into real-time transaction delays
• Operations and infrastructure teams are monitoring siloed metrics but can’t see how issues in one layer are cascading across services

Without network observability across the full-service delivery path—network, application, and infrastructure—teams operate in isolation. This slows down both mean time to knowledge (MTTK) and mean time to resolution (MTTR), increasing customer dissatisfaction.

The Path to Gapless Insurance Experiences

To resolve network and application performance issues, IT teams need more than siloed monitoring tools. They need consolidated data, real-time alerts, and intuitive dashboards across the entire service chain so team members can share the same source of truth and manage operational continuity.

With this approach, IT teams can quickly correlate user-impacting events with back-end behavior. This shortens MTTK, accelerates resolution, and helps prevent further service disruptions. This level of governance is not just helpful; it’s essential for protecting both profitability and policyholder trust.

A Note on InsurTech

InsurTech companies, which are typically startups blending insurance and technology, are steadily transforming how insurers operate, from blockchain-based smart contracts and Internet of Things (IoT)-driven telematics to AI-powered personalization. They enable insurers to tailor policies more precisely and enhance digital experiences. However, with innovation comes new complexity. Additional technologies—especially third-party solutions—can introduce new points of failure, making observability gaps even more challenging and harmful.

Fill the Gaps with Network Observability Purpose-Built for Insurers

NETSCOUT nGenius solutions help insurers close critical observability gaps, improve MTTK and MTTR, and protect customer loyalty. With real-time, packet-level insights into every digital interaction, from quoting engines to mobile apps, NETSCOUT enables insurers to deliver reliable, trusted experiences at every step. The results?

• Faster resolution of performance issues to ensure seamless digital experiences
• Immediate insight into service disruptions
• Proactive protection of brand reputation by resolving issues before they affect customers

These capabilities reduce complexity and prevent insurers from being “at-fault” for their observability gaps.

Struggling with blind spots in your network? Read this case study to see how a global insurance company filled the gaps with comprehensive observability.