The global (re)insurance industry is facing a number of systemic challenges and the businesses that succeed will be those that embrace change head-on and proactively transform and innovate.
Historically, the industry has been transactional by nature and often slow to adapt – whether that be in relation to employees, customers, business partners, shareholders, or the communities in which companies do business. Increasingly, however, internal and external stakeholders are becoming more discerning and sophisticated and are no longer accepting the status quo – particularly when it comes to the delivery of customer-centric experiences.
Customers are increasingly – and rightly – demanding high quality, easy-to-access products as well as outstanding service at all times. It is incumbent on companies to rise to this challenge and embrace the new insurance industry standard, which is a definition of what businesses can achieve when they create a new level of efficiency, execution, and delivery that provides the insights, intelligence, and innovation they need to maximise customer journeys and maintain customer trust.
Differentiation and Relevance are Key
One of the biggest challenges – but also, one the greatest opportunities – for (re)insurers is where they are in their digital transformation journeys. For some, this is a case of plastering over outdated legacy systems, and for others, bringing in insurtech startups to “solve” their technology problems. In the case of the latter, this has had mixed success to date, given an often arm’s-length relationship which doesn’t always add the intended value – insurers trying to be tech companies and tech companies trying to be insurers – and the key issue is that real understanding and collaboration between the two is often missing.
There has never been a more opportune time for (re)insurers to innovate and reinvent their businesses, and this recent Frost & Sullivan cross-industry survey shines a spotlight on the new industry standard; how (re)insurers can reinvigorate their businesses to meet the ever-changing needs of their customers; being able to transform while continuing to out-perform; and what (re)insurance carriers can do right now to get prepared and start on this journey while ensuring they remain laser-focused on serving the needs of their many stakeholders.
