This is the last of the three-part series on an Analyst Connect on the pandemic & other new factors influencing the insurance industry. 

Our previous blogs gave senior analyst Patrick Van Brussel’s outlook on how the pandemic was a shot in the arm for the rapid digitalization of the insurance industry and how it has reshaped customer expectations. While these have been welcome changes to most insurers and certainly the customers, Van Brussel reassures that success in the insurance industry remains strongly hinged on providing superior value-added services and experiences to customers. 

Will upgrading traditional business models allow insurers to fully meet customer expectations? 

“No. ESG-minded customers expect more from their insurer than just the collection of a premium and financial compensation for the consequences of damageable events. They expect their insurer to demonstrate a strong commitment to their well-being and safety,” says Van Brussel. And you do that by constantly supporting them and reducing their risk exposure. 

Insurers have both the specific expertise and the technological tools required to provide their customers with high-value services in the fields of risk prediction and risk prevention, explains the senior analyst. Insurers can now provide customers 24×7 tailor-made advice on how to avoid or reduce risks, generate targeted warnings when risk levels rise, and send alerts during damaging events. “These positive and frequent interactions are possible due to all the real-time personalized and contextual data mobile technologies and connected devices (IoT) generate,” says Van Brussel.   

Insurers across the world already use this model to respond after a risk has occurred. By applying the same model to risk prevention, insurers not only will respond to a demand from their customers but also will finally be able to create the frequent and positive touch points that their 200-year-old traditional model never allowed, he explains. 

For this, most insurers will have to further improve their data consolidation and management capacities. The IDC’s April 2021 European Industry Acceleration Survey, showed that barely a third of insurers already consolidate business data in real-time or close to real-time to provide actionable recommendations to their front lines.  

Tips to increase impact of virtual touch points: 

  • Digital interface solutions should not be one-size-fits-all. That way of things only conveys mere messages to prospects and customers not to actively engage them. 
  • Invest in understanding your customers’ behavioral profiles.  
  • Personalize, personalize, personalize! Pick the apt tone, form to communicate, best moment that best suits each one of your audiences to create maximum impact. 
  • Use solid data analytics and intelligent technologies to adapt to various customer interfaces, preferences and needs and do so continuously to keep the ball rolling. 

 You heard the expert. Get your insurance business the digital facelift it needs with the help of our experts. Reach out for a demo on Aspire Connected Insurance Accelerator (ACIA) today. 

Patrick Van Brussel has been working in the retail and commercial non-life insurance industry for more than 30 years as a senior manager, initially with ZURICH and later with ALLIANZ, with international experience in Belgium, France, the United States, Germany, and Italy, whether in local subsidiaries or at group headquarters. 

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