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Chiamaka Ajeamo
AS the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect insurance operations in many ways than one including a rise in claims, liquidity challenges, revenue losses and market shifts among others, some industry experts are upbeat that opportunities still abound if constructively harnessed with the aid of technology.
This was even as they see digitalisation and automation of all insurance processes now and in the new normal as key to increasing the growth of the industry in Nigeria.
Some experts and stakeholders in the insurance industry who spoke at a webinar seminar with the theme; ‘Insurance Value Delivery in the Pandemic and Beyond: A New Reality’, organised by the College of Insurance and Financial Management (CIFM) in collaboration with the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), emphasized the importance of technological innovations in insurance operations, while affirming that data would be critical in business with digitisation as a must and certainly the way forward for the industry post COVID-19.
Speaking, the Managing Director, AXA Mansard Health Limited, Tope Adeniyi, who described technology as a value enabler, noted that strides in its innovation was fast-paced as new models continue to replace traditional ones, hence, it would constantly drive the industry in 2020 and beyond.
Adeniyi said these changes were in reality due to the speedy proliferation of new technologies, increasing receptiveness of people especially millennials towards changes, and more motivation for change and agility with the current pandemic.
Proffering ways companies can stay afloat in the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, he said, “There should be efficient back office operations, business continuity arrangements, new product-related interventions, facilitation of innovations via technology, improvement on remote working arrangements, and adaptation of insurance production for pandemic risks such as critical illness, cyber-attacks.”
He added that operators need to enhance customer experience by digitalising and automating insurance processes while driving business process and product delivery with technology.
He said: “Enhancing customer experience in technology requires a wholistic process of digitalising and automating the entire insurance processes ranging from pricing, underwriting, onboarding. We must go paperless in the entire value chain of insurance experience with the customer. Data is king and digitalisation is a must for the industry to thrive.
‘Accessibility is key in this new normal, customers must be able to easily utilise our online platforms to purchase products and other services from the point of enrolment to the end. “Customers need to be shifted from the complexity of insurance products to personalized, specific needs and wants products. Excellent data protection should be guaranteed and risk- based premium charging should be introduced.”
For his part, the Group Head, Supply Chain Innovation and DLT Group Tech Transformation, Swiss Reinsurance Company, Jags Rao, who spoke on how combined tech innovation could deliver value in insurance, emphasised the need for tech-enabled transformative business models.
Rao said digital markets such as supply chain platforms were driving new business opportunities and for the insurance industry to avoid struggling to stay afloat in the new order, reinvention is essential.
Similarly, speaking in a webinar recently, on ‘Post-crisis recovery: Driving innovation for Business Growth’, the Executive Director, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, Rashidat Adebisi, stated that the pandemic has forced movement from traditional insurance to advanced risk management which would result in a forced change in behaviours, rise in the logistics business and the associated rise in cyber risks.
Adebisi, who bemoaned the poor awareness of insurance among Nigerians, affirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic has indeed created unique opportunity for insurers to change the narrative.
Going further, she enumerated the following five key areas of opportunities for the insurance industry as a result of the pandemic: technological innovations, digital distribution, new business models, awareness creation and new products inventions.
