Future Proofing for Insurers – Panel Discussion @ Asian Insurance Congress
Future Proofing With a Winning Formulae – The Panel Discussion
Hugh Terry, from The Digital Insurer, was pleased to moderate a panel discussion on “Creating the winning formulae for insurers in ASEAN”:
- Oscar Carrillo, Chief Operating Officer , Zurich Life Singapore
- Cyrus Daruwala, Managing Director, IDC Insights
- Andrew Dart, Insurance Industry Strategist – Asia, Middle East & Africa (AMEA), CSC
All have exceptionally strong backgrounds in technology in the Asia Pacific region and the result was a lively and informed discussion on technology trends and opportunities.
Summary of Panel Discussion
The panel discussion was structured into 3 broad areas or themes:
- Macro picture
- Transforming face-to-face models (the next 3 years)
- New digital business models (what is just around the corner)
Theme 1: Macro environment and trends
All of the Panel participants agreed that the long-term economic outlook for the insurance industry in the ASEAN region is strong with high rates of economic growth leading to even high rates of growth in insurance as consumers have excess saving to invest as well as more assets to protect.
However, there was also a consensus that the future would not be kind to all insurers. panelists saw a future where a few insurers would win an increasing share of the industry and others would exit through consolidation or continue as marginal players.
In terms of their view of the macro-economic environment the panel are perhaps best summarised as being “cautious bulls”
We also discussed and agreed that Andrew’s presentation on the 3 secrets to future proofing your business had captured at high level the key points – the importance of the customer, the important of innovation and the important of a culture that allows customer centricity and innovation to flourish. Andrew’s presentation is, with his kind permission, embedded below:
Theme 2: Transforming Face-to-face models
The discussion in this area focused on the need to transform customer service and to engage with customers.
Oscar shared some ground breaking work Zurich has done in Singapore to leverage on-line communities to engage consumers in product design.
We also discussed whether insurers have yet evolved to being able to provide a genuine 360 degree view their customers. No examples were available from the panel or the floor and the observation was made that part of the difficulty was struggling with legacy systems but that the problem was even more pressing now that we are in a multi-touchpoint customer service world – with the number of touch points increasing with the rise in the number of different social media options and the rise in mobility.
The Panel also discussed the possible migration of face to face interactions to intelligent “ avatars” and agreed that these would have a role in the initial advisory process but it remains to be seen whether they can provide a complete solution to more complex transactions.
Unfortunately due to time constraints there was no time available to explore digital lead generation or tablet based POS toolkits for face-to-face advisors.
Theme 3: New Digital Business Models
It was note that perhaps a few years ago the industry tended to view digital as a distribution channel . clearly that has changed with a much deeper understanding that Digital is a thread running through all distribution channels
A question from the floor was discussed around the role of intermediaries in this digital future. Intermediaries clearly need to focus on their customers. It was notes that many innovative business models using broking structures as they allow relatively low-cost experimentation with the front-end . Many price comparison sites and specialist on-line distributors of insurance use a broking or managing agent model to be successful.
The panel also observed that the trend is firmly established, and seen in bancassurance partnerships, where the ‘owner’ of the customer captures most of the value. so in the future it is entirely possible that non insurance players , with strong customer connectivity and brands, could move into the insurance industry and capture a lot of the economic value.
Concluding Remarks
In concluding comments we discussed the change in behaviour we can see in the “digital natives” who are our children and how it is very obvious that we are entering into a very different world. So it is inevitable that insurers will see their business models change – there will be winners and losers in this digital future.
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