Innovation and experimentation may not have been words we would regularly associate with the insurance industry in Ireland and the UK! But these two are increasingly strategies emerging from the sector as companies respond to the five 'C's' of Competition, Customers, Compliance, Cloud and Costs.

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Customers

The impact of smartphones, 4G/5G networks and the COVID-19pandemic have all accelerated a shift in consumer behavior that had been already in motion for several years: 24/7 access to information at home or on the phone, hassle-free service, automated delivery, and personalised products are the new expectations of customers People also shop around more than ever before, seeking policies at competitive rates to save money as the cost-of-living rises. Successful insurance companies are investing in technology that helps streamline workflows in a way that attracts and retains consumers.

Competitors

As more insurers offer products and services direct-to-consumer online, and as digital-first competitors enter the market, legacy brokers and MGAS are increasingly coming to the realisation that they must invest and compete online and in terms of digitally enabled services.

Compliance

As insurance companies collect and store more data to support their digital transformation initiatives, it becomes harder and harder to keeptrack of who has access to that data, who should have access and who’s using their access appropriately. Data management is one side of compliance for insurers, the other are industry regulations. The scale of managing expanding data and regulatory requirements is driving more companies to digital solutions to help.

Costs

As payroll costs grows, recruitment becomes harder and IT and digital platforms proliferate and become ever more costly, insurance companies (especially SMEs) are seeking digital solutions to automate non-value adding processes and consolidate costs enabling them to transact more business and focus people on improving service delivery where value is added most. Gains such as a 60-70% reduction in the time to onboard and transact new customers, renewals and claims are KPIs been set by more and more insurance sector companies, gains that can only be delivered digitally.

Cloud

The ability to meet evolving digital technologies, changing customer expectations and the need adapt to new business processes is driving workflows to the cloud. This creates a need for hiring back-office employees with experience in architecting and administering cloud solutions or third-party suppliers to manage your cloud delivery.

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