The Insurance industry, like many other business industries has experienced its own pros and cons as the COVID-19 pandemic is taking its toll on the world, causing deaths, illnesses, and economic despair.
Insurance companies, who have a crucial role during times of economic stress by helping businesses and households manage risk and financially cushion consumers against losses have also been impacted significantly. The effects, however, have been largely mitigated due to the proactive measures instituted by
regulators and insurers at large. The lessons learnt, such as improving and implementing seamless digitalisation of our sales, claims and communication channels have become the new normal.
In every adversity lies an opportunity, as the saying goes.Here are some two major positives the Covid-19 has brought as stated by The Managing Director of Enterprise Insurance Company Limited- Madam Ernestina Abeh at a Webinar session organised by the Integrity Magazine.
Digitalization:
The pandemic has fast-tracked the move of insurance companies in going digital. There
was a need for the insurance industry to digitalise their processes and adopt
technological ways of working but this became necessary with the outbreak of the
pandemic.
Lockdown in Ghana pushed companies to provide employees with the requisite tools
such as laptops, Internet Routers as well as equip them with corporate level
communication and collaboration platforms (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype, etc.) to
work remotely.
This pandemic pushed players in the industry to create more awareness and encourage
communication on via digital platforms and chatbots to give them the convenience and
a means to stay safe during the lockdown.
In the broking space, COVID-19 might just prove to be the catalyst for innovation in
insurance broking unlocking greater levels of customer experience through digitization.
They could further accelerate the shift to digital and direct distribution by partnering IT Firms to
source leads and process applications.
As we have noted, there is likely to be much higher demand than in the past for certain
types of insurance. Insurance Brokers need to review their strategy to serve this
demand. This means greater investment in integrating their channels and creating
digital pathways on an end-to-end basis in partnership with Insurers.
For the Insurance Companies perhaps the most significant change will be in the way
that insurance products are sold, serviced and the usage of customer data. These
changes will lead to much greater levels of personalisation to improve customer
experience and value proposition. More traffic will look to digital channels as social
distancing remains in place.
Cut down on Operational Cost: The pandemic made it necessary for the operations of
insurance companies to be digitalised as explained above. This has directly affected the
operational cost of companies as Utility bills, Motor running cost and stationery in the
industry in a positive manner.