Insurance

How data-driven interaction is the future of insurance

In this we interviewed  Indranil Bandyopadhyay, Head of Information Technology Nedbank Insurance. He tells us about the future of insurance and how the effective use of data impacts the industry.

Lockdown has forced the insurance industry to go digital, how can insurers and brokers integrate this model post-pandemic?

It is given that our world will not be the same post the pandemic. There are various views in terms of what it may look like, some say we will go back to pre-pandemic days; some say we will stay as present and some say we will be something in between pre-pandemic and now.

The financial industry will not be an exception to this, and the insurance industry will not have a pre-pandemic view. The journey towards digitising insurance started a while back. A pandemic like Covid has fast tracked this journey. In the insurance world, we typically have a human assisted solution like brokerage where brokers meet face to face to find a solution for a client and there is the digital solution where via the app, web, chat etc. an insurance solution is provided.

The digital solutions provide a superior user experience by making the insurance related processes simpler and easier. It also has the potential to ‘cut the middlemen’ and make the solutions more cost-effective for clients. Furthermore, digital properties scale very easily with very minimal marginal cost for the insurers. This increases profitability in the long run.

The digital solutions also have infiltrated into the broker space. Various digital aggregators and virtual broker solutions are available.  However, there will always be a need for human interaction. This will not go away. The pertinent question is how much of this need will still stay in the post-pandemic world.

How can automation benefit brokers and insurers?

The outcome of using machines is a quicker execution of a process compared to human beings. This in turn decreases turnaround time of any client interactions with the insurers and brokers. This automation is done by calling APIs, using Robot Process Automation (for mechanical processes) and Artificial Intelligence.

The insurers and brokers will satisfy their clients ‘need for speed’ by way of automating insurance related processes. This in turn will increase the client satisfaction. Ultimately, the insurers and brokers will benefit from this.

How does Nedbank support brokers?

Nedbank provides digital solutions for brokers so that they can sell and manage their solutions effectively for their clients. All our broker solutions are web based therefore they can be accessed anywhere anytime.

How can the insurance industry capitalise on data?

Data, especially client’s behavioural information is critical for the insurance industry, and plays a vital role in the following manner:

  • Data assists in understanding the clients’ needs beyond set standard questions that are practised mostly in the insurance industry.
  • In the current world of ‘hyper customisation’ it assists in creating a tailor-made solution for a client and not a generic solution that is typical of the insurance industry.
  • Better under-writing of an insurance solution based on the lifestyle and behavioural data.
  • It also assists in better client experience during a claim – proxies can be used to make a machine led decision for a claim. Claims that took days can be settled within seconds.
  • Statistical modelling based on data can predict fraudulent transactions much better than a human being.
  • Data can give better insights of a business which is key in creating or changing business models of an insurance company.

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