Emerging Insight: Going digital: what to do first?
1 October 2018
Digital technology and insurtech solutions facilitate access to insurance in emerging markets in various ways. Digital channels attract new customers, automation reduces operational costs, and alternative customer data allows new ways to assess risk and carry out pricing.
The ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility, in partnership with FSDA and AFD, organized a webinar on "The journey towards digital insurance: from strategy to implementation" in which Equity Insurance Agency (EIA), an insurance intermediary in Kenya, and Inclusivity Solutions, an insurtech firm based in South Africa, both presented lessons from their digitalization journeys.
EIA is in the process of digitalizing its entire suite of offerings to achieve three primary objectives: enhance customer experience, build an omni-channel distribution network and optimize operations.
Every provider’s digitalization journey involves a number of key decision points. During the webinar, we discussed how to approach these critical decisions, including narrowing down the initial focus of transformation.
Getting the initial focus right can make the difference between achieving transformation and failure. Therefore, while EIA knew that while all three objectives were critical, it needed to narrow its initial focus. The company realized that it could either focus on increasing revenues through digitalizing sales or focus on reducing costs by digitalizing processes. To decide between these options, EIA used four parameters: i) which option would create the greatest visibility amongst customers; ii) which could be completed most quickly; iii) which provided the greatest competitive advantage; and iv) which would create the most impact.
For EIA, the best option according to all four criteria was to focus on increasing revenues by offering new digital sales channels to its customers and agents. It decided to partner with insurtech providers like Inclusivity Solutions to do so. The company has already developed a mobile insurance product and is currently building an online sales portal.
Listen to the webinar recording to learn more about the digital journeys of EIA and Inclusivity Solutions, and the key decision points each faced.
The ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility, in partnership with FSDA and AFD, organized a webinar on "The journey towards digital insurance: from strategy to implementation" in which Equity Insurance Agency (EIA), an insurance intermediary in Kenya, and Inclusivity Solutions, an insurtech firm based in South Africa, both presented lessons from their digitalization journeys.
EIA is in the process of digitalizing its entire suite of offerings to achieve three primary objectives: enhance customer experience, build an omni-channel distribution network and optimize operations.
Every provider’s digitalization journey involves a number of key decision points. During the webinar, we discussed how to approach these critical decisions, including narrowing down the initial focus of transformation.
Getting the initial focus right can make the difference between achieving transformation and failure. Therefore, while EIA knew that while all three objectives were critical, it needed to narrow its initial focus. The company realized that it could either focus on increasing revenues through digitalizing sales or focus on reducing costs by digitalizing processes. To decide between these options, EIA used four parameters: i) which option would create the greatest visibility amongst customers; ii) which could be completed most quickly; iii) which provided the greatest competitive advantage; and iv) which would create the most impact.
For EIA, the best option according to all four criteria was to focus on increasing revenues by offering new digital sales channels to its customers and agents. It decided to partner with insurtech providers like Inclusivity Solutions to do so. The company has already developed a mobile insurance product and is currently building an online sales portal.
Listen to the webinar recording to learn more about the digital journeys of EIA and Inclusivity Solutions, and the key decision points each faced.