On the panel at Insurtech Australia’s LIVE event
Thursday 3rd of March 2022 was an exciting time to be attending the first face-to-face Insurtech event for a very long while. Insurtech LIVE 2022 showcased members, partners and relatable stories, hosted by Insurtech Australia.
The ever-exuberant Aurora Ross, CEO and Co-Founder of Zemble, led a thought-provoking discussion. Throughout the different topics of discussion and across panelists, there were shared passions and gratitude for the Insurtech landscape and the opportunity available to us to innovate and create here in Australia. We heard from global Insurtechs, such as QBE, Munich RE, Hollard, right through to startups here on Australian soil, including KOBA Insurance, Cover Genius and LifeBid.
I shared an in-depth conversation on ‘Customer Value in the Time of Digital Transformation’ with Jamie Smith, CIO of Hollard Insurance, Brett Wrigjt, CEO of LifeBid, Andrew Wong, CEO and Founder of KOBA Insurance, which was moderated by the delightful and ingenious Pam Moorhouse, CEO and Founder of My Life Capsule.
There’s no denying that digital transformation is front and center of most organisations today, along with customer-centricity and the need to find better ways to service our customers. Jamie initiated the idea of the insurance life cycle, and how you can disrupt the customer across any link in the chain of insurance. We agreed on the influence claims management can have on the overall customer retention, and how organisations need to focus on the bigger picture in the shoes of the customer, not just their area of responsibility.
I was able to share examples of tech-enabled offerings we provide as a B2B2C SaaS company, saving literally hours each week of human productivity and increased quality control by introducing optical character recognition (OCR) for insurers centrally processing incoming documents and information in all formats.
Andrew explored the concept of digital transformation and innovation simply being the way we do business now, rather than focusing on an ‘innovation’ or ‘revolution’. This flowed into the idea that partnerships are critical to any digital transformation while creating or maintaining customer value. We cannot be the experts of all things, and given that we are all in to solve the same or very similar challenges at the same time, the panel agreed that two heads are greater than one.
In 2021, the Australia Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) reported that in Private Motor Insurance, two of the greatest pain points for customers were the time it took to manage a claim, and the communication (or lack thereof) throughout the handling of the claim. This sparked shared sentiment for organisations to force adaptation and to deliver great service across their customers' channel of choice. We discussed a scenario where customers are familiar and most comfortable with the traditional methods of customer service, and their greatest loyalties focus on locality, empathy and genuine human connection, something which is incredibly challenging to digitise, although not impossible.
Arnie’s Insurtech digital transformation focus translates to freeing up people to work on the most complex service of claims handling, and automating with machine learning and artificial intelligence for those predictable scenarios and circumstances that can be automated and repeatable. This speeds up the claims handling process, creates transparency for the customer at the end of the line and develops space for the insurance industry to drive further innovation. Or just a more modern way of doing business.
Thank you Brett, Jamie, Andrew and Pam for welcoming me to share the stage with you at Insurtech LIVE 2022. It was a pleasure.
If you’d like to connect with me to discuss all things insurance, insurtech, automotive or technology, or how you can innovate and recreate your claims handling experience, please send me a message today.
Danni Robson
Head of Product, Arnie
Yarris Technologies
danni.robson@yarris.com