Page 35 - The Insurance Times May 2021

partners with technology tools to enable digital-assisted sales
will improve productivity and customer experience, and
support remote customer contact. The hybrid working
model has been adopted by insurers and the pandemic has
shown that remote working is here to stay. With the massive
shift to work from home, distributed work environments are
rapidly becoming the new norm. The pandemic has thrown
light on the life and health insurance to the masses.
Insurance has today moved from a push product to a nudge
product.

Digital disruption - practical not
theoretical

Technological change is a given. But knowing about it and
acting on it are very different propositions. Disruption from
new technologies is a given. It wends its way through all
other trends. But acknowledging it and acting on it are very
different propositions. Insurance companies need to know
how to deploy the right technology for the right purpose or
they risk being left behind. Rapid advances across a whole
range of technologies are enabling industries to do more for
their customers - and to do it faster and cheaper. Financial
services, in particular, are seeing significant disruption;
Standard health insurance product however, there is confidence in the industry as the majority
The general and health insurers can offer one or a believes that the industry is moving fast enough to keep up
combination of diseases and can price a policy for every with future technology trends. Along with this advanced
disease separately. The minimum sum insured is Rs 10,000, analytics is expected to increase over the next three years.
while customers can opt for a cover in the multiples of Rs.
10,000, up to Rs. 2 lakh. The policies, which can be offered Despite this compliance will become more of a challenge
on a family floater basis as well, will have a waiting period when adjusting to digital disruption. Digital adoption over
of 15 days and the premiums will be same pan India. A the past nine months has worked in its favour as the
company, through the use of analytics, is now able to sell
standard insurance product means that the coverage details
the right product to the right customer. The COVID-19
for a particular policy is uniform across all insurers.
pandemic has resulted in a huge boost for digital
Other standardized products include Corona Kavach and transformation across the insurance industry and this is here
Rakshak for COVID-19, Arogya Sanjeevani, which is a health to stay. The insurers have equipped the underwriting and
plan, and Saral Jeevan, a term insurance policy. Life insurers fraud prevention teams with digital technologies for "faster
have been mandated by IRDAI to launch Saral Jeevan and efficient" settlement of claims.
products by 1 January 2021. "Standardization helps set a
baseline for insurers. At the first level, this will ensure the The negotiating table beckons

availability of specific-purpose plans. Next, insurers can In a highly competitive environment, executives
innovate on product design to differentiate and provide acknowledge that organic growth will not be enough.
more options to policyholders. However, it will not be Incumbent firms can no longer rely on organic growth or
mandatory for insurers to launch standard policies for internal innovation. The winners will be those that can forge
vector-borne diseases. alliances with innovative start-ups; ally with InsurTech; and

The Insurance Times, May 2021 35