Insurance companies are now being urged to invest and adopt new technologies in order to better understand the changing behaviour and needs of customers and tailor products that are more appropriate to each of their customers.
A new research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) indicates that the increased use of technology and the drastic growth of mobile phones usage, has significantly contributed to the large amount of new customers.
The report also notes that by investing in strong and flexible frameworks, insurers could re-focus time and efforts to grow the business, while investing in data-driven digital capabilities to improve customer value.
“Mobile phones continue to provide access to new clients who have previously not purchased insurance. Aggregate data will help insurers to better understand risks and more accurately price products for these risks. Owning customer data that can be analysed is therefore becoming more and more important.” Reads the report.
Kenya currently leads in insurance uptake across the east Africa region at only 2.83 per cent uptake a number that could potentially grow.
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However more education is needed for the consumer to understand what they are buying as well as be able to compare insurance products in the market. According to the report, other factors also need to be considered as well, in order for the data collected to be effective.
The report says, “Insurers need to move beyond the talk and experiments and introduce real innovation. This calls for agility and nimble decision making to quickly adapt to the changing environment. The industry is too used to big decisions, big system implementations and big product launches.”
