Redefining Insurance via Digital Transformation

Gurbani Singh, A/Head of Data, Analytics, and AI, Tower Insurance[NZE: TWR]

Gurbani Singh, A/Head of Data, Analytics, and AI, Tower Insurance[NZE: TWR]

Customer Experience: Making the Impossible, Possible

Customers are experiencing globalization in many ways. Thomas Friedman author of ‘The World is Flat’, observed that the connectedness of globalization has leveled the world's playing field. We can now compete, connect, and collaborate globally.

When it comes to world-leading customer experiences (CX), the bar is being raised constantly through transformational e-commerce and social media applications such as Amazon, YouTube, Instagram, and Google. Businesses like these have turned the traditional CX on its head. Growing awareness and availability of technology is enabling more traditional industries, like insurance, to understand and serve their customers better than ever before.

Unlocking Infrastructure

The digital transformation in CX is spearheaded by capabilities unlocked by the cloud. It’s shifted the way we think, strategize, and execute our work. It’s enabled the flexibility to scale quickly according to the need and is fast to set up, easy to maintain, with high availability and reliability.

We’re even able to distribute our risk across different geographies, to protect against natural disasters.

The cloud has also enabled businesses to significantly cut costs and admin time because of no upfront infrastructure costs. This is all while allowing more freedom to experiment with less financial risk, and for natural economies of scale, wherein businesses pay only for what they use. Innovation underpinned by the cloud has turned everything into a service, or a product as a service.

Data Sharing

Partnering of different business units with technology is required to meet changing customer needs, become a disruptor, and ultimately survive in a globally competitive world. One of the key drivers leading innovation in CX is the ability to analyze and compare customer data to create personalized user journeys. Customers can now experience a seamless journey between offline and digital channels, or an omnichannel experience. Data sharing means we can create complementary services, develop new products, and provide a smoother and more intuitive experience.

For example, Tower’s Quick Quote innovation was recently awarded Insurtech Initiative of the Year at the 2022 Asia Insurance Industry Awards. Tower harnessed the power of data to challenge the way the market has traditionally operated to create Quick Quote – to provide the world’s fastest and simplest insurance quoting process that asks the fewest number of questions. We listened to our customers and removed all unnecessary questions, to provide them with a hassle-free quoting process, without compromising accuracy.

This new system automatically pulls information from open data sources, partner data, and our internal customer data. A quote with Tower now only takes five questions for a car, nine for a house, and seven for a contents insurance policy. Our existing customers only need to answer half of that. In contrast, our local competitors ask as many as 22 questions for a home policy, and globally some providers are asking up to 61 questions.

Quick Quote gives Tower a competitive edge, not just in New Zealand but also against top global insurers, who we compete against on some products – only possible through investment in data capabilities and data sharing.

Data on the cloud allows the secure sharing of data not only within a business but also across different companies. It paves the way for new-age business partnerships that can be leveraged to improve the customer journey. The benefit is not only to customers but also to the business as a whole. For individual employees, manual tasks are automated and data flows can be stitched together to create an easier and better employee experience too.

Tower harnessed the power of data to challenge the way the market has traditionally operated to create Quick Quote, to provide the world’s fastest insurance quoting process that asks the fewest number of questions

On the regulatory front, data sharing will assist organizations in complying with the likes of climate-related disclosures. Public companies will soon be required to disclose specific climate-related data. Disclosure requirements will change the way we work with partners, and future disclosures (scope 3) will require a business’ suppliers and consumers to understand their suppliers, processes, and data, along the company's entire value chain. Easy sharing and combined analysis of data will be the key to understanding and mapping the end-to-end climate impact of creating a product or service.

Protect Data

Opening our data for sharing does not come without considerations. Government-mandated privacy acts as well as an aware consumer, require businesses to protect access and usage of data through right-sized governance. Data on the cloud is more secure due to encryptions and continuous R&D by cloud providers. But in some ways, it’s more susceptible to data breaches and data loss, than on-premise data. The cost to proactively manage risks is significantly lower than the monetary and reputation loss if a breach were to happen.

However, as long as preventative and appropriate security measures are taken, the benefits of leveraging the cloud to store and manage data do outweigh the risks. Every business needs to work through the hierarchy of value from low-hanging, quick-to-realize benefits through minimal effort and change management, to full-scale digital transformation.

Tower’s commitment to digital and data is highlighted in our cloud-first strategy. Transforming your customer experience to become a leader in this space can be a reality if you’re willing to unlock your cloud capabilities and utilize data.