Competing in a new age of insurance: How India is adopting emerging technologies

Competing in a new age of insurance: How India is adopting emerging technologies

With written gross premiums of USD 94.48 billion in FY18, the Indian insurance industry is the fifteenth largest in the world in terms of premium volume.1 Owing to rising awareness, innovative products and a proliferation of distribution channels, the insurance industry in India is expected to reach newer heights by 2020.2 Though insurance reach is still low in the country and there exists a huge untapped market, government policies of financial inclusion are gradually helping to insure the uninsured. PwC’s Digital IQ Survey revealed that innovation in Indian companies is driven more by industry and competition and less by customer insights. Ideally, customer insights should be the primary factor behind constant innovation in the industry.3 The current situation is likely to complicate customer satisfaction efforts as there is a risk of competition being the driver instead of the needs of customers. As a result, a business may have no differentiated offerings or these may be delayed. In the worst case scenario, the efforts may not be solving any of the customer’s issues. To understand and explore how the ecosystem of customers in the insurance industry is evolving, in 2019, PwC conducted a survey and discussion with around 200 respondents (including customers, agents and insurers). Further, we gathered the perspectives of all stakeholders on how the industry is working towards meeting customer expectations and how emerging technologies can help in bridging the gap. Across industries, the focus is shifting from a product-driven approach to customer-driven strategies, and the insurance industry is no exception. With technology advancements and their growing adoption, every user segment is now becoming more aware and demanding and they are benchmarking service delivery not only against other segments of the financial services industry but also across other industries such as retail, travel and entertainment. Technology exposure in India is leading to the rise of digital natives whose communication, decisions and actions are embedded in technology; Gen X, Y and Z are inherently impatient and information and choices are freely available. The insurance sector cannot ignore this growing customer segment when developing its strategy and roadmap. Further, transaction security, technology compatibility, data privacy and 24x7 availability are now merely hygiene factors for today’s customers. While use of technology continues to expand, businesses that cater to a large number of digital natives need to start adapting their approach in order to understand and deliver according to customer expectations.

Read more : https://www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/consulting/financial-services/competing-in-a-new-age-of-insurance.pdf