Insurers need to act more like technology companies or risk the hard reality of losing both the trust of - and business from - advisers, Vitality’s life and investment boss has said.
In an interview with FTAdviser, Justin Taurog said if insurers aren’t acting as digital technology companies, then the level of trust instilled in them by their intermediaries will stagnate.
“If you’re not evolving and you’re not in that mindset of making every process you have automated and collecting feedback, the reality is you will lose business from an adviser or from a customer which is unable to do something - be that a change in address, or checking the benefits of a policy,” said Taurog.
“If you’re not acting as a digital tech company, adviser and client affinity, or loyalty, will only go so far [...] and you will risk losing momentum.”
Taurog refers to Vitality as an “insurtech”, rather than an insurance provider. “We describe ourselves as an insurtech,” he said. “We’re constantly re-iterating and innovating our approach. It’s a constant process.”
A focus of “massive investment” for the new VitalityLife boss, who until recently had solely headed up the investment side of the business, is on easing the 'pain points' of a claim through automation and building its customer experience teams.
“I think the days of accepting a service level as it is are a legacy,” said Taurog, who took Vitality from 15 policies a day under the PruProtect brand to a global business with partners in 28 countries.
Taurog reckons Vitality has done well to ease any pain points it might have had on the health side of the business, but he is now keen to apply a “real focus” to solving 'pain points' for customers across its life insurance arm.
“We're looking at claims,” he said. “How can we make sure at the point of claim - whether that’s a death claim, a serious illness cover claim, or income protection - we've taken the pain out of the system?”
Taurog’s aim is to ensure an adviser’s client data is captured upon initial notification with clear instructions as to the documentation needed, hence avoiding lengthy and time-consuming follow-ups.
By owning the claims process end-to-end, and providing one point of contact throughout the process, the insurer hopes to match its health business in terms of 'pain-free' customer experience.
Giving advisers access to “straight-through” processes and “instantaneous” information will continue to be a priority for VitalityLife, according to Taurog.
Following its ‘underwriting revamp’ in October 2020, the insurer will be launching a new set of automations in the new year, but the details of these are yet to be announced.
They will follow on from Vitality’s Evidence Analyser, which promises an underwriting decision ‘within minutes’ without the need for an underwriter to manually review a set of nurse screening results.
Danger of 'computer says no'
