Novarica’s Insurer Town Hall meetings have been a great way for us to connect with our council members and clients across North America. One thing that has remained consistent throughout the pandemic is change. We have enjoyed talking through these changes and updating our approaches as we learn more.
Novarica will continue to deliver an all-virtual events calendar in the second half of 2020. We will run these sessions every Tuesday from 1-2 PM EST, picking up again on July 14th. Each week will focus on new and emerging issues, including updates on topics such as low-code/no-code tools and revisiting disaster recovery and business continuity plans.
On June 30th, Novarica EVP Martina Conlon and VP Nancy Casbarro discussed changes in priorities, strategies, and business processes for L/A and P/C insurers. Martina and Nancy agreed that, during the last six months, most insurers have learned it is critical they deliver minimal viable products (MVP), use all available technology to accommodate the need for digital processing, and focus on efficient operations. The organizational importance of digital capabilities has also drastically increased; it has become the norm for insurance business processes (e.g., filing claims, buying new policies) to occur virtually. Failing to address these capabilities also put carriers at risk of looking “out of step” with what has happened across financial services, and in other aspects of consumer lives, as a consequence of the pandemic.
Martina outlined several business process improvement trends that Novarica has observed in P/C insurance. Many insurers were implementing capabilities to improve internal efficiencies and customer experience before the pandemic, though COVID-19 has amplified the need for and adoption of digital functionality. Insurers are prioritizing digital payments, straight-through processing, and policyholder self-inspections.
Nancy added that the entire underwriting and distribution process has changed on the life side of the industry. Going to someone’s house and drawing fluids, for example, is not something you can do anymore, since it creates all manner of potential risks while violating social distancing guidelines. Many life insurers are implementing things like third-party data integrations to fill the gap, and Nancy noted that once you “open this box,” policyholders will not allow it to be closed. Consumers will learn to expect fluid-less underwriting and digital claims processing in the future; in reality, younger consumers were already in this position even before the pandemic hit. Nancy also touched on the group insurance space and the considerations surrounding current unemployment numbers, which remain dramatically higher than a year ago, and the upcoming (benefits) enrollment season.
This week, we will be joined by Novarica VPs Martin Higgins, Deb Zawisza, and Nancy Casbarro to discuss the impacts of this pandemic further. The conversation will again center on returning to the office, as much has changed since we last discussed insurer plans back in May.
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