How have customer needs changed in the wake of COVID-19 and other disruptive events? And how can brokers and insurers work together to address evolving customer expectations and requirements? These were two of the questions addressed by QBE’s executive director, UK, Chris Wallace when he recently joined the Insurance Business TV Executive Insights series.
Wallace highlighted that given the range of challenges that the market has seen over the last couple of years, a key area of focus for insurance now is how it can come together as a community to identify different solutions. He noted that the role of the broker and the insurer alike is now coming under the spotlight of customers, as they look to identify the additional value they can bring.
“If you look at what’s going on at the moment in the insurance market, you’re having an enormous amount of insights suddenly becoming readily available for the benefit of the customer,” he said. “So, whether that’s through government bodies, whether that’s through suppliers, whether that’s through local trade bodies - brokers and the insurers are very much at the forefront of that in terms of trying to make sure there’s a consistent view and access to information.”
Examining the question from a QBE perspective, Wallace stated that the business has a very strong focus on functionality such as catastrophe modelling and predictive flood analysis. That kind of data is invaluable in terms of trying to minimise risk for clients, he said, and he strongly believes that the role of the broker and the carrier is to work together to get those risk minimisation insights into the eye line of those who need them most.
“That spotlight, I think, is rightly so on the industry at the moment in terms of how you are actually going to make this a better place for the customers,” he said. “And that includes listening to the customers, understanding the customers and really trying to work out how we can be more innovative and how we can find solutions that benefit the clients as well.”
Watch now: How have customer needs changed?
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