The COVID-19 crisis has been a time of consternation for everybody, and with the fear factor dialled up to 11 around so much to do with life, health and financial wellbeing, it is no wonder that so many more consumers now consider themselves more vulnerable than they did pre-pandemic.
Between the constant rhetoric around climate change and the ever-brightening spotlight being shone on cyber risk, it can be hard for businesses and individuals to catch their breath and take stock of where they stand – something forward-thinking insurance firms are seizing as an opportunity to do things differently.
“I think people are absolutely sick of being scared,” said Freddy Knight, innovation director at Optimum Specialty Risks (OSR). “I also think that what the population needs is for somebody to step in and say, ‘don’t worry, we’ve got you’. And that’s what we, at OSR, are hoping to do with Home Cyber Plus.”
Traditionally, insurance has naturally been associated with fear, Knight noted, because it is so synonymous with challenging times – fires, floods, car crashes etc. But while that association is natural, insurance does not have to be sold on that basis. There are much more successful ways to help people understand their exposures, he said, and how to best protect themselves from those risks, which now, unfortunately, includes cyber risks too.
For Knight, who has risen up the ranks of the insurance profession to carve himself a unique niche in the cyber insurance space, being able to spot new opportunities to shake up the cyber insurance space is integral to advancing the solutions available. So much of the cyber insurance market is aimed at a middle-market or corporate level, he said, but there’s not much out there for small local businesses and their staff and families.
Having been serving these small businesses for the last 3 years, OSR has carved out a reputation as a technically sound and risk management led cyber MGA, now working with many of the top 100 UK brokers. Knight noted that it was a natural evolution for OSR to turn their attention to the consumer.
With this in mind, OSR has just launched the UK’s first, technology-backed, personal cyber insurance policy; Partnering with Avast to offer multiple layers of security for policyholders and their families. Home Cyber Plus will provide complete protection against the emerging personal cyber risks now facing most UK families, he said. This includes protecting children from online bullies, protecting grandparents from fraud and, finally, making the internet a safe place for us all.
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“This has been built from the ground up, we’ve worked with the police force, we’ve worked with Action Fraud and we’ve created a product to cover risks that just weren’t insurable before,” he said. This is the real OSR proposition in that we’re going to try something that’s not been done before. The general feeling is that, as individuals and consumers, our families and our households spend so much more time online now than we’ve ever done before.
“But in the last 10, maybe 20, years, except for the advent of antivirus software, there has been nothing to protect our families, our children, our grandparents from those digital risks. For the general UK consumer, what is out there in the market to protect you online, other than your antivirus? How can we, some 20 years down the line, have nothing out there to protect us?”
OSR is dedicated to providing peace of mind in a changing world. But it’s about peace of mind for people, not for their bank statements, Knight said. That’s the message that needs to be delivered, and OSR is looking to push the narrative past insurance being there to protect funds, and into the idea that insurance is there to protect you and your family.
It’s about moving past the ‘fear’ conversations to empower people to proactively care for themselves and those around them, he said – a message he feels the UK market is uniquely primed to hear right now.
