Cloud Solutions | Georgina | 29 May 2020

Regardless of what disruption is being experienced, leaders need to strike a balance. Getting through the storm is one step, the following steps need to be about resilience and recovery (closely followed by growth). Our latest white paper, ‘Insurance Transformation in a post COVID-19 world‘, explores the technologies insurers can take advantage of to ensure they build resilience, lower expenses and futureproof their offering in the market.

What form should insurance transformation programmes take post-COVID 19?

With the digital communication platforms available, the technology is there. The actual delivery – the hands-on implementation – is something that can continue, albeit after a review of functional priorities and associated business benefits. Any stumbling blocks that are likely to arise will be down to culture, communication and budget constraints.

Those insurers that can weather this disruption and press ahead with insurance transformation programmes – those are the companies that make the most gains. In the short-term, capital will need to be conserved. Budgets will change and almost certainly there will be a review and reprioritisation of features to be delivered in a transformation programme.

It is of paramount importance for the success of insurance transformation that insurers have the best guidance for this reprioritisation – as this situation mandates new agile approaches (and attitudes). This re-planning and re-prioritisation needs to be happening now. Ultimately, culture, attitude, pragmatism and resilience will win out.

How do insurance companies build resilience?

• Re-prioritising of objectives
• Means testing against current ability – tech, process, analysis needed
• Culture evaluation – is the will and ability to pivot there?
• Digital acceleration – diminish physical presence/need (e.g., online service, self-service, digital wallet (VANS), AI use, RPA, legacy sunsetting, full cloud adoption, virtual claims assessment, smart claims, smart road, telematic, appdriven – InsurTech partnerships to bear fruit

What will this disruption mean for future delivery models?

The reality of this global disruption will force an adoption of some localisation, including resource. The reliance on offshore delivery will remain as it is, but to a degree – programmes need to be cost-effective to run, but this is where true Agile delivery will shine within insurance transformation.

Onshore delivery will rise – albeit in a more digital/remote way. We will see the rise of the Distributed Agile Methodology; a giant in insurance transformation. The major benefits of remote delivery (which we are already experiencing):

• increased productivity (certainly in ‘build’ phases)
• lowered expenses
• an overall changed structure to programme teams and ways of working

It is a business imperative that insurers adapt. Where that motivation started with obeying the drivers for modernisation, it needs to continue (in a slightly modified form).

You can read further information about this topic from our white paper, found here.