The rise of the ‘empowered consumer’, coupled with the push towards digital distribution models, is fundamentally reshaping the insurance products of today, according to panelists from FST Media’s 9th Annual Technology and Innovation – The Future of Insurance conference. Peter Brittliff, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Fuji-Xerox, outlined the vital importance of utilising data to drive product development. For more information download this SlideShare presentation for a copy of the whitepaper or visit our website www.fujixerox.com.au

1. The rise of the ‘empowered consumer’,
coupled with the push towards digital
distribution models, is fundamentally
reshaping the insurance products of today,
according to panelists from FST Media’s
9th Annual Technology and Innovation –
The Future of Insurance conference.
Greg Booker, Chief Information Officer
for RACQ, noted a progressive trend
towards tailoring insurance products
around the consumer’s immediate needs
and purchasing habits.
“[Traditionally] we built products based
on what the business wants,” said Booker.
“What we are seeing now is a turnaround
[in the insurance industry]… breaking
thoseproductsdownintocomponentpieces
and giving customers the opportunity to
choose from these components.”
Jamie Vachon, AMP’s Head of
Technology, while echoing these
sentiments, further noted the fundamental
disconnect that exists between the
traditional policy packages offered by
insurers and the increasingly individual
needs of the modern, empowered,
consumer.
“Building products that we think will
meet their needs is no longer hitting the
mark,” said Vachon.
(L-R): Greg Booker, Chief Information Officer, RACQ; Peter Brittliff, Senior Product
Marketing Manager, Fuji Xerox; Rachel Ashley, Head of Operational Transformation,
Zurich Financial Services; Jamie Vachon, Head of Technology – Insurance, AMP;
Jason Davey, Digital Customer Experience Executive, Westpac
Driving Customer Centricity in a Digital World
“It is clear [our customers] do not
[understand] the products that we sell,”
Vachon conceded.
According to Vachon, the key to
successful product design is effectively
incorporating customer insights into
product designs. It is thus incumbent upon
insurers to ask the right questions.
“Sometimes [we] do not know what
customers want unless we find ways to ask
them,” said Vachon.
For Jason Davey, Digital Customer
Experience Executive at Westpac, the
complexity of traditional insurance
products has proved a significant barrier
to effective consumer engagement and,
ultimately, the ability for customers
to effectively comprehend insurance
product offerings.
“When you go to market with a very
complex offering that you have to explain
over and over to your customers, you are
not [starting] on the right foot for a good
conversation,” said Davey.
The movement towards ‘human-
centred’ product designs and distribution
models, which are focused on more
personalised, receptive and responsive
customer interactions with the
insurer, seek to eliminate the inherent
complexities found within traditional
policy packages.
“Using human-centred design principles
allows us to investigate the ‘why’: why
are we doing what we are doing for the
customer? Without this approach, we
[will] continue to produce products that
arecomplexandrequireconstantupgrades
and explanation,” said Davey.
Data-driven insights
Peter Brittliff, Senior Product Marketing
Manager at Fuji-Xerox, outlined the vital
importance of utilising data to drive
product development.
“Insurance organisations have a lot of
data to help gain customer insights in
real-time,” said Brittliff. “Analytics helps
interpret customer feedback, from real-
time social channel data, and remains one
of the best ways to solicit real feedback
from your audience.”
Gaining customer insights has moved
beyond a simple data aggregation.
According to Booker, collecting
meaningful feedback – “asking the
right questions” – remains one of the
fundamental challenges for successful
product development today.
“Unless you ask the right question,
you will not know what you are trying
to achieve. I think that is where a lot of
businesses are struggling: how do we make
more intelligent questions to find what we
are after?” he asked.
ForVachon,capturingtherightcustomer
data that gives actionable insights into
individual needs of customers can give
insurers the competitive edge in product
development and service delivery.
“[The right data includes] things like
customers’ life goals. [These are] small
data sets, but are really valuable to
help us understand what customers are
thinking. Having a single customer view
is one thing, but the insights you capture
in the process can help you differentiate
[whether you] are meeting customers’
needs,” said Vachon.
Overcoming organisational
challenges
While data-driven insights are increasingly
important to today’s product development
process, for Rachel Ashley, Head of
Operational Transformation at Zurich
Financial Services, without the necessary

2. cultural evolution meaningful product
innovations will be stifled.
For RACQ’s Booker, developing products
thatappealtoyounger,moredigitallysavvy
customers requires a major attitudinal shift
within the industry and an acceptance that
insurance products must meet changing
consumer habits.
“Most actuaries and managers within
insurance who have been in the industry
for a long time require every nuance
to be considered, which drives up
technology complexity and slows product
development.Weneedtoshiftthatmindset
to drive speed-to-market on products
that have less features, but are probably
more aligned with our target audiences,”
said Booker.
While the panel agreed that incorp-
orating capacity to allow for potential
product or distribution failures can offer
invaluable insights, Ashley cautioned they
also need “executive buy-in” to test new
product offerings and consent to ‘fail fast’.
“Without executive support, it will be very
difficult for insurers to move forward,”
according to Ashley.
Vachon agreed, saying “from a
technology perspective, the ability
to quickly test and learn requires a
fundamental mindset shift.”
Allowing a certain element of creativity
to permeate the product development is
also crucial to the success of any human-
centred design process.
“The ability to apply something that is
really going to engage an audience in a
creative way, or utilise messaging in an
engagingprocessthatstartsaconversation,
is really the home of creativity in the
delivery cycle,” said Davey.
However, Davey suggested that any
creative element must be tempered by the
practical need to find measurable value
from these creative endeavours.
“To test whether those attributes will
work, requires software and a platform
where you can obtain and measure
continual feedback,” said Davey.
“Creativity is only beneficial to the
customer as long as the organisation
recognises that pursuit of making
something attractive or engaging is more
than just a touchpoint.”
While creative design elements provide
the necessary edge to deliver engaging
customer experiences, Ashley also advised
that the industry cannot ignore the
critical importance of quality service and
customer engagement in shaping today’s
insurance products.
“It is great to have a cutting-edge product
or proposition to go to market, but you
must support it with service,” said Ashley.
Indeed, while you may have the
customer “on board” with your solution,
it is incumbent on insurance providers
to effectively service the customer. If this
can be achieved, “customer engagement
and loyalty [will inevitably follow],”
said Ashley.
The Advance of Multichannel
Communication
The convenience and accessibility of
digital platforms have proved increasingly
attractive product delivery models to an
upcoming generation of customers. To
remain competitive, insurers must ensure
their distribution models can effectively
service these evolving purchasing habits.
One of the fundamental challenges
is the ability to ‘humanise’ digital
interactions,particularlyformorecomplex
product offerings.
“If we think about our life [insurance
policies] or income protection claims
process, we quickly go the digital [route],
but customers want to talk to people as
well,” said Vachon,
“We must ask ourselves: when does
it make sense to bring a human into the
conversation, and when can technology
augment this?”
RACQ’s Booker stated that assuming
customers desire more human interaction
in their exchanges with insurance does
not always bear out in evidence, saying
“we had the two biggest claim events in
history in the last four months. In both
cases, we had nearly 100 per cent of claims
through online channels, which has been
an eye-opener and a real challenge for our
claims areas.”
For Booker, it was simply a case of
practical convenience over the empathetic
ear of the claims handler, adding
“customers just want certainty that their
claim is lodged and then they are prepared
to move forward.”
From the consumer’s perspective,
Brittliff believes that practical benefits of
digital product delivery are increasingly
important.
“If I make a claim … it is not so much that
I want a transactional experience. I just
want to get it done... to fix that problem,”
said Brittliff.
“Give the customer choice,” said
Brittliff. “If the [customer wants to use
a] mobile phone, you should allow this
via an online platform. If they want to
speak to someone personally, we need to
facilitate that.”
Ashley agreed, stating that customers
may require different platforms for
different stages of the product cycle.
“If you have a life claim, you might want
to initially submit it online, but as that
claim progresses you probably need to talk
to somebody,” said Ashley.
Vachon concluded, “there is no silver
bullet.”
“It is all about finding different ways to
listen,becausetheanswerswillbedifferent
depending on what you are talking about,
and who you are talking to.” *
“Give the customer choice. If they want
to use a mobile phone, you should allow
this via an online platform. If they want to
speak to someone personally, we need to
facilitate that.”
– Peter Brittliff, Fuji-Xerox