1.
BEYOND
COVID-19:
IMPERATIVES
FOR THE
INSURANCE
INDUSTRY FOR
NEW HORIZON
Practical Insights to emerge stronger from COVID-19 Crisis

2.
Table of
Contents
1 Foreword for the Insurance Industry
Calibrating Insurance Industry Against COVID-19
Preparing for the New Horizon
Conclusion
2
3
4

3.
Foreword for the Insurance Industry

4.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
COVID-19 has potential to disrupt and strain insurance industry
Yet, being one
of the investing pillars in the
economy, insurance Industry is
itself prone to market instability
Historically,
insurance companies have been
one of the keystones in revival
from economic stress
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
The World comes together to combat the COVID-19 Crisis

5.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Claims across Lines of Insurance
Lines of
Insurance
Impact Reasons
Health High Increase in hospitalization
Workers
Compensation
High
Workers at the frontend fighting the corona
pandemic such as those working with Hospitals,
Police, Fire department and workers of high-risk
sectors such as manufacturing, retail, and
transportation of essential goods.
Life Moderate
Increase in deaths impacts life insurers focused
on mortality risk
General
Liability
Moderate
Insurers providing general insurance to the
workers of high-risk sectors and to the workers
who are at the frontend fighting COVID-19 will
be impacted
Supply Chain Low
Policies have a significant waiting period and
deductibles
Auto Low
Reduction in transport due to social distancing
protocols and lower economic activity
Impact on Claims

6.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
The COVID-19 Aftermath
The Insurance Information Institute predicts the following:
The time to act for the insurance incumbents is NOW
Lower premium
growth due to
decrease in global
GDP growth
Increase in claims
due to increase in
global infection
and death rates
Decrease in ROI
and ROE due to
lower interest rates
and equity returns

7.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
The Next Steps?
How to survive the current risk?
Calibrating insurance industry against
COVID-19
How to thrive in the altered
tomorrow?
Preparing for the new horizon
The industry needs to
devise two broad strategies
from the insured and wider
stakeholder perspective
1
2

8.
Calibrating Insurance Industry Against COVID-19

9.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Calibrating Insurance Industry Against COVID-19
Business Continuity
Planning for Insurance
Realigning Insurance
Human Resource
Management
Enriching Experience of
Insureds
Humanizing the
Insurance Marketing
Role of Insurance
C-Level Executives
1 2 3
4 5

10.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Business Continuity Planning for Insurance
Business Continuity
Planning (BCP) of the
Insurance sector is critical
BCP is the first aid for the insurance industry during this pandemic
To meet its statutory objectives
and functions
To compensate for the reduction in
workforce and travel restrictions
1

11.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
5 Steps to Ensure Business Continuity
A fully functional organization instils confidence in the customers
1. Frame a BCP or evaluate
the existing
Focus on relative priorities
2. Transition to cloud-based
applications
Reduce on-premise
dependency
3. Enable remote work
capabilities
Create a digital version of
the workplace
4. Conduct IT disaster
recovery drills
Evaluate Data Recovery Plan
5. Expand the capabilities of
collaboration and
communication
Support employees,
partners, vendors, agents,
brokers, and customers
A Case in Point: To make it easier
for consumers to apply for a policy
during the COVID-19 crisis, a
leading U.S. life insurer automated
its underwriting process and
postponed /waived paramedical
requirements for the insured.
Business Continuity Planning for Insurance (cont’d…)

12.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Realigning Insurance Human Resource Management
In this climate of crisis, the Insurance industry needs
to stand with its employees, agents, and brokers
People-first approach brings the organization closer to employees
A Case in Point:
Canada's insurance
industry is offering
rebates for
customers
struggling to keep
up with their bills
amid the COVID-19
crisis.
 Connect and assure employees, agents
and brokers
 Devise risk mitigation strategies for
on-site employees
 Virtualize the HR process to reduce
human dependency
 Proactive communication to keep people
connected
 Update HR policies to accommodate new
working norms
2

13.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Enriching Experience of Insureds
Being transparent in operations and empathetic in
engagements can foster a deeper relationship
Standing with the customers in times of crisis establishes trust
Empathetic Listening
Show people that you
care
Personalized
Communication
Acknowledge the state of
uncertainty
Self-service Channels
Reduce load on customer
support (ChatBots)
Listening to VOC
Review efficacy of the
efforts
A case in Point:
One of the leading
life insurers in the
US has extended
grace periods to
provide relief for
customers that
have been
financially
impacted by
COVID-19.
3

14.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Humanizing the Insurance Marketing
The industry needs to find ways to digitally recreate key
interactions, more humanely
In the times when social distancing is the way to survive, digital solutions will help enhance
customer experience in a more humanizing way
A case in Point: Canada's
insurance industry is offering
rebates for customers struggling to
keep up with their bills amid the
COVID-19 crisis.
Consistent
Communication
Relay regular updates
Deep Audience
Segmentation
Target different personas
Nurturing Strategy
Help customers at each
touchpoint
Adopting new tools
(CRM/Marketing
Automation)
Support overworked Marketing
Team
4

15.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Role of Insurance C-Level Executives
To thrive in the next normal, CXOs should
Visionary leadership can turn crisis into opportunity
 Lead adoption of new tools and
technology
 Empathize to acknowledge
employees’ new priorities
 Communicate to empower the
team in every possible way
 Strategize to gain deeper insights
 Prioritize for steps in case severity
builds up
5

16.
Preparing for the New Horizon

17.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Preparing for the New Horizon
Appraising
Technology for
Insurance Workflows
Streamlining
Insurance Industry
Operations
Building Confidence
for Insurance of
Tomorrow
1 2 3

18.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Appraising Technology for Insurance Workflows
 Survey the organization about the
technological challenges, pre and
during COVID-19
 Set up relative priorities, figure out
what is critical
 Devise a short and long-term strategy
 Connect with technology vendors and
partners
A deep audit of technology framework will help Insurers to lead from edge
1

19.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Streamlining Insurance Industry Operations
 Cloud-hosted apps to enable remote working
(Mobility Solutions)
 Seamless Collaboration to ensure team
efficiency (CMS, Intranet Portals)
 Superior Customer Experience offer relevant
information at the right time (use of CRM,
ChatBots, & Marketing Automation tools)
 Advanced Analytics for risk-assessment and
fraud prediction (AI, Machine Learning and
Big Data Analytics-based solutions )
Infuse tech-enabled efficiencies across business processes
2

20.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Building Confidence for Insurance of Tomorrow
To thrive in post-pandemic era, Insurance Industry needs to
build confidence across length and breadth of their value
New-age technology will be the catalyst for the insurance incumbents enabling them
to come out stronger when the situation recovers
 Financial modeling exercises backed with data-
driven insights
 Adopt technology solutions to circumvent:
• Paucity of employee bandwidth
• Restrictions of travel and workplace
• Unavailability of the on-site workforce, and lack
of multiparty collaboration
3

21.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Use-cases of Automation powered by new-age technology
such as RPA, AI, ML in different insurance processes
Insurance
Process
Use Case Benefits
Marketing/
Sales/
Distribution
 Automated data extraction from pdf reports and
comparison against various policy combinations
 Workload balancing/lead allocation for agents
 Automated Product recommendations and natural
language question-answering
 Customized product and
services
 Increased service quality
 Increased leads generation
Underwriting
 Automated demand forecasting
 Extraction of insights from multiple data sources
 Efficient and lean
underwriting process
 Increased risk evaluation
quality
Policy
Administration
 Automation of call centre/web-chat services
 Assistance for self-service queries on policy issuance,
endorsements, cancellations, and renewals
 Improving the efficiency of
the policy administration
process
Claims
Management
 Automated claims fraud detection using enriched
data analytics
 Prediction of claim volume patterns
 Improved predictability of
reserves and fraud

22.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Balancing capital expenditure with technology investment will be critical to gain
competitive advantage and new age technology such as RPA, AI, and ML will act as an enabler
to catapult the industry towards the next level of sustainable growth

23.
Conclusion

24.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Moving Further
Every insurance stakeholder must recognize:
Resilience is going to be
the key success factor
against COVID-19
Technology will continue to
play the role of an anchor in
turbulent times and beyond

25.
Copyright©2020 Damco Group. All Rights Reserved.
Download the Report
Click Here