The Customers Have Spoken - Are The Insurance Companies Listening

The challenge of responding effectively to rapidly changing consumer needs and behaviors is recognized as one of the top strategic agenda items. We set out to obtain hard evidence of customer attitudes and behaviors. We undertook a worldwide insurance customer survey — unprecedented in both its scope and scale — to explore what drives consumer behavior across the whole customer life cycle and to test some of the received wisdom held in the industry today; to separate myth from reality, if you will. Our research reveals that while, of course, there are significant variations in customer attitudes and behaviors around the globe, there are some underlying themes that are remarkably consistent. Our findings also clearly show that insurers are far behind other sectors in meeting consumers’ expectations. So how should insurers respond? They undoubtedly need to rethink their approach to customers and seek to implement a tailored, yet lower-cost “customer-centric” operating model to support it better. Insurers will need to define what it means to be customer-centric and develop critical new competencies, aligning their operating models accordingly. Significantly, although the above activities may be considered transformational to many in the industry, we believe they will only provide insurers with the ability to catch up and otherwise “protect the core.” To leapfrog competitors and generate significant growth requires true customer-centric innovation and a significant change in approach to strategic decision-making. Implementing these strategies will future-proof the core business, while allowing insurers to redefine customer relationships and become a different insurer — the insurer of the future.