Global News - Over two-thirds of insurance CEOs changing the way they use technology - PwC
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Mar 2016
More than 70% of insurance CEOs are making significant changes to the way they use technology to assess and meet customer expectations, said PwC’s 19th Annual Global Survey of more than 1,400 CEOs. In addition, 79% cited data and analytics and 76% cited relationship management systems as providing the greatest potential contribution to improving engagement with customers.
According to PwC, a new generation of analytics is enabling insurers to anticipate what will happen (predictive analytics) and also to shape outcomes such as reduced accident rates or improved health and well-being (prescriptive analytics). This more proactive and preventative approach marks a change in purpose for insurers, which will deliver considerable social as well as financial value.
However, technology is also creating new benchmarks for customer experience, response and cost and making it easier for customers to judge and compare insurers against their competitors. For insurance firms, the ability to meet these challenges is often hampered by slow and unwieldy legacy systems and traditional ways of working.
In fact, nearly 70% of insurance CEOs see the speed of technological change as a threat to growth and more than 60% are concerned about shifts in consumer spending and behaviour.
PwC’s survey also shows economic headwinds are strengthening once again. Compared to 40% in 2015, only 28% of insurance CEOs now believe the global economy will improve over the coming year, reflecting a dip in optimism. Whilst 38% of insurance CEOs are very confident about their ability to increase revenues, this is down from 44% in 2015.
Accordingly, 70% of insurers are planning to implement a cost-cutting initiative over the next 12 months, and technology is the trend insurance CEOs see as most likely to transform customer expectations over the next five years.