How nuanced are the challenges facing insurers when it comes to innovation, transformation and competing against disruptive competitors.
Reading commentaries. my own included, from all sources you might think they were similar everywhere.
Frederik Bisbjerg brings a Middle East focus on regional challenges in the linked article below. Bisbjerg says: -
"....many incumbent insurers in the region face the same four major organisational challenges to responding effectively to market developments and changes in customer needs and expectations, that are:
• “Not on my shift”: the senior management of incumbent insurers are ageing, with many CEOs looking forward to retiring within the foreseeable future. This may result in CEOs postponing large change initiatives to allow their successors to design and run the projects.
• Disorientation: the market change around insurers in the region, and the change happening with insurers outside the region, has left incumbents disoriented with no clear idea of what to do next.
• Lack of talent: digital talent, transformation expertise, and agile ways of working, are prerequisites for organisations to succeed – these skill sets are difficult to find in the region, creating a competence gap.
• A Herculean task: as an industry, insurance entities have historically been bureaucratic, shaped by strict financial and regulatory requirements. This has created rigid, siloed organisations that are very resistant to process and span-of-control changes.
Summing up, Mr Bisbjerg says the challenges paint a picture of an insurance industry that may be aware that change must happen, but in general does not possess the toolbox nor the people to create and implement the necessary strategies and plans."
Middle East Insurance Review 6th May, 2020
Technology vendors must be mindful that they know these challenges and be able to explain with clarity and brevity how they can help overcome them.
Second, the overseas online options have resulted in reduced demand for local digital marketplaces, so local players have less incentive for investing in digital solutions capable of competing with the global players There’s a growing gap here as the technology in the hands of the users, and their digital user experiences, are advancing faster than the local markets are capable of keeping up with, because the skillsets required for advanced digital development are not present in the region to the extent required – the demand for local high-end tech competencies has up till now been low as most technology is imported. Mr Bisbjerg says that understanding why the region's markets have been reluctant to change is important in defining the future strategic direction.
