Professionalism in the shortterm insurance industry

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Professionalism in the short-term insurance
industry CIIBA Conference 2008 Ian Kirk
Santam CE
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Agenda

• Professionalism in our industry
• Defining the DNA of the intermediary
• The role of the insurer
• Putting the client at the centre of our thinking
• How do we align as an industry?
• Closing thoughts

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Why Professionalism?

• Clients come to our industry looking for
• relevance
• ease of doing business simplify their lives
• reassurance expert advice
• innovation
• honesty and trust

Our reputation as an industry is simultaneously
our most important asset and our greatest risk.
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Professionalism in our Industry

• Professionalism is a declaration guiding our
  conduct and behaviour.
• It is about attitude, demonstrating the
  willingness to learn and living up to the
  commitments.
• In the context of our industry it includes
• offering honest advice
• treating all stakeholders as business partners
• assistance in managing risk
• being flexible
• acting with integrity and dignity
• being there when insureds need you most and
• embracing diversity at all levels to build a
  sense of pride as industry bodies and making a
  meaningful contribution to the country.

Our world of opportunities will shrink if we do
not commit to improve
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Defining the DNA of an Intermediary

• A professional intermediary personified is a
  person that demonstrates the following behaviour
• exhibits knowledge and skills
• demonstrates insight and experience
• displays pride
• demonstrates accountability
• shows commitment to self-improvement
• acts with consciousness and trustworthiness
• exhibits passion
• show commitment and is a good team player.

The professional intermediary is the face of
our profession
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The role of the Insurer

• We should
• conduct business in good faith, with integrity,
  fairness, honesty, and in a transparent manner.
• as an insurer have a real responsibility to the
  industry to a large degree we are the brand.
• not bad mouth our peers or intermediaries at the
  expense of the industry.
• strive continuously to provide an efficient,
  effective and helpful service to insureds to
  ensure a high standard of customer satisfaction.
• comply with all applicable legislation.
• advertise responsibly dont use cheap tricks.
• maintain financial soundness in terms of the
  regulatory requirements.

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The role of the Insurer (cont)

• promote the general publics understanding of
  insurance through education and the sharing of
  information.
• ensure that our employees are familiar with
  acceptable practices and codes of good conduct.
• play an active role in society and industry.
• deliver the service consistently.
• keep the clients best interests at heart.
• play a role in the transformation of our country.

If we act responsibly we can become a more
desired industry that attracts good talent
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Putting the Client at the centre of our thinking

• Client centricity is placing the client at the
  centre of the business.
• Client centricity in the context of a business is
  moving from selling through solving client
  problems to becoming a trusted business partner.
• In the short-term insurance industry, client
  centricity is becoming a trusted advisor
  continue to satisfy expectations through
  operational efficiencies and continuous advice,
  as well as sustained delivery and commitment.
• It is about creating relationships not a hit
  and run affair.
• Foster appropriate levels of service.
• Taking a long term view which translates to
  customer loyalty.
• Client loyalty is the key to creating company
  sustainable profitability and growth.

A 5 increase in client retention rate yields a
disproportionate increase in profits
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Putting the Client at the centre of our thinking

• Some Dos
• listening to clients and finding out what they
  like when dealing with the company.
• better understanding - filling the clients
  shoes.
• ongoing tracking methods (quantitative and
  judgmental) to assess the quality of clients
  experience.
• taking equal value of quality metrics as that of
  financial scorecards in evaluating groups and
  people.
• provide training to everyone who deals with
  clients on how to be a better counsellor.

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Putting the Client at the centre of our thinking
(cont)

• continuous use of intelligence to better enhance
  the service quality.
• able to treat clients as unique with a customised
  approach.
• thoughtful, well-executed plans to invest time
  and money in growing the relationship with key
  clients, leading to their trust and future
  business.
• place greater emphasis in the company measure and
  reward systems on growing existing client
  relationships rather than pursuing new accounts.
• getting clients to think they are first in
  everything that the company does.

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What is not Client centric?

• Hard overselling
• Lack of a value proposition that does not answer
  client needs
• Deliberate churning
• Under pricing the risk
• Under investing in the people and support
  infrastructure

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How do we align as an Industry?

• In addition to the role of the industry
  associations being the voice of the members to
  the business partners, government, regulatory
  body and the general public, our role includes
• creating a platform for sharing information
• setting of appropriate standards for the
  industry
• interaction with other associations operating
  globally within the industry
• creating a cooperative environment where full
  understanding of the performance and enablers of
  "best in class" business processes can be
  obtained and shared at reasonable cost

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How do we align as an Industry? (cont)

• It also ensures that collectively the industry
  acts in the best interest of the clients and the
  country
• collaborative work on projects that requires
  sharing of platform, e.g. in short-term insurance
  the need to service the low entry market
• best practises information from companies within
  and outside the insurance industry assist in
  transforming the industry and
• collectively tackle the challenges facing the
  industry.

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Closing thoughts

• We are facing issues in the industry, therefore
  we cannot bury our heads in the sand.
• We have higher than average penetration in the
  traditional segments compared to other developing
  countries - we see opportunity in the
  non-traditional segments but it is difficult.
• Professionalism is ethos that guides
  organisations/companies behaviour in conducting
  business.
• The credibility of any business rests on the
  degree to which professionalism is exhibited in
  its conduct.
• Protecting our industry brand is critical .

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Closing thoughts (cont)

• The rewards are significant to sustainability and
  growth of our industry and respective businesses.
  
• With the emergence of direct players it is even
  more critical to aspire to be more credible.
• Create a competitive edge.
• Remain relevant.

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