By Matan Abraham, CEO of Elevate Life
As the CEO of Elevate Life, I have recognized a significant gap in the life insurance industry. Traditional products and distribution methods have remained stagnant for decades, with minimal innovation.
At Elevate Life, we’re committed to changing this. We believe that a fresh approach to life insurance, including innovative distribution and wellness rewards, can revolutionise the industry.
Current State of the Life Insurance Industry
The life insurance industry, especially in South Africa, presents a unique case study. Despite having a still developing economy, South Africa boasts a deep insurance market with a long history. This dichotomy of having to cater for both high and low income economies in South Africa has led to a broad range of insurance products. However, many of these products are archaic, with some offerings not having seen significant innovation for over fifty years.
While other financial services sectors like banking and short-term insurance have embraced digitisation and innovation, the fully underwritten life insurance space has lagged. Instead of developing new products, many companies have merely added superficial enhancements to outdated offerings. This situation presented us with a golden opportunity at Elevate Life to introduce something truly innovative and bring life insurance into the technological age.
Our Product Strategy
Our strategy focuses on the fully underwritten comprehensive space, targeting middle, upper-middle, and affluent clients. These clients require more comprehensive coverage across multiple perils, including life insurance, disability, severe illness, and income protection. The distribution of these products centers around advisors, who play a crucial role in quantifying the coverage needed by clients.
Life insurance is fundamentally different from other types of insurance. Unlike car or home insurance, where the need is clear and straightforward, life insurance requires personalised advice to determine the necessary coverage. This gap, often referred to as the risk gap, evolves over time based on changing financial circumstances, dependencies, and other factors. Advisors are essential in crystallising this need for clients.
When we entered the market, we identified the pain points associated with traditional life insurance products and focused on creating solutions. Our strategy was to build products tailored for advisors, helping them onboard and serve their clients more efficiently through technology and innovation.
Empowering a new generation of financial advisors.
Fully underwritten, comprehensive risk
cover – backed by market-leading technology. From application to policy in as little as 15 minutes!
For more information or to become accredited, get in touch with our Business Development Team at 084 777 9657 or visit elevate.co.za
Elevate Life is an authorised FSP 50555. Underwritten by Centriq Life Insurance, a licensed life insurer and authorised FSP 7370.
Integrating Wellness into Our Products
Over the past two decades, flexibility and adaptability have been key themes in life insurance. However, wellness has emerged as a critical component. At Elevate Life, we’ve embedded wellness into our product strategy to create a more comprehensive and beneficial offering for our clients.
Traditional life insurance products were designed based on needs identified decades ago. While flexibility is important, we believe it should be a given in today’s market. Products should easily adapt to changes. Our focus was on ensuring our products are as comprehensive as possible, offering standard complementary benefits that enhance their value.
We recognised the significant work done in the financial services industry to promote wellness and lifestyle habits that improve longevity and reduce morbidity. Programs like Vitality, Multiply, and Reality have shown the benefits of positive wellness behaviors. We built on this foundation to create our ‘Elevate Me’ app, which is available to all our clients at no additional cost.
The ‘Elevate Me’ app allows clients to share their wellness data, including fitness data from wearables, healthcare information, and financial data. This data is then used to provide a holistic view of their wellness, offer personalised education, set goals, and reward them for positive behaviors. This approach creates a positive data-sharing relationship, where clients feel their information benefits them rather than penalises them.
Streamlining the Onboarding Process
One of our key strategies involves simplifying the onboarding process for advisors and clients. Traditional underwriting for comprehensive life insurance involves extensive assessments and tests, which can be time-consuming and costly. We’ve built a fully digital onboarding process that leverages available data from health insurers, medical schemes, and other sources. This approach reduces the need for additional tests and streamlines the process.
By codifying underwriting decisions, we can provide immediate decisions for about 75% of our clients, significantly speeding up the journey. This efficiency allows advisors to deliver better service to their clients, reducing the time and costs associated with traditional underwriting. By minimising administrative burdens, advisors can focus on their expertise: fulfilling their clients’ needs.
Conclusion
At Elevate Life, we are committed to revolutionising the life insurance industry by integrating technology and wellness into our products and processes. We believe that by simplifying the onboarding process and aligning incentives, we can create a more positive and engaging experience for both clients and advisors.
Our goal is to ensure that life insurance is not just about protection but also about promoting overall wellness and longevity.