By: Clyde Parsons, Chief Innovation Officer at BrightRock
In many respects, 2023 was a year of tremendous change – a year of technological advances, international conflicts, and economic pressures. However, we also saw some semblance of stability returning to the life industry after the COVID-19 pandemic, with claims volumes starting to return to pre-COVID levels. We believe strongly that change always brings opportunity, and so we are looking forward to 2024 as a year of opportunity for our business, our industry, and the financial advice profession.
Tech & AI
With AI and digitalisation on everyone’s lips, we expect to see further developments and advances in 2024. The industry will be using these technologies in communication and transactional service delivery to clients, to better manage risk, and – hopefully – to deliver innovative, convenient product solutions to clients. Harnessing technology to make life easier for our clients and their advisers will certainly be a key focus area for BrightRock in 2024.
Fraud prevention and detection
As is often the case in tough economic times, industry statistics released by ASISA highlight financial and claims fraud as a major area of concern in the life and funeral market. There have also been several murder cases profiled in the media recently around this issue, specifically with regard to funeral policies. This problem is compounded by the rise in cyber crimes and the use of AI and other technologies to perpetrate fraud. Fortunately, AI and cyber technologies can also play a role in detection and prevention, and we expect to see exciting developments emerging in terms of modelling and data analytics to help tackle this issue.
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Demand for personalisation, convenience and the human touch
While surveys show rising demand for technological solutions that make it easy for clients to communicate with their insurer and transact, they also still crave the human touch – in fact, we’d argue in tough economic times when clients are struggling to make ends meet, personal advice and support are more important than ever. The industry will need to balance these two demands, working to provide convenient technology-enabled service solutions, underpinned by a focus on caring, human interactions that help to instil trust and confidence in stressed clients who, in a complex and challenging financial context, may be more negatively disposed to providers of financial services than during better economic times.
Simpler products that enable advice and solve problems for clients
On a related note, insurers and advisers have a unique opportunity to support clients with better solutions that are clearly linked to a real financial need, that can save them money, and make the decision process a lot simpler and easier. This will help to counteract the threat of lapses, which is always prevalent when clients’ pockets are under pressure. We hope the industry will respond by simplifying and customising their offerings to better meet clients’ needs. At BrightRock, we believe this is an ideal environment for our personalised, needs-matched products, which are able to deliver more cover for the same premium rand. We are immensely proud to be part of the South African life insurance industry – one of the most innovative, well-capitalised and highly-regarded insurance markets in the world – which has so successfully withstood the pressures of the past few years. We look forward to seeing the industry do what it does so well – pay clients’ claims and protect them when they need it most.