<strong>By: By Riaan Bekker, Force Solutions Manager at thryve</strong>

Thryve have over the last few months run a series of articles in COVER’s magazine on ‘Platforms’. The articles explored the topic of the Digital Platforms relating to businesses in more detail, elaborating and explaining its’ different aspects and uses.

<h2>Platforms are perfect for insurance. Here's why</h2>

Platforms are amazing. Every organisation should consider the value a platform can offer then – and perhaps even give reasons why it shouldn’t make the change. Yes, the confidence of a platform’s impact is that highly placed. There are technical reasons for this, which I will explore in the next column of this series. But let’s get down to the brass tacks: why are platforms key for the insurance industry?

It’s all about data. The more the insurer or intermediary can get, the better a picture they have of their client and the more they knows about what the client needs now and in the future. The Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence are taking this to another level. But you cannot expect to have effective and affordable implementations of data management technologies without a platform. Again, that relates to technical reasons which I’ll explore in the next column.

But I’d wager I have your attention now. Insurance is a very data-driven industry, yet one that has had to operate at the scarcity end of that spectrum. When there wasn’t enough data, approximations and estimates needed to be made. More bluntly, insurers had to make do with generalisation and do their damnedest to get nuance out of the arrangement.

Today’s world is flush with data. Some companies such as Facebook get into serious trouble for it, but then you can contrast that with Amazon’s incredible success due to data. All of these have shown the market new ways of engagement, an example that is already being copied by some major insurers and practically all insurtech startups. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>

There are five elements that these companies are gaining from their new approaches: dynamic omnichannel, personalized service-at-scale, collaborative engagement, actionable insights, and cultures promoting innovation and agility.

The first two relate directly to customers, the third and fourth speak to operational and value chain topics, while the fifth represents a change for the business itself. If we explore those avenues, the relationship between insurance and these elements become clear. All of them are underpinned by platforms.

<b>Keeping Customers Happy</b>

We operate in a customer-centric world. But banish the view of a spoilt consumer shopping at boutique stores on a midweek afternoon. A customer today is any person who engages with some kind of system that is meant to deliver on their expectations. It could be a basic laissez-faire transaction, a major business purchase, even an employee trying to do their job: in the customer-centric world, they are all customers and what counts is the quality of their experiences.

Insurance houses have been trying to get closer to their customers and overcome unpleasant moments such as conflicts over claims. Speed and efficiency are important, especially around seamless onboarding processes. But much more can be done.

Personalised service (Know Your Customer) and omnichannel engagements are the benchmarks for customer satisfaction. Examples include customized questionnaires, self-service portals and access to insurance metrics via apps. None of those is practically feasible without using platforms.

<b>Feeding on Data</b>

As mentioned above, insurance is a data industry. Insurance information may come from various external sources: agents, brokers, underwriters and UMAs, insurers and reinsurers. Client and prospect information such as demographics, assets and household configuration are very important. In recent years this model has expanded to include ‘usage’ data such as driving behaviour and fitness tracking.

Platforms are the central plazas where all this data can be aggregated, analysed and put into action. Prior to them, doing so was prohibitively complex and costly - and in some cases simply not possible. Today it’s a matter of plugging the right sources into the platform and having that data engage with the appropriate services. Collaborative engagement and actionable insights are both results from this confluence of data and platforms.

<b>The New Insurance Business</b>

Improved customer service and much deeper insight - these are the flame and the fuel. But where is the spark? Platforms finally put business capabilities within the reach of the employees, the people who engage with customers, manage systems and rely on processes. For them, platforms are a sea change.

Access to information is paramount if an agent hopes to be successful, success being not just a new policy but a portfolio that satisfies their customer’s needs. In the platform world, this is all but a given. Disparate information could be stored on different systems, but a platform gives the capability to collate and present those insights as needed. Thanks to connectivity, access can be anywhere - even over a portal on a mobile device. This gives reps the ability to access information from anywhere in an understandable format to successfully sell to and service their clients or prospects.

What if a sale goes through or if something more formal needs to be generated? Platform services make it seamless for reps to quickly and easily quote based on all the above information. Insurance-based CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) and billing features, automated processes and quick catalogue generation are prominent capabilities of platforms.

The long-term change though is that of a more agile and innovative company. Again, the reasons for this are more evident when you understand the technology revolution represented by platforms. This is the topic for my next column.

But if you have ever wondered what the secret sauce is behind the dramatic improvements in established insurance businesses or the magic of startups, the platform is the answer. It brings data, technology and services together in ways hardly imagined and never affordable before.

<h2>Read more about Platforms below:</h2>

<h3>Platforms: the foundations of modern business</h3>

In the world of tech, platforms will be ruling the roost. In this article Riaan Bekker, thryve, shows us why platforms are a unifying force. In a world of bundled legacy systems, everyone is looking for an answer. Platforms might just be it.

Platforms improve market performance and cost by tapping spare capacity while still lowering prices. It also places the customer at the centre of transactions. These are powerful dynamics that are rewriting business rules. The ones that are the most responsive to change will survive. Platforms deliver that responsiveness.”

<a href="https://www.cover.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/thryve-MAY-2019-.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Read: Platforms the foundations of modern business</a>

<h3>The platform’s place in modern businesses</h3>

To understand the core purpose of a platform, we must consider what it replaces.

Business services are catered through software, which in turn rely on hardware infrastructure. All three of these are susceptible to ageing, which in the pre-platform paradigm leads to lock-in: a negative characteristic where the systems cannot perform at the expectations of the business or the evolving demands of the market.

Enter the platform. Unlike older business systems that are a collective of unrelated and unconnected services bundled together, the platform is a unifying force.

<a href="https://www.cover.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/thryve-JUNE-2019.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Read: The platform’s place in modern businesses</a>

<h3>The Insurance CRM: Customisation without the Traps</h3>

Insurance is complicated with many stakeholders adding and taking as either contributors or consumers, or both. The CRM should be able to meet the needs of specific and multiple requirements in the value chain.

Crunching such data requires serious muscle in terms of computing power and high-speed networks. In the platform world, you don’t have to own either. Simply funnel your data into the platform services and let them do the heavy work.

Through a platform your insurance CRM can have a fully configurable user experience (from apps to workflow), expansive integration with other internal and external services (partner databases, Office, Google Drive, etc.) and offer self-service opportunities.

<a href="https://www.cover.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/thryve-JULY-19-LR.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Read: The Insurance CRM: Customisation without the Traps</a>

<h3><strong>Platforms: Buy or Build?</strong></h3>

Platforms are very powerful, a theme I’ve explored in some depth over this series of columns. Sectors and businesses of all types and sizes are switching to platforms, because they create a stable yet flexible technology foundation upon which to build business services.

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There remains one more question: build or buy? Is it better to own the platform your business uses or should you use the platform of a third party? Business tradition dictates the former, but I want to argue for the case of the latter. In the platform economy, you don’t wan to own the platform – just what you feed into it. This article takes a look at the arguments for both sides, build or buy?

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<a href="https://www.cover.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/thryve-AUG-19.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Read: Platforms: Buy or Build?</a>