Brokers urged to leverage digital solutions for sustainable businesses

Insurance brokers have been advised to leverage digital solutions to help sustain their businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking during the general meeting of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (Lagos Area Committee), Obafemi Ashinowo, Director, L&D, Leadway Assurance Company Limited said the world has gone digital and there is no going back, therefore brokers cannot be left behind.

According to Ashinowo, digital is customer-led, which incorporates data-driven automation to create new value. He, therefore, advised that digital solutions that should be delivered to customers should also be customer-led and channelled to digital customers.

He explained that digital customers are made up of the millennials and the Gen z, adding that while the former represents two billion people or 27 percent of the global population, the later represents 18 billion people and 24 percent of the global population.

“These are the people that consume a lot of data and they are the market we need to sell differently to,” Ashinowo added.

He stressed that for brokers to attract these markets, they need to become digital brokers and imbibe new ways of doing business.

“Digital brokers use fewer papers, depend on the web portal and mobile apps, automate processes and interact digitally, mine new opportunities through data-driven tools and technology, are constantly evolving and growing their client base and servicing various customer segments,” he said.

In his welcome address earlier at the event, Rotimi Olukorede, Chairman NCRIB (LAC) who welcomed participants while thanking the sponsors of the event, Linkage Assurance, hinted that in building a sustainable business, insurance, brokers must understand how to satisfy their customers in the new norm and increasing market penetration in Nigeria.

“The old ways of doing things may not carry us to the next level. To move to the next level, we need to use digital solutions. We need to unite together to make progress,” Olukorede told participants.

Also speaking at the hybrid event via Zoom, Bola Onigbogi, President, NCRIB praised the Lagos state chapter for their pioneering role in providing thought-leadership within the marketing arm of the insurance industry.

She explained that the topic for the day was especially important as one cannot continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, stressing that there is a need to retool strategies towards boosting insurance penetration in Nigeria.

Onigbogi noted that there is no measure of efforts put into digital knowledge that can be too much, adding that members would need to imbibe contemporary trends in digital marketing to build sustainable businesses.