Babalola: Digital Transformation, Key to Insurance Sector Survival
Ebere Nwoji
A former Minister of State for Finance, and Chairman Law Union and Rick Insurance Plc, Remi Babalola, has said that for insurance sector to remain relevant and survive in the future financial services industry, operators must embrace digital transformation.
Babalola, who stated this at the quarterly Breakfast Meeting of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) held in Lagos, said digital transformation among insurance industry operators has become necessary in view of the changing consumer segment and appetite, which requires that digitalisation is quickly embraced to drive changing customer relationships and experiences, redefine value proposition and optimise business models and processes.
Speaking on the Theme, ‘Millennials: Digital Transformation & The Nigerian Insurance Industry’, Babalola said that the millennials are either critical success or failure factor for the insurance industry both locally and globally, depending on how proactive the insurance industry harnesses their positive characteristics.
“Proactive adaptation of their lifestyle or behaviour to innovate products by insurers to match their lifestyle needs will significantly change the landscape of the insurance industry”, he stressed.
According to him, with 92 million segment of the population as active users of the mobile phone, insurance business communication needs to change in order to achieve phenomenal growth in the insurance industry and financial service sector.
“Babalola also warned that “If your brand doesn’t show up in online search, millennials are not likely to take you seriously.”
He said available information has shown that the millennials have the capacity and are in fact influencing purchasing decisions as well as how companies conduct business.
He said insurers must therefore be ready to tailor their marketing strategies to align with the digital natives in order to achieve improved performance.
He further stated that the insurance industry needs to embrace the strategic significance of social channels.
He added: “We need to be where the customer is and be part of the conversation where they interact, exchange opinions and levy complaints.
“Insurance companies would need to allocate resources to study millennials’ habits and employ effective marketing strategies to sell multiples strands of insurance. Since they engage in a sharing economy, we may need to think of how to insure space and time.”
Speaking at the event, President, CIIN, Funmi BabingtonAshaye, in her welcome remarks said one key factor that has impacted the way business is done and value is communicated to consumers today is information technology.
She said the emerging generation of workforce and consumers are now tech-savvy and require online real time information on products and their offerings.”