Ready, set, go ---> normalcy

COVID19 caught all businesses off-guard, Financial services included. No one imagined the impact of the infection to be as massive as it is turning out to be. What looked like an epidemic in one city in China became a pandemic within a few weeks. Banking and Insurance rely on other businesses transactions and growth to measure their own growth. With most of the industries coming to a standstill (except healthcare and essential services) Banking and Insurance are severely impacted.

Pandemics are not directly covered by Insurance. “Acts of god” is the term that excludes it for most part of the coverage. But I applaud the insurers who have stepped forward as a goodwill to cover the healthcare cost of the existing policy holders. The reason Pandemics are not covered in the policy coverage is because one cannot predict when and how large an impact pandemic can have on lives and livelihood. Insurers are facing a situation of not just potential “Zero” growth of new revenue but the struggle to retain existing customers who may not understand why their policies do not cover pandemics for them as individuals and as business owners. When a risk cannot be quantified, it can’t be priced for coverage would be a simple layman truth.

Insurers who do not have a strong bond with their customers risk losing them. The questions that insurers face now are

• when normalcy returns how will they face their existing customers?
•  what can they offer as a means of demonstrating a trusted relationship?
• what can they offer as new services or coverage that will help retain the customers in addition to acquiring new customers? 

Communication & actions that demonstrates empathy & trust towards customers should be top of the list. Every customer is valuable, and he/she needs to be addressed individually. Mass communication has very little impact at best and negative at most. I have seen some Insurers preparing for the day normalcy returns while others are firefighting. Here are some gentle reminders.

Thinking beyond the firefighting is the only way to secure a winning chance. There is no better time than now for Heads of IT and Operations to change the image of reactive business function by demonstrating their leadership in transformation.

The other face of challenge is opportunity. An opportunity to change for a better tomorrow!