Most African insurers admit they are they are in the early stages of their digital transformation journey, with the majority of the rest saying they are midway through.
Only one lone voice of those surveyed as part of an Equisoft webinar, ‘Effective digital transformation for African insurers with limited resources’, could say they had completed the process.
Looking at the challenges to the process, 57% said their biggest challenge was one of resources both in terms of cost and people with the right experience and qualifications. 20% of those surveyed admitted they were challenged by not having the required technology, while 16% said they faced organisational barriers and the final 7% said they had insufficient data.
In terms of where their priorities lay, 43% said it was with sales and service portals, while 20% said it was with PAS modernisation, 21% said is was with data analytics, while the remaining 11% said it was with digital quoting, illustration and e-apps.
Speakers at the event, including Opeoluwa Kumuyi, head of digital west Africa at Old Mutual, Shingie Maramba, director at Equisoft, and Liberty Nobula, a partner at WHL Consultants, all provided some suggestions to help smaller companies launch their digital transformations.
Key among them was to start with an end goal in mind. Smaller companies, they agree, have more reach and can go from a manual process to digital in fewer steps. They suggested firms focused on areas with “the most bang for your buck” and to remember that no company can spend unlimited time on this.
They also suggested that companies consider trying to digitalise current products first. But above all, they said project planning was critical.
They suggested creating a full end-to-end project plan to understand on each part of the business intersects. But they stressed that any plan needs to be feasible and that everyone understands the expectations properly so that no-one can be left feeling disappointed. To do that, they said, define responsibilities within the organisation and make sure everyone’s roles are clear. Make sure there is high level leadership to influence and co-ordinate the project at all levels.
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