Insurance Professional Forum 2019: Ag. NAICOM Boss Harps On Importance Of Technology

October 17, 2019

49 6 minutes read

Ag. NAICOM boss, Sunday Thomas (standing) speaking during a courtesy call on the palace of the Alake of Egbakand as part of the activities for this year’s Insurance Professional Forum in Abeokuta. With him is Alake.

The acting Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) Mr. Olorundare Sunday Thomas, has emphasized the importance of technology in driving the growth of the nation’s insurance industry.

Thomas, in his keynote address at 2019 insurance professional forum in Abeokuta today, said in this 21st century, for any business to succeed, automation of operations is the way forward and called on Chief Executive Officers of insurance companies to embrace technology in order to reap it’s benefits.

According to him, in this 21st century, digital technology has integrated the world and its systems into “one global village” where all transactions are now on our finger tips. Bigger than the phase of the advancement are the implications which are already affecting us positively or negatively depending on our perspective.
“Insurance business must understand that digitalisation has now taken precedence in people’s day to day affairs and the consequence could be massive if we fail to fix any gap that this can create in our service delivery. We must effectively integrate into the robust financial circle for insurance to take its rightful place in the economy.
“We must invest in technology in order to meet up with current phase of advancement and take our products to the comfort of consumers

The theme for this year’s forum is “The Digital Era: Implications for Insurance Professionals”

He said technological advancement has taken an unprecedented leap to becoming an integral part of our daily living, adding that the Digital Era actually started evolving in the 1980s and presented society with information and technologies that are essentially transforming how businesses across all industries operate and serve their customers, the Insurance industry inclusive.

Below is the full text of his keynote address at the event.

I want to join the President and Chairman of Council of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) to warmly welcome you to this year’s insurance professionals’ forum. This year’s forum is remarkable as it is coming on the heels of the 60th anniversary of our prestigious Institute.
Let me once again congratulate the founding fathers; elders; members of Council, management and staff of the Institute for the attainment of this milestone and to add that this period is for us to reflect on our journey so far as practitioners under the Institute’s umbrella, appreciate the past and strategise for the future.
It always gladdens my heart to be in the midst of fellow professionals to discuss issues of common interest to our profession. This Forum is one of the only events that bring together all insurance practitioners from the nooks and crannies of the country under the same roof. For whatever it is worth, I enjoin you all to take maximum advantage of this opportunity to network and freely discuss your industry; prospects and challenges of the industry while proffering possible solutions in the interest of all stakeholders.
The National Insurance Commission more than ever before is resolute in sustaining existing initiatives and introducing new reforms that will transform our industry from the resisted to the sought after, neglected to the promoted, despised to the preferred and form the penny stocks to the investors delight. Its achievable and in our power to do.
The theme for this year’s forum “The Digital Era: Implications for Insurance Professionals” couldn’t have come any time better than now that the phase of technological advancement has taken an unprecedented leap to becoming an integral part of our daily living. The Digital Era actually started evolving in the 1980s and presented society with information and technologies that are essentially transforming how businesses across all industries operate and serve their customers, the Insurance industry inclusive.
In 2015, PwC identified that Mobile devices, tablets and smart phones will be the most important technological advancements in the insurance sector in the nearest future. This implies that consumer experience, locally or globally are going to be greatly influenced by Digital Technology.
Imagine this scenario; consumers having their claims, complaints or inquires attended to with minimal human participation, tasks that ordinarily would take several daunting processes to accomplish, now simplified and automated, saving downtime, improving consumer experience, reducing operational costs and providing new revenue streams. This scenario as just described is not far-fetched from reality, it is not only possible and achievable, it is already happening.
This is where our true service will lie and also how the narrative of the insurance industry and market in Nigeria will change.
The prospects in embracing technological advancements in the Insurance Industry are almost limitless; it almost seems too good to be true, and one might wonder if there are many caveats or implications to worry about.
It thus becomes imperative that we ask ourselves these questions as insurance professionals as to where we want to belong and what we should do;
Where are we as an industry in the phase technological advancement?
Where are our compatriots?
Are we where we should be?
What do we need to do?
In this 21st century, digital technology has integrated the world and its systems into “one global village” where all transactions are now on our finger tips. Bigger than the phase of the advancement are the implications which are already affecting us positively or negatively depending on our perspective
Insurance business must understand that digitalisation has now taken precedence in people’s day to day affairs and the consequence could be massive if we fail to fix any gap that this can create in our service delivery. We must effectively integrate into the robust financial circle for insurance to take its rightful place in the economy.
We must invest in technology in order to meet up with current phase of advancement and take our products to the comfort of consumers. The demand by consumers for ease of transacting business is becoming clearer and aggressive. How we respond to these demands will certainly determine our position in the financial market and long time sustainability of our businesses.
The Commission on its part is committed to improving the use of technology in the sector. It is on this premise that the Commission is investing hugely in automating most of its operations. To this end, the Commission’s portal that will integrate all insurance transactions into a single hub is being finalised. Hopefully, by the time we meet next year, our processes would have become fully automated and operational. Suffice it to say that NAICOM has at all times encouraged practitioners to imbibe the adoption of technology in their businesses.
If the industry is to effectively key into the financial inclusion target of the federal government, it therefore behoves us to reinvigorate and face the challenges of digitalising our operations not only to build trust, confidence and reassurance of all stakeholders that the industry is ready to encore its peers, but to enhance penetration.
As I conclude my remark, let me warn that our failure to key into the 21st century demand for digital business services might spell doom for our industry. Our failure to master Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud technologies, means we will be unable to serve even the most basic demands of customers and the post-digital world. Hence, we will be prevented from embracing the next digital trends or disruption. It is important we work towards being part of the wave because this new set of technologies will ensure we rethink the entire industry and the parts needed to be played in the world.
Insurance professionals need to be more alert and imbibe various relevant technologies as a baseline or core competency while adopting newer technologies- the internet of things (IoT), telematics, “big data”, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), “chat-bots”, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and so on.
Choosing carefully the customized and on-demand customer experiences we intend to target is essential before we can work backwards to map out or develop a strategy on these three things;
• How to get there,
• Identifying what ecosystem partners we need and
• Our position in that ecosystem
We all need to move beyond our comfort zone. This means moving beyond the current structures and culture we have in order to achieve our goals.
For the desired transformation to occur, strong leadership is required. Chief Executives of insurance entities must embrace this change in a manner that will add value to their company.
The Insurance Industry is indeed in a position to embark on a digital journey that can have real impact on our customers and businesses. I therefore enjoin you all to recognise the task ahead and be determined to fill the gaps that are created in our businesses by advancement in technology.
I wish you a successful and fruitful stay here in Abeokuta
Thank you.