The folks at Insurance Business Canada magazine recently sat down with Zywave’s own Nive Mahalingam. Here is what he had to say.
Zywave’s products and services
Zywave and its partners know that in today’s market, brokers have to be much more than a commodity to their clients. Today’s insurance brokers need to be valued partners if they are to win new business and maintain existing accounts. Today’s insurance buyers are looking for more.
“Yes, they need guidance with the placement of insurance, coverages and appropriate limits,” said Mahalingam. “[But they also] need help in addressing their business exposures and navigating the complexities of compliance.” He called attention to our Broker Briefcase product, which is designed to help insurance brokers win new accounts, retain clients with excellent value-added services and train new brokers.
The decline in employee engagement caused by new technologies and business approaches
Mahalingam says that technology can provide a lot of value to businesses, such as by enhancing the customer experience, delivering value and driving employee engagement. However, he cautions that new technologies also have the potential to erode human relationships, and we have to be cognizant of that fact.
The increasing role of automation in the insurance space
Mahalingam notes that the insurance industry is seeing a great deal of automation in the personal lines and small business commercial spaces. Often, automation encourages buyers to focus only on price. Brokers must adapt to these changes, and use technology to help them bring more value and insight to the table.
Emerging technologies have the potential to disrupt insurance
When asked about other emerging technologies that have the potential to disrupt insurance, Mahalingham pointed to blockchain. For those of you who have not yet become acquainted with this technology, blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions. It can record the exchange of money, cryptocurrency, contracts, or anything else of value, and it is totally incorruptible. It is also permanent and unalterable.
“Blockchain has the power to create a decentralized, transparent, and trustworthy process of procuring insurance, managing claims, reducing fraud and other efficiencies,” said Mahalingam.
For the uninitiated, blockchain is a technology that records transactions in bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. It does so chronologically and publicly, without any centralized authority. In other words, blockchain allows bitcoin to be self-managed on its own network.
Mahalingam thinks that it’s possible that this technology may replace some parts of the broker’s role by doing the same for insurance. Brokers must learn to adapt and take advantage of the opportunities that arise from new technologies.