Buyers must be more demanding about service levels, say insurers

At the event held in association with Belgian risk management association Belrim and Dutch counterpart Narim, the panel of leading global insurers were frank in their assessment of the service levels provided to corporate risk managers by their industry.

“When it comes to service, we have a long way to go,” said Jeroen Zohlandt, general manager Benelux at AIG. He accused the insurance industry of living in a bubble and being immune to the development of service in other industries, especially the consumer insurance market.

“When you purchase something online, you expect it to arrive on time and you can track its progress online the same day or the next. These are the same customers we have in the insurance market but our service levels are way off. Why does it still take 90 days for a policy document to be delivered?” said Mr Zohlandt at the event sponsored by his AIG, Chubb and Aon.

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Mr Zohlandt said that insurers must be more self-critical and generate competition internally or face disruption from outsiders with better service levels. In particular, insurers must make greater use of all the data they hold and combine it with more feedback from clients on their experience.

Collectively the insurance industry has to be more courageous and have the guts to do something differently, said Andreas Berger, member of the board of management for AGCS.”We are all very good at describing the problem, but how do we change things?” he said.

He said insurers must allow innovation groups greater freedom to develop new products without having to operate within the constraints of a large and highly regulated insurance company.

Customers need to be able to place more public scrutiny on their insurers, said Mr Berger.

“After a claim you should rate it, like TripAdvisor, and have that upfront in the tender. Why don’t we start doing that instead of relying on broker ratings which aren’t really relevant? It should be the client’s feedback.”

Suresh Krishnan, executive vice president, global account, overseas general insurance at Chubb, did not agree that a TripAdvisor-style rating was necessary. He said a client’s failure to renew should be a clear enough sign of views on service levels.

However, Mr Krishnan called on risk managers to ask more questions of insurers’ service before signing up with them, especially on a multinational programme.

“Capacity is endless in the current market, but if you are a sophisticated buyer doing business in more than five countries, then service has to concern you,” said Mr Krishnan.

Risk managers should insist that their insurer walks them through its claims service, makes local policies visible on a smartphone and creates a single portal for all documents, among other demands, he said.

For specialty risks, insurers should also be able to provide professional consultants to give advice on cyber, HR issues, travel risk or crisis management, rather than just indemnity and capacity, Mr Krishnan continued.

There is plenty of capacity in the market and if risk managers want to be price-led then commoditised products are available, said Mr Krishnan. But, if risk managers want a product that will satisfy their service demands it will require more forethought, planning and expertise, he added.