The 5 Cs of Insurance

Happy 1-year Anniversary!  What is it that I am celebrating, you ask?  That would be my 1-year anniversary as a RISE committee member.  The various RISE committees engage young professionals to either join the RISE organization or further involve those that are already affiliated.  As a fellow member of the student committee, I wrote this article from the perspective of education through engagement; for every one of us can offer our own unique perspectives of the insurance industry from the various positions we hold and companies we serve.  Take me, for example.  I am writing this article from the perspective of a marketing professional who read author Shwetank Verma’s article “5 Cs of Transformation in Insurance” and asked myself: how can I breakdown the 5 Cs, relating each to a real-life scenario with a marketing twist?  I decided it best to put my student hat back on to do so.  After all, we never quite graduate from learning and adopting new skills.

Prior to my marketing career, I was a student.  As a student, I focused on methods that would help me better understand a topic, often incorporating real world situations so I could relate an unfamiliar topic with a familiar topic.  That was how I best retained information, so I decided to take that approach for this article, which outlines the “5 Cs of Transformation in Insurance” which are: Communication, Customization, Connection, Cognition and Consensus.

Let’s go back to my method of relating an unfamiliar topic to a familiar topic: We all have heard of the 5 Cs of a perfect diamond to take into consideration when investing in an engagement ring in advance of a marriage proposal.  This is where my marketing wheels start spinning (insert movie trailer voice as you read my tag lines below!)

• The 5 Cs of Insurance and How to Pick the Diamond in the Ruff Claims Professional
• The 5 Cs of Insurance and How to Pick the Perfect Fit
• The 5 Cs of Insurance…& CLARITY Too
• RISE and Shine in Insurance, Like a Diamond
• Why is insurance so expensive? That’s like asking why a Diamond is so expensive.
• Ensure you’re a 5 Cs Claims Professional…Insure it like you would a Diamond!

Do you see where I am going with this?  Let’s take it one step further, and breakdown the 5 Cs of Transformation in Insurance like that of 5 steps to a marriage proposal:

1. Communication (THE PROPOSAL):

The article states “At its core, insurance is a promise. Now, there isn’t much value in a promise if you can’t communicate it!” 

Breakdown: Effective communication is more than verbal words; it is a perception and overall feeling that shows your customers you are committed to them and their best interest at heart.  Keep things interesting and ask yourself: is the information I’m conveying informative?  Strive to establish trust by showing you can simplify and create content that is of benefit to the customer, keeping in mind a good proposal is one that is accepted, not rejected.

2. Customization (THE ENGAGEMENT RING):

The article states “Yet, for insurance customers, the tools and recommendations we provide look remarkably similar, if not the same.”

Breakdown: Insurance (both home and life) lacks personalization for insured customers.  No two customers are the same, yet recommendations and renewal prices are similar.  Customizing risk coverage to the individual may be an opportunity to improve this.  The article suggests how the generation of large data-sets can supersede underwriting tables and embrace customization.

3. Connection (THE PRE-PROPOSAL):

The article states “The key challenge for companies today lies in getting noticed. To get noticed, you have to be part of your customers’ conversation. The challenge is to engage without interrupting.”

Breakdown: How can you connect with a customer with little to no interaction?  The article describes how the innovation of future ancillary services could be the solution to increasing connections and loyalty between companies and their customers.  There is room for improvement for the insurance industry to improve overall customer satisfaction and connection is a part of that recipe.

4. Cognition (THE MENTAL COMMITTMENT):

The article states “Learning algorithms, whose results improve with experience, will enable us to find patterns in large data sets and make predictions more effectively — about people, processes and entire systems.  Ultimately, these technologies will completely transform the entire insurance organization.”

Breakdown: There is a cognitive effort happening in the insurance world, which is learning algorithms and making predictions.  The implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be transformative for analyzing ways to improve processes and customer experiences.  These technologies can be used for detection, monitoring, automation, analysis, prevention, etc.

5. Consensus (TIL DEATH DO YOU PART):

The article states “For instance, a Life insurer is the epitome of the trusted intermediary – you expect it to honour its promises after your death.”

Breakdown: Customers want to feel like they are being cared for during and after their natural lives.  This trust is shown through actions and proven commitment.  The article describes how transformation in insurance requires “digital fluency” and the importance of making it easier for start-up companies to find companies and formulate commercial agreements, and the impact this may have on better understanding the customer through all phases of life.