Future-Ready Insurance Leaders | Defining the Next Generation

Risk is at the heart of the insurance business. While disasters and disruption can lead to massive payouts, new and greater risks create consumer demand for new products and services as well. In a more complex threat landscape, insurance companies need to be able to read market signals—and respond quickly—if they want to compete.

One thing is clear: organizations that are digital leaders coped with the disruption of COVID-19 better than the competition, and these companies are looking for ways to leverage their tech investments for continued growth. What are they focused on? According to KPMG’s 2020 CIO Survey, the top three business priorities for global technology leaders are to improve operational efficiency, enhance customer engagement, and enable the workforce. And this maps to the needs of the insurance sector.

To boost profitability in a time of unprecedented uncertainty, insurers must increase cost-efficiency and innovate to produce more profitable products and services. They need to understand what customers want and deliver the experiences they expect. Insurers should focus on identifying top talent and doing what it takes to keep them on board.

Perhaps most importantly, insurers need to put systems in place that will make their operations more resilient as they face future waves of disruption.

“We’ve seen events that left some of our insurance clients disconnected and unable to be productive—especially those that were still operating on legacy, on-premise systems,” says Tony Alejo, principal, Advisory, KPMG. “These unfortunate events helped our clients see the benefits of being in a digital environment, especially on a cloud-based platform that lets them keep their business going efficiently and effectively.