‘Digital transformation is a catalyst for industry survival’

For Nigeria’s insurance sector to remain relevant, and survive in the future financial services industry, there is a need for operators to embrace digital transformation to unlock latent potential.

This, stakeholders said, has become necessary in view of changing consumer segment and appetite, which requires digitalisation as a quick changing driver to boost customer relationships and experiences, redefine value proposition, and optimise business model processes.

The Chairman, Board of Directors, Law Union and Rock Plc, Remi Babalola, a former Minister of State for Finance, said this at the Quarterly Breakfast Meeting of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), in Lagos.

Speaking on the Theme, “Millennials: Digital Transformation & The Nigerian Insurance Industry,” Babalola said the Millennials are either a critical success or failure factor for the insurance industry both locally and globally, depending on how proactive the sector is inharnessing its positive characteristics.

“Proactive adaptation of their lifestyle or behaviour to innovate products by insurers to match their lifestyle needs will significantly change the landscape of the insurance industry,” he noted.

According to him, with 92 million segment of the population as active users of the mobile phone, insurance business communication needs to change in order to achieve phenomenal growth in the insurance industry and financial services sector.

Babalola also warned that, “If your brand doesn’t show up in online search, Millennials are not likely to take you seriously. Information available shows that the Millennials have the capacity, and are in fact influencing purchasing decisions as well as how companies conduct business. Insurers must therefore be ready to tailor their marketing strategies to align with the digital natives in order to achieve improved performance,” he said.He maintained that the insurance industry needs to embrace the strategic significance of social channels. “We need to be where the customer is, and be part of the conversation where they interact, exchange opinions, and levy complaints.

“Insurance companies would need to allocate resources to study millennials’ habits and employ effective marketing strategies to sell multiples strands of insurance. Since they engage in a sharing economy, we may need to think of how to insure space and time.”

The President, CIIN, Funmi Babington-Ashaye, said one key factor that impacted the way businesses are done, and value communicated to consumers today is information technology.

She said: “the emerging generation of workforce and consumers are now tech-savvy, and require online real time information on products and their offerings,” adding that the industry appears to be left behind by the changing needs and preferences of the consumers. “Put simply, the social media has impacted the ways of life of our potential target market, so we must therefore arise to bridge this digital divide between us and our potential target market in order to stay relevant,” she said.