2020  |  IING 4^th Quarter Communicator

Dear IING member what a year it has been. We have had challenges that no one in our era has ever had before. Working from home, Teams and Zoom meetings, not seeing people face to face for weeks. Training and workshops went online. We evolved yet again with such a fast pace. Showing once again that innovation, tenacity and thinking out of the box has set us up for a different “back to normal”.

Thank you for the following sponsors of this communicator.

• SASRIA
• Bryte
• Indwe

Article by Bryte   |   The future Insurer

Re-imagining the insurance landscape

By Sedick Isaacs, Head Business Support Services at Bryte Insurance

The global insurance industry appears to be behind the curve in terms of digital innovation and continuous development. The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly the most influential catalyst of change, compelling insurers to revisit the world of virtual services. Merely persisting with something because it has been profitable or ‘good enough’, is an antiquated approach for a future disrupted, not by a competitor, but by a silent and invisible threat. In this context, technological advancements adds value to every facet of socio-economics.

COVID-19 has driven expediency in innovation and enhanced the attractiveness of end-to-end automation and integration as businesses endeavour to address:

• Shifting needs
• Unforeseen exposures
• Preserve livelihoods
• Sustainably support communities, customers and the economy

Tailored-made solutions for the new-age customer

For any business to thrive, it must walk in the proverbial shoes of its customers to understand concerns, needs, wants and constraints. It must also have an in-depth understanding of the market in which it operates – as well as the corresponding demand for the proposed product and/or service offering.

The new-age customer will prioritise affordability but in relation to value and the relevance of the product or service. To retain and attract more customers, future-forward insurers must rethink pricing methodologies aligned to this understanding.

In an era where a brand’s reputational and financial health is substantially impacted by the customer experience, individual attention and compassion, relevance of product/service, value and ease of process converge into the full package. Today, almost any business can offer the same product or service as yours. So, to be competitive you have to also adopt the most cohesive and appropriate customer experience approach. Read more... Click here

IING - Training

With change comes growth.

Lockdown brought about a lot of challenges, not only within our industry, but with life in general as we know it.

But, with change comes opportunity and growth.

During the past 4 months the IING incorporated a new way of doing training sessions, and ran three online training webinars which offered 1 CPD point each. We are proud to have been able to help people add to their tally of CPD points and to broaden their knowledge at the same time.

The IING is happy to report back that we had a whopping increase in our attendees for these three underlying sessions, just goes to show, where there is a will, there is a way!

Cybercrime in the time of Corona Virus and Cyber insurance session

Accident & Health Cover Webinar

Responsibilities within Claims roles

We would also like to thank our presenters, Dani Honeyman and David Honeyman from SHA Risk Specialist a subsidiary of Santam Limited, Candice Sutherland from iToo and Brian Domoney and Pieter Steinmann from Tibu Consultants

Article by Indwe  |  Business insurance during a time of crisis

Johannesburg, 27 August 2020 – Times are tough. South Africa is in the grips of a global pandemic, with a deepening recession on the horizon. For business owners, the pressure is on to cut costs and streamline operations as much as possible. Often, this sees insurance being reduced. But to mitigate against the risk of not being adequately covered, decision-makers need to consider what they insure.

“Realistically, not having insurance or being under-insured are not options when companies are trying to secure their business future. Just consider the significant costs if a disaster strikes and they are not protected. Simply cutting back to save money is not an effective long-term strategy,” says Steyn McDowall, executive director: business and specialist insurances at Indwe.

Insurance revolves around the risk factor attached to valuable assets. In South Africa, crime has become a constant. Thieves are not going to stop stealing, accidents will continue to occur, and other mistakes will happen whether the country is in a recession or not.

“Some might argue that with South Africa being labelled a high-risk country, insurance is one of the most fundamental things a company must have. Whether it is business assets, property, vehicles, security cameras, or any other things of value, it is critically important to keep these insured.”

We are way past the adage that insurance is a grudge purchase. Clients should have, and should constantly test, robust risk management programmes and risk mitigation strategies, which will go a long way to ensure reduced premiums.

“Ultimately, insurance is a means to protect the policy holder from financial loss. Consider it a form of risk management. Just like companies have disaster recovery and business continuity solutions in place, so too must they have insurance to ensure continued operations in times of crisis, especially for catastrophic losses such as fire and storm damage.” Read more... Click here

Article by Indwe  |  Drone Insurance

Indwe’s RiskTech® solutions take risk management to new heights

Indwe Risk Services (Indwe) has adopted risk management technology – and more specifically drone technology – to propel its propensity to identify and understand risk.

RiskTech®, the latest risk management offering from Indwe, harnesses the power of advanced technology and risk expertise to provide clients with accurate risk assessments and the best risk advice.

“Insurance is not unlike any other sector. The times are changing, and demand for information is increasing. Drone technology takes our expertise to the next level. Any advantage we can give our clients works in their favour, and now we are employing tech to help us to become even better at what we do,” says Claude Hamman, head of specialist risk advisory at Indwe.

Drones provide a safer, faster and more accurate way to acquire high-quality data about a site and its surroundings. These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be safely and quickly deployed to conduct aerial assessments and provide a 360-degree perspective of a site and its impact on risk profiles. Read more...Click here

Article by Indwe  |  Creating an insurance strategy

Written by Steyn McDowall, Indwe Executive Director: Business & Specialist Insurance

Johannesburg, 14 October 2020 – Insurance, at its essence, is a source of finance to pay for losses, when they occur. In theory, the contributions of the many pay for the losses of the few.  The risk transfer to an insurer is subject to conditions but there is the advantage of stability in settled law and practice.  For larger organisations, insurance tends to be more a “loss-smoothing” device rather than risk transfer, because claims are likely to be reflected in increased premiums. It is most obviously a case of “rand swapping” in high frequency/low severity risks.

Insurance companies emphasise “security”, but for corporate customers uncertainties remain, such as under insurance, over insurance, overlapping covers, incorrect assessment of exposure, insurer solvency, and even policy wording being negotiated after commencement of cover.

There are other negative aspects to insurance provisions:

• poor quality of service
• cost of premiums may be related more to insurers overall portfolio than to insured’s loss experience
• insurer’s “knee-jerk” reactions to market-wide or insurer-specific claims problems, resulting in volatility of premiums and/or rapid withdrawals of cover (e.g. asbestosis, professional indemnity, terrorism, Directors & Officers, infectious diseases)
• premium determinations being heavily influenced by blanket reinsurer needs
• the heavy reliance on historical data for setting premium rates and little or no recognition of the value of proactive risk management
• traditionally slow to offer new covers
• primary insurers’ limited capacity
• insurer takeovers and mergers improving individual insurance company capacity but leading to shrinking market choices
• the attractiveness of personal lines business to insurers over commercial business
• costs arising out of insurers operating inefficiencies built into premiums
• hidden costs such as broker over-riding commissions

Reinsurers adopting a hands-on approach

There is no question that globally the financial services industry, including the reinsurance sector, is being forced to tighten its belt. In the wake of the financial crisis and the current impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many reinsurers’ ratings have been downgraded and the cost of stable security (A – upwards) is considerable. Read more... Click here

NEWS & MORE

Major new laws planned for small businesses in South Africa

Small Business Development minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has gazetted the National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill, which aims to further regulate the country’s small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMME) sector.

Ntshavheni said that the bill will further provide for the establishment of a Small Enterprise Ombud Service which will actor as a support function to the minister.

“Despite the critical role of small businesses in the economy and development objectives of South Africa, the SMME sector remains vulnerable to exploitation and unable to utilise available legal remedies due to the prohibitive costs,” Ntshavheni said.

“The Ombud service will become a vital legal instrument to enforce SMME contracts and resolve business-to-business disputes as well as considering and disposing of complaints by small enterprises in relation to the interpretation of the terms of agreement for procurement of goods, services or late and non-payment of amounts due and payable to small enterprises.” Read more…Click here

What makes a CFO successful?
Hint: it’s not just the tech

King Price CFO Paul Stedall: a successful CFO can combine technology and emotional intelligence.

Lately, we’re seeing a lot of articles with titles like ‘The Changing Role of the CFO’, or ‘The Rise of the CFO in the Modern Organisation’. Generally, they’re talking about the need for today’s CFOs to be able to see the big picture, and play a key role in crafting strategy and driving business value.

As a new CFO who’s spent the past two decades on the auditing side of the fence, I think the CFO role has been steadily blurring for years anyway. For me, what’s really needed in this time of uncertainty and volatility, where we find it difficult to forecast beyond the next week or two, is to go back to bringing a focused, dedicated finance aspect to the business.

For many businesses, the finance function and structures they have in place at the moment are fine. For now. But they are unlikely to be sufficient for the next five, or 10 years. You don’t even need to be contemplating big acquisitions or offshore expansion to know that change in the modern finance function is not just inevitable, but critical to taking our businesses forward in a meaningful way.

Let’s face it, the days of finance divisions being reporting functions that focused on balancing the books are long gone. Today, we’re effectively running data-driven decision centres – and if we’re not, we should be moving towards that reality with all due haste.

To make this happen, we’re going to need two things: the best technology, and the best people. It’s not either/or. We need both, working together. Read more…Click here