Insuretalk34: Harnessing innovation for sustainable transformation

InsureTalk34 kicked off at 10am on 20 July 2023. Host Christelle Colman welcomed more than 2 500 guests to the webinar, which was themed, “Harnessing innovation for sustainable transformation”.

“If I think about what’s gone wrong in our industry and our country over the last couple of months, from a risk perspective… we all have to deal with the impact of load shedding and the impact on our policy covers, explaining that to clients, the floods we had in the Western Cape, storms around the country,” said Christelle. “So, so many challenges. And what really struck me was that all of us around this digital table today are also dealing with those risks on a daily basis.

“But yet we have to step up and make sure our clients and our brokers are looked after and that insurers we are to make sure the claims are paid. So there’s no time to stand still. We have to move, and we have to act. And that really is about the sustainability and the sustainable transformation of our industry.”

Our first speaker of the day was Jaco Oosthuizen, co-founder and MD of YuLife South Africa. His talk, titled “Life insurance that inspires life”, explained how insurance can be used as a force for good. YuLife’s focus is to get people to eat better, exercise more, drink less, smoke less, etc. to help overcome the global lifestyle crisis. The WHO, he said, estimates that 80% of chronic disease today is caused by lifestyle.

“This is a huge cost and burden on the economy,” he said.

The other crisis we’re facing relates to cost of living.

“Covid had a huge impact on the economy globally plus we have our specific problems in South Africa. So how so we as insurance companies make a positive impact on people’s financial stress?”

There is also a mental health crisis, with South Africa recently ranking last in world in the 2023 Mental State of the World report.

These factors contribute to absenteeism, low productivity levels and poor mental health. Check out the stats below:

His talk went on to unpack ways in which the insurance industry can assist clients on a daily basis and not just when things go wrong.

Marcia Le Roux, business development manager for Africa at SSP, spoke on “Confronting the challenge of sustainable competitive advantage in the digital era”.

“As we delve into the world of technology in the insurance industry, we are faced with constant challenges and new inventions that come up very quickly,” she said. “This world of technology has huge potential for both individuals and insurance companies. It can bring great benefits, making things work better, helping us make smarter decisions and inspiring new ideas.

“However… it is important to pay attention and careful consideration to issues such as data privacy, cyber security, ethical implications, and the approaches through technology adoption. But if we understand how technology works and use it wisely, we can navigate through this ever-changing landscape and create a future that’s full of innovation and possibilities for all of us.”

Marcia unpacked some of the challenges facing insurance companies in the digital era:

She spoke about confronting theses challenges, how to build digital capabilities, aligning technology with your business values, developing delivery capabilities, inefficiencies in the value change (with specific focus on legacy systems), cloud capabilities, and some of the key data transformation successes experienced in the South African insurance industry.

Next up was IISA CEO Thokozile Mahlangu, who outlined the details of the upcoming African Insurance Exchange conference, which takes place at Sun City from 23 to 26 July.

Next year is the 50th African Insurance Exchange Conference and Thokozile said there were plans afoot to make it the best conference ever! Super early bird registration for AIE 2024 will open on 24 July 2023.

Rianet Whitehead of FA News and The Insurance Apprentice, was up next with our regular industry media update. She spoke about the upcoming AIE Conference, NHI developments, the Sasria documentary “Unveiling the Unrest, Seven Days of Destruction“, Hollard’s “We are where you are” campaign, the upcoming IIG international trip and the FIA Awards and the FIA Summit. She hinted to a new “jacket” for “The Insurance Apprentice“. Applications are open for next year’s competition. She concluded by wishing the women on the call well for Women’s Month in August.

This month’s entertainment came from Timothy De Monk, who had guests tapping their feet to some soulful tunes.

Our last speaker of the day was Robby Kojetin, “the guy who went from a wheelchair to the summit of Mount Everest”.

In 2006, Robbie broke both his ankles at an indoor climbing gym, landing him in a wheelchair. He went into a terrible downward spiral and hit rock bottom. His story took us from the darkest depths of depression and debt, and ended with him summiting the highest mountain in the world.