Insurance firms can leverage the power of data and automation to embed more personalized products and services for this market segment

The insurance industry in South-east Asia is trending toward bundling products and offering value-added services for high-net-worth customers, and also increasing omnichannel outreach to enhance the customer journey, according to McKinsey & Company.

By partnering with digital platforms, industry players are embedding more personalized products and services into the customer journey, with key regions key regions such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia representing about 60% of the total premiums underwritten in the region.

One insurtech firm based in Indonesia, PasarPolis, is seeing increasing demand for affordable insurance owing to the increasing awareness amongst the rising middle class in the country and beyond. By leveraging technology and data, the firm and others in the same sector can create contextualized insurance products to drive customer satisfaction and retention. This kind of ‘embedded insurance’ can be worked into everyday activities via partnerships with relevant ecosystem players to serve the day-to-day needs of customers in various countries.

The firm’s founder and CEO, Cleosent Randing, has noted that Indonesia — with less than 2% insurance penetration — presents significant headroom for insurtech-driven growth. By tapping on data and advanced technologies, insurtech firms there and in the region will be poised to tap the growth areas by:

    • offering advanced platforms to help offline merchants sell more embedded insurance products in a seamless manner: from policy selection to claims settlement
    • combining online and offline channels to offer a seamless and integrated customer experience with an omnichannel strategy to maximize product distribution through various channels such as B2B2C, agency-led, D2C, and B2B, compared to the more traditional insurance sales and marketing approaches
    • leveraging data and customer feedback to create contextual products, continually evolving product portfolios in line with fast-changing customer needs.
    • simplifying the customer experience on the claims front through by shortening overall turnaround with automation

According to Randing, the use of big data, AI and ML centered around omnichannel strategies will power the industry’s growth in SEA, by “facilitating and accelerating the underwriting and claim processes while innovating products that are of high relevance and also customized to their needs.”