View from the Top: Allianz's Helen Bryant on how insuring SMEs is a balancing act

In the current perma-crisis, there is no such thing as a standard SME, which is why it’s so important for commercial lines insurers and brokers to understand their business customers’ individual requirements and develop solutions that most effectively and efficiently service their evolving needs.

It is clear the broker still has a vital role to play in the SME insurance purchasing journey.

According to GlobalData, brokers remain the most commonly used channel for SMEs, accounting for 45% of purchases.

Therefore, it is in an insurers’ best interest to enable a frictionless, streamlined digital trading experience for brokers, underpinned by the expertise of human underwriters. Achieving this balance of automation and human underwriting judgement is not easy but will be increasingly required in a competitive environment.

Human where it helps

It’s not about removing the human factor but rather re-evaluating and prioritising where humans can truly add value.

We find it important to deploy our people at the point in the journey where they’re most needed and empower them to make the right decisions. We have an ongoing focus on reducing the volume of simple referrals and increasing the volume of quotes that are straight-through processed through automation, thereby enabling our underwriters to concentrate on more complex cases and risks.

This is achieved partly by offering self-serve options.

Indeed, the industry is increasingly adopting a model that allows brokers to self-serve and speed up the quote-and-buy journey through investment in digital platforms and tools. Such tools include digital assistants designed to answer simple but high-frequency queries and extranets that allow brokers to quote, buy and renew digitally.

The industry is increasingly adopting a model that allows brokers to self-serve and speed up the quote-and-buy journey through investment in digital platforms and tools.

Investing in extranets and e-trading services is crucial to deliver a high quality of service and technical excellence for brokers.

In addition to responding to simple queries, digital assistants can also provide rich insights into the topics of most importance to brokers. Such insights are invaluable in informing insurers about how to further improve their service and offerings.

Gaining customer insights is equally important, so investing in data analytics will help insurers and brokers to form a picture of their customer and identify products and services that truly meet their needs.

Clever use of data is also necessary for developing agile pricing capabilities. A data-led pricing model that helps the insurer offer the best price first time will deliver consistency for the broker and transparency for the customer.

As the UK continues to face economic instability and the rising cost of living, insurers and brokers are keen to help SMEs mitigate against the risks of underinsurance.

Understandably, SMEs may be tempted to reduce sums insured or indemnity periods in response to the current financial situation.

However we need to explain the dangers of doing so, leaving businesses financially vulnerable in the event of a claim. This is where brokers add real value – in providing advice and information to customers, to help keep them open for business.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, SMEs have always been the engine of the economy and undoubtedly will play an essential role in pulling the country out of recession. As small businesses continue to adapt and innovate, so too will their risks evolve and vary.

Insurers and brokers will need to continually assess and apply the right blend of digital and human to best cater to these customers’ needs.