Insurance intermediaries are at a critical crossroads, however, according to Giorgos Sofos, General Director of Organization of Sofos Insurance Agency AE, the modern insurer does not only face challenges. There are better options. He just needs to use them.
The insurance market is changing. The modern insurer is called upon to become independent from bureaucracy, to once again take on demanding roles. Today's consumer of insurance services, his customer, has much easier and immediate access to information and information and a sophisticated range of products and services offered to him. He needs a responsible professional by his side, to guide him with expertise and knowledge of his individual needs. This professional is today more useful than ever to the consumer, but to perform it needs a support system that is sophisticated, versatile and at the same time powerful.
The modern insurer does not only face challenges.
There are better options. He just needs to use them.
George, our market is changing, my good friend and partner concluded, after several hours of discussion, in a cafe in the provincial town where he lives and works as an insurance agent. It was preceded by many hours of negotiation and arguments on both sides about the way our businesses operate and the professional path we will choose to move forward in the future.
Exactly seven years after that conversation, everything we then saw coming is already here. Actually, the market has changed. It has changed dramatically in its day-to-day operations, regulatory compliance, the intensity of competition and the perception of what quality insurance is. We all adapted to the new rules, we finally agreed that innovative thinking has a place in a highly technocratic subject, we accepted that sales are not the only ingredient of success.
Mainly, however, the consumer of our services has changed. It changed rapidly, as a result of a combination of factors and conflicting recruits, emerging from a decade of economic crisis, political turmoil, natural disasters and uncertainty.
The difference of our era compared to the previous times when the above happened, is that today's consumer has cheap and easy access to information. He knows his needs, his rights and the services he buys. Or at least he thinks so. To be convinced that he really needs the range of products that insurance companies create and we insurance brokers distribute, he should talk to qualified and modern professionals.
So, the insurance market will continue to transform in the coming years into a market of free flow of information and automated processes, with compulsory insurances being considered consumer products and will therefore be mandatory to somehow reduce the bureaucracy and rigid structure that insurance organizations maintain.
Given that insurance product creation, underwriting and claims management require bureaucracy and a structured operation based on regulatory compliance imperatives, intermediaries will benefit from organizations that will synthesize information, consolidate processes and offer training, vertical organization, seamless access in information, expertise and solutions related to regulatory compliance.
Turning to the demanding consumer, one would say that the insurance broker does not have much time with him anymore. Either because the customer is not willing to listen, or because the insurer does not have the time to compile the necessary information. Both bring about the exact same result: further lowering of the customer's insurance consciousness and misunderstandings. Unfortunately, quality these days is subjective and the phrase "value for money" has dominated our daily lives. But until we can infuse insurance into the consciousness of our public and create our own identity, our customers will operate this way and be influenced by the marketing of other markets.
The modern insurer is called upon to become independent from bureaucracy, retrain, learn to manage the products of the entire market and to judge what is the customer's benefit by listening to them.
In this endeavor it will need human-centered organizations alongside it, with organization but also understanding, aligned with our regulatory compliance, innovative thinking and continuous implementation of projects. People who have done the job of mediator, who love our work, who count and respect their colleagues, who draw strength from their partners and turn it into knowledge and development tools. Brokerage companies with a vision for the insurance market, with the aim of quality service and the continuous updating of their usefulness in the insurance market.
We reach the crossroads. May our choices add to the whole market!
To view posts: https://www.aagora.gr/?s=sofos
