Tony Robbins once said: “The path to success is to take massive, determined action”. But what can managers in insurances and banks do to help the company use the opportunity of a fast-changing world? Here are my 10 actionable tactics that work for me. Maybe also for you?
- Kill zombie projects
- Forget the Valley and Berlin
- Share your story
- Send your staff away
- No more Insurtech & Fintech, please
- Get Influencers on board
- New products
- Don’t do it yourself
- New digital products and services
- Kill Process time
Kill zombie projects
Recently an insurance CIO showed me proudly his project portfolio - a good pile of paper. On the last page two KPIs struck my eye. Allocation of resources and time spent. For about 30% of the projects, the project lead had less than 20% time to spend for that specific project - in most cases none or almost no support. In some cases there were seriously 5 and 10% resources allocated. It’s no surprise that even smaller projects dragged on for years - becoming zombie projects: dead but still moving. So, I suggested the following: to kill all projects without progress in the last 6 months and all projects which had no project lead with more than 30% time allocated. First he was hesitant, then I asked: “For which project would you hire consultants with 2.000 Dollar of costs per day to finish?” The list became shorter and shorter. The result: After employees reacted surprised, they felt liberated - and the following year no zombie projects were to be seen.
Forget the Valley or Berlin
The Silicon Valley, Berlin and other places have become innovation hotspots. After years of ignoring or making fun of them, now hundreds of c-suits and managers undertake the innovation pilgrimage. Over the course of the last decade a whole travel industry with visits at selected startups developed. For me it is not quite clear: What is the value for corporate managers to have had a coffee on the Google Campus or have had a look at Facebook offices? Instead of a few stories from the innovation hubs to tell the advisory board, it might be a good idea to visit the places without innovation tourist guides. How about talking blockchain in Estonia, fintech in Dubai or disruption in China?
Send your staff away
When I give talks, I regularly give away tickets for free not only to the audience, but also to friends. One of my best friends works in Leipzig and he got two free tickets with a value of about 1.600 EUR. Since it was an insurance conference and he works in the industry, he asked his boss to get a few hours off. His boss forbade him to go. “Only managers from the headquarter should go. What example would we be giving if simple employees are seen with senior managers at events?” I can’t express how wrong such a behavior is and how bad a light it sheds on the corporate culture of this multi-billion dollar company. So in 2019 don’t only go to tech conferences and events yourself, but send your staff there. Make them part of debates. I bet a good bottle of German white wine that they will come back inspired and motivate the rest of the team. Only with inspired people companies can achieve the unthinkable: survive digital transformation.
No more Insurtech & Fintech please
Don’t get me wrong. Insurtech and Fintech are exciting fields. Despite all differences Insurance/Insurtech and Finance/Fintech are part of the same ecosystem. We talk about same insurance and finance topics, attend the same events and often share the same topics. The magical inspiration though happens when we leave our insurance and finance nerd bubbles. Therefore, let's read marketingtech blog, visit legaltech events or some soccer tech events. Maybe the answer those industries find to face digital revolution may differ from ours and inspire us to develop better solutions.
Share your story
I recently sat in a meeting room with oak panels and mahogany all around. The grey-haired CEO spent half an hour to explain that they are a financial institution with tradition and a long history that survived wars and dictatorships. “It will also survive this internet.” Later he listed his new digital products and services, corporations with the who-is-who of the European tech scene. I was rubbing my eyes and asked him: “So if you conduct all these efforts, why are you not sharing this? The market thinks you are an outdated and dusty insurer with a few years left.” “It’s not our style - we release a press statement once a year. Only because regulation forces us.” Well, the world has changed. Nothing is more important than the attention of the customer. If he does not know that you are beyond your 100+ years and in reality a quite cool place with decent digital products and services, he can’t buy your products. In the end he was totally surprised after we developed an attention hacking campaign and even his grandchild asked him, where he actually worked: “This modern insurance”
Get influencers on board
Ok, I get it. Coming from someone that is considered an influencer it might sound a little douchey. Nevertheless, the debate about innovation in the insurance and finance industry is dominated by a handful of well connected individuals with a lot of insight in what’s going on “behind the scenes”. Following and participating in this debate ensures you’re not missing an important point. Even better, invite them to your corporate headquarter and ask for a key-note or participate at internal meetings and talk about the elephants in the room - nobody else does it but everyone sees it. They have no internal political agenda and can support innovators inside companies by underlining that it’s not just a few idealist employees talking innovation, but that this internet thing and digital disruption is actually happening.
New Products
Recently a Swiss insurer announced a new innovative insurance. The central European industry was surprised: It was a wedding insurance. The newly developed product covered the event of a wedding guaranteeing a certain amount of money. The new product became the laughing stock of the industry. Why? Because the whole concept of a wedding as a financial risk has its origins in the last and overlast century when weddings cost substantial money. Still weddings can be a pricey party, but they don’t bear an existential risk to the financial wellbeing of the central European middle class. The development of the product illustrates that some parts of the insurer seemed so detached from the reality of our time that nobody seemed to notice this or have the courage to speak out. Meanwhile the Insurtech One by WeFox developed an algorithm-based semi-automatic insurance product that automatically switches on and off. Yo, the digital spin-off of the Israeli insurer, lowered the combined ratio from 98% to 54%. So, the innovative aspect of products is not including or excluding some risks but actually thinks about how to define and redefine the concept of risk and coverage itself - may it be pay-as-you-go-products, automatically switched on or off or even flat rate models.
Don’t build it yourself
I can’t remember how many times I attended board meetings in which after the presentation of start-up or service provider the grey-haired CEO asked the CIO “John, can your guys do it themselves?” And John gave the answer that guaranteed this job the most: “Of course, and even cheaper, Bill.” Years and several millions later there were still no services. My learning, if you don’t do it already, it’s probably because you can’t do it. The solution: cooperate with high performing start-ups and service providers, who already do it. It saves a lot of pain and money.
New digital products and services
At the end of each year the rally in Germany begins. Car insurances in most cases only can be switched at the end of the year - so agents, brokers and online insurers start a bidding frenzy for the cheapest products and expensive marketing campaigns. The winner of each year is crystal clear - it’s not Allianz, Axa or Check24. It’s Google and Facebook. All need to pay bitterly for the access to the attention of customer. Google created a universe of digital products and services - providing it for free to the customer locking in his attention. Why not build digital products and services that relieve the customer of pain and friction, conquer not only the hearts and minds but also home screens of our target groups. We are the most renowned experts in risk management in the end. Maybe the winner of the end of the year race will be not Google or Facebook but an insurer for a change.
Kill process time
I recently opened a bank account at Deutsche Bank. It took them 8 weeks to process the paperwork. I had to appear at a physical branch, sign papers and waited for 8 weeks to receive the first bank statement - long after I received the confirmation with the account number. Funny? Well, for another reason I opened a bank account with the challenger bank N26. On a Sunday. From my couch. In 10 minutes. No paper, no travel to a branch - just frictionless service. Of course, I have a funny feeling doing business with a challenger bank, but the convenience uplift is so large, that now all my business goes through N26. If anyhow possible I will never again set foot in a branch or conduct business with a traditional bank. This example shows that finance and insurance need to do their homework on processes - we need to be able to provide our customer frictionless services. Be it opening an account, giving a quote in real time or handling a claim in seconds. If we are not going to do, someone will.
I hope my “10 things insurance and bank managers could to in 2019” helped you.
Yours, Robin
If you like this, feel free to follow Robin on Digitalscounting, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin or Xing.
Cover image: U.S. Air Force photo by Joshua Rodriguez
