There’s one way to ensure that your customers are happy – ensure that your employees are happy. A strong workforce usually results in a strong order book and at Centriq Insurance, they certainly have a strong and happy employee base…
South Africa’s insurance industry is among the strongest and most resilient sectors in the country today. As established companies find nothing but closed doors, hurdles and brick walls, insurance companies are reaping the rewards for persistence and a focus on quality delivery of service. After all, insurance is a people focused business and satisfying the customer, a person, remains the most important objective. It’s an important sector that helps to eliminate risks, spreads risks from the individual to the larger community, and provides an important source of long-term finance for both the public and private sectors.
But even with the relative stability in the financial services sector, innovation is still needed and it remains important to plan effective strategies.
“Companies that want to lead the way in the insurance industry need to relook at their strategy and cost effective business models, flexibility of their portfolios and innovation in value adding products. Emerging Markets, including Africa, are receiving increased attention as future industry investment destinations,” says Malcolm Rapson, Insurance Sector Leader at Ernst & Young South Africa.
He adds that “for many businesses, their very survival depends on pursuing a growth agenda. By 2050, fast-growth economies (in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe) are projected to account for 65% of the global economy
“Companies that increasingly focus on customer centricity are likely to show most growth.
“Given the ongoing changes in the industry landscape, companies that can lead the way in strategy and implementation of cost effective business models, flexible portfolios and distribution of innovative value adding products are likely to emerge at the forefront of the industry.”
That given, a perfect example comes from Centriq Insurance. The Illovo-based business is 100% owned by Santam and offers a diverse range of specialist and general insurance solutions for all your personal and business needs.
CEO Gareth Beaver highlights the company’s focus on customer-centricity saying: “Like any business, the life blood of Centriq is the customer who takes a decision to place and renew their insurance business with Centriq and our business partners on an on-going basis. We therefore see that it is our responsibility to ensure that our products, services and business partners add value to our customers always – this means ensuring our insurance products are relevant to our customer’s needs, are fairly priced and are supported with service standards that meet our promises made at the time of selling the product.”
This focus on delivering for the customer has been fruitful for the business and has resulted in a number of accolades in the past few months.
AWARD WINNING SERVICE
Last year, Centriq was named in a report from the Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance (OSTI) as one of the country’s best insurers. The report reviewed statistics on the number of complaints it received per 1,000 claims handled by an insurer.
Centriq was in the top 10 (number 7) ahead of a number of large companies including Alexander Forbes, Guardrisk, Absa, Mutual & Federal and a host of other big names.
The research found that of nearly 83,000 claims filed with the company in 2014, just 153 complaints were submitted to the ombudsman; that’s two in every 1000.
Another success for the company came last month when Centriq was given a Silver Achiever Award in the 2015 Deloitte Best Company to Work for Survey.
“The award recognizes the positive sentiment of our employees, rewarding their commitment to making Centriq a great place to work for,” said Beaver.
“When one invests in your employees, your partners and clients benefit in the sense that they can concentrate on what they do best, and this is another goal we are continuously striving to achieve.
“Long-term company growth is difficult to achieve without committed employees. If you truly care about your employees, they will truly care about you. And this is why we here at Centriq are passionate about providing our employees with a balanced platform to develop their skills and identify and improve their weaknesses and strengths. We want to guide, support, help and motivate our staff to be the best they can be on both a personal and professional level,” he added.
This strategy of investing in employees so that you can reap the benefits later in the order book is not unique to the insurance industry and has been realised by many of the country’s top companies who are often regarded as top employers.
Another area where investment has been fruitful is with technology. Like any business, tech is changing the working environment and you cannot afford to be left behind. Centriq embraces technology and Beaver says that it only benefits the customer: “Technology is a constant treadmill that we’re all on. It’s helping to improve the way we do business, how we deliver the end product to our customers, aligning the guys in the value chain more closely and cutting down duplication between parties in the value chain so minimising the cost of delivering the product.
“In the financial services sector more broadly I think South Africa is considered to be on a par or ahead. Our banking industry leads the way in terms of technology. Our partners are launching technology products around the world in markets such as the USA where it was found that people are still using chequebooks to pay their monthly insurance premiums so South Africa is not far behind the curve when it comes to technology – there has been an incredible adoption and there is incredible use of technology in this country,” he told FA News.
But despite the advances in technology and the apparent willingness for individuals and businesses around the continent to take out important insurance policies, Africa remains underinsured. This means that there is opportunity for growth for the company that has a strong base developed through industry expertise, technology and, of course, the highest level of customer service.
Highlighting the opportunities for the industry, Lloyd’s CEO Inga Beale said at the IISA/SAIA/FIA Conference last year: “Insurance plays a key role in ensuring that governments, businesses and individuals protect themselves from new and previously unconsidered risks. South African companies are expanding abroad and in doing so are encountering new and emerging risks – everything from supply chain disruption and corruption to cyber and currency devaluation.
“New risks mean we as an industry have to innovate – to identify and quantify new risks, and then develop and price new products that offer the required protection,” and Centriq is perfectly positioned to innovate and meet the needs of the market, even in an economy that is facing a challenging and demanding year.