OUTSURANCE: Out-of-this-World Service When You Need It Most

Today comprising some 5000 employees and South Africa’s third-largest insurance group, OUTsurance was launched in 1998 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rand Merchant Investment Holdings (RMI Holdings), a South African based financial services investment holding company. A main campus in Centurion, Pretoria is staffed by nearly 4000, with the remainder spread across offices in the likes of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Gqeberha.

“From an African perspective,” begins CEO Danie Matthee, “our focus remains very much on the South African markets, where we still consider that we have very strong growth opportunities.” This has not prevented this ambitious, young company from establishing subsidiaries in the likes of Namibia, and the 2008 launch of Youi also made OUTsurance the first African company to successfully inaugurate an insurance business in Australia.

Significantly expanding its scope since formation, OUTsurance’s offering now encompasses the full breadth of short and long-term insurance, as well as investment products, to individual and corporate customers. In 2010, the group also launched OUTsurance Life, to enable it to offer fully underwrite life insurance products in South Africa, as well as funeral and endowment products.

GROWTH DESPITE DISRUPTION

A crisis such as Covid-19 affects all business sectors, but for the insurance industry there have been some unique challenges to broach, from employee and business continuity issues to client service considerations to the financial outlook. Amid intermittent lockdowns, anxiety and stress surrounding the virus and tough economic circumstances Matthee details how the group has remained both strong and, impressively, growing.

“We have been really fortunate as a business to have not had to let anyone go during this period of time,” he says. “In fact, we have grown our headcount by close to 800 people in net terms over the last 18 months.

“From a consumer perspective there has been a concerted trend of being cost-conscious and down-buying, particularly when it comes to vehicle insurance, but overall, barring these visible consumer stresses, we are really proud of how we have managed to navigate Covid-19. Not only from a staff point of view, evidenced in our increased personnel numbers, but whether with premium relief, or claims payments for business interruption during hard lockdowns, for example, we have offered incredible support to our customers when they have needed us most.”

Assistance which has gone beyond the borders of the business, OUTsurance also moved near-instantaneously to commit R102 million in March 2020 to help in South Africa’s time of greatest need, in support of clients, service providers, the healthcare sector and the Solidarity Response Fund. “With decisive leadership, togetherness and community support, we will emerge stronger,” Matthee said at the time.

“Of paramount importance to us is the safety and well-being of our staff and partners who work with us, while making sure that our clients are assisted. As a major South African financial services company, we have a social responsibility to contribute to the fight against this debilitating virus and its devastating economic impact.”

Then followed in July of this year another vital operation under OUTsurance’s ‘Staff Helping SA OUT’ banner, seeing it join the RebuildSA movement by donating more than 60 tons of food to riot-stricken areas in KwaZulu-Natal. “This is a time where we have to join hands and help wherever we can”, explained Matthee. “We’re always looking for ways to uplift those in need and create social change. OUTsurance is a special place to work and is full of exceptionally caring people.”

SERVICE SETS IT APART

“The business is in good shape in the face of enormous obstacles and tragedy,” Matthee is able to relate, “and to have been able to continue to focus on growth, and on disciplined underwriting and cost management, without the need to downscale our staff or affect anybody’s salary negatively is something from which we draw real pride.”

In an extremely competitive and ever-changing marketplace, filled to the brim with competent competitors, there is one factor that he feels is of paramount importance to keeping OUTsurance at the top. “The enduring competitive advantage that we retain is the ability to offer our customers great value for money, backed up by fantastic expertise and care,” he rounds up. “We think that the quality of our service is a significant differentiator in this tough field.”

The 2020 Consumer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) for short-term insurance polled 2600 customers across major South African during the second half of 2020, with the results corroborating the perception of what Consulta calls, ‘an industry where competition between players is fierce, with the difference between the top four scoring brands on customer satisfaction score barely more than a single index point’.

“For the first time in the history of the SAcsi, the Short-term Insurance SAcsi score overtook the Banking SAcsi score, which has traditionally performed at a very high level,” it explained. OUTsurance was pitted against true industry heavyweights such as Auto & General, Discovery, Momentum, Old Mutual and Sanlam, and, with a score of 82.3, succeeded in scooping the top spot in the overall customer satisfaction measure. It is unique among the swathes of companies also vying for the honour in demonstrating consistent year-on-year improvement in its customer satisfaction score from 2016, finally cementing the leading position in 2020.

Not only ranked number one for customer satisfaction out of all the major short-term insurers, adds Matthee, OUTsurance’s approach also incurs very few grumbles from its customers. “We are fortunate in South Africa to have the ombudsman for short-term insurance, for example, and for the last six or seven years consecutively we have had the fewest complaints referred by consumers compared to our peers. Our service is top-rated by the readers of numerous newspapers, including The Star and City Press, and we have won numerous awards relating to our service delivery.

“This is truly part of our DNA, and embedded into everything that we do,” Matthee furthers, and is backed by deep technology skills and capabilities. “We already consider ourselves something of an Insurtech,” he details, “and the tech that we employ in our business is all self-built, proprietary and built to serve a specific purpose. We are able to construct processes and systems that allow us to give customers better services, and use customer feedback to continuously improve.

“Looking at our business mix,” Matthee summarises, “we are predominantly a largely personal lines motor and household insurer which provides in the region of 70% of our premium income, and this makes us the largest direct insurer in South Africa by some margin.” Some of the most glaring opportunities looking forward, he adds, are those that OUTsurance has identified in the commercial insurance space.

“We already have a great business here, made even stronger by our heavy investment over the last three years to build face-to-face distribution. We recognised that often SMEs need someone to come in and really understand how their business works, and offer a much less commoditised product as a result. This is a big area of growth and opportunity for us in the next three to five years,” he states.

“We have just over a million existing clients to take care of, however,” Matthee stresses, “and this existing business will continue to receive the primary focus that it merits.

“After all, we are in an industry of trust,” Matthee concludes, “and it is essential that we give the consumer confidence in the economic value we can add by protecting their assets and balance sheets through insurance. In our sphere there is no tangible product in return for the payment of a premium, essentially we sell people a promise. What they can rely on is we are a committed, trusted and deeply skilled organisation that is there for you when you need us most.”