How to Be Disruptive in Emerging Markets

Much has been discussed as to the coming disruption of the insurance industry in emerging markets. While I believe that it is happening, I also believe that, contrary to the common held view of many of my peers, building a disruptive insurance platform in emerging markets is going to be a marathon and not a sprint. I do not claim to have all of the answers. In fact, we are not even close to having most of the answers, but we have learned a few things along the way. While many are quick to predict the demise of the traditional broker, I believe that the evolution of disruption within the insurance market will be one of natural selection. There are many highly profitable brokers in these markets that have a deep understanding of their customer, regulatory issues, market trends and simple common sense. Most are family-owned, with a new generation of family members anxious to take the helm. And while most of these brokers are not tech-savvy and certainly do not have regional or global aspirations, the ones of interest are forward-thinking and anxious to take on a new challenge as they clearly see how the winds of change are blowing. I see these brokers as natural partners, and by acquiring key brokers in each market the aspiring disrupter will gain immediate market share, revenues, EBITDA, customer and databases, infrastructure (yes, customers still like to talk on the phone), licenses and management talent. With those beachheads in place, you will be able to take the next step, which is to apply technology to the existing base. This can start with the basics; consolidating databases, cross-selling, upselling, retention, dashboard analytics moving ever further up the food chain to digital marketing, big data and someday the mysterious artificial intelligence. All of this creates short-term value, as you will see immediate increases in CAGR, EBITDA, retention rates and other key metrics, but that doesn't change the perception of insurance for the consumer. In simple terms, these changes are not disruptive and at the end of the day are boring for customers. See also: An Eruption in Disruptive InsurTech?   So what will be the secret sauce? The carriers are an integral part of the ultimate disruption process, as they will work with the broker and consumer to develop the transformational products that the new consumer is going to require. This will be a key part of the challenge, as this will require a radically new approach to product development and, of course, dissemination. Products will include temporary auto insurance, school insurance for books, computers and other needs, home office insurance (do you know how many new consumers work out of their home) and unique vacation insurance. These products will drive real value for shareholders, while at the same time we are ultimately improving the lives of our customers. I am convinced that one of the key secret ingredients for creating disruption within the emerging market insurance industry will revolve around product bundling and the great feeling you get when you believe that you just received a gift. It is also about being part of a contest and, yes, winning a prize. By partnering with leading manufacturers of cosmetics, sporting goods, automotive, school supplies, and fashion apparel, the aspiring disrupter can bundle these products with the underlying insurance product that their customer is buying and enjoys buying. In the most basic form, when our customer buys travel insurance they will receive free sun care products. If they buy school insurance, they receive free school supplies. It is a win-win for the product supplier, the customer and the insurer. If you think this is fluff, just ask the new consumers who are watching every penny in their budget. But that is not enough, as we want a long-term relationship with our customer. So in addition to all of the above we are sponsoring online contests. To promote scholastic achievement and safe driving, we will soon have one for the zaniest insurance videos, i.e. my homework was actually eaten by an iguana or my car was crushed by an elephant. All of this is meant to build a very real bond with the consumer, improving their lives along the way. The evolution of disruption in emerging markets has been interesting to observe, as the “the rage of the day” began more than two years ago with the aggregator model. Numerous well-funded ventures launched online insurance websites in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Thailand and many other markets with a few common traits. The ventures were not disruptive, they had no existing customer base and they had no real strategy for interacting with the new consumer. The majority of these online insurance portals were "aggregators," providing real-time or in some cases faster-time quotes from multiple insurance providers. The sites were often difficult to navigate and crowded and typically lacked originality. Soon, the novelty began to wear off as investors realized that "Build it and they will come" was not going to happen. Disruption became the flavor of the day, but most investors and operators didn't really grasp or even care what the term meant. The overriding concern was "getting traffic to the site," and, while digital marketing strategies were developed and bandied about, the fallback position quickly became traditional media. In one case, the dominant online insurance broker in Brazil was told by its investors that it would not receive the next tranche of capital unless it dramatically increased spending on TV, print and radio advertising. Yes, the media of the past had become today's agent for disruption. While spending millions of dollars on traditional media for insurance is still a fact of life in many mature markets, it can hardly be called disruptive or for that matter even efficient. The next phase of evolution came in the form of "digital marketing" and mobile apps. As smart phones typically outnumber the average population in most emerging market countries (in Brazil, there are an estimated 280 million smartphones for a population of 200 million people), the logic stands that this is the best way to reach the consumer. But dig a little deeper and ask yourself a very simple question: How important is insurance in your day-to-day life? For all of us who are selling, packaging or creating insurance products, insurance is the center of the universe, but for the average consumer insurance rates a two or a three on a scale of one to 10, if that. See also: Pokémon Go Highlights Disruptive Technology  While the "next wave" was unfolding, other issues became noticeable. Many of the "disrupters" were country-centric, with no real plan or strategy for regional or global expansion, which seemed odd. After all, if you are planning to disrupt insurance in Chile, wouldn't you want to consider disrupting insurance globally, or at least in somewhat similar countries in Latin America? Some products, such as auto insurance, were seen as commodities that were as sexy to the consumer as a trip to the dentist, so the market screamed like banshees for new products; pet insurance, travel insurance, smartphone insurance, hotel insurance, sport insurance, bike insurance....the list goes on. We are increasingly living in an age of data overload, and we need to be very discerning as to the relationship we develop with the customer. We also need to be discerning about local markets. In China, online insurance companies popped up overnight, and many of them reached wild valuations by just selling a single product, like travel insurance. But, in Brazil, the market is much more mature, and travel insurance is about as new as samba. With a robust online presence, massive investments in traditional media, digital marketing, mobile apps and new products, things were sure to get disruptive, right? Wrong, as consumers were still using traditional brokers, and insurance was still not on their top 10 list. So what next? Could it be the vaunted but yet indefinable artificial intelligence? Within the span of two short years, we have moved from science fiction to science fact. What if, through AI, we could predict when our customer would have their next child, next house, car, divorce, marriage and even death? This would be real disruption, as we would be able to predict consumer behavior and in doing so create a "cradle to grave" lifecycle of products, sales, conversion and retention. The problem, of course, is that AI is still in its infancy, as there are very few 2001 Space Odyssey HAL computers in the world today. Even if we had mastered this technology, there is still a larger question of how to use it and deploy it. This question will inevitably be answered, but for now we still face the fundamental challenge of taking a very boring product and transforming it into something consumers actually get excited about. We also need to ask ourselves how we would scale across multiple countries in a relatively short time. That brings us to the end of our story, or, rather, the beginning. Disruption is coming to the insurance industry, and it will find fertile ground in the fast-growing emerging markets and the new consumer. The savvy insurance disrupter will gain massive amounts of data that will have value for a wide spectrum of partners.