The Future of Insurance in Switzerland in 2030

By Simon Walpole, Insurance Industry Leader Switzerland

Change is currently at an early stage, but the momentum is building. The most successful insurers in 2030 will be those that have responded best. Overall, we see the future in 2030 for insurers in Switzerland as bright. They will still be risk experts, bringing prevention and solutions in a continuingly uncertain world – but in a different way.

The Forces For Change

Several factors are driving change in the market. Digitalization is changing the expectations of customers about the products and services they buy. They expect the basics of insurance – buying cover, making claims and requesting advice – to be delivered with the same ease as other services they buy.

In 2030, successful insurance companies will rely heavily on big data and advanced analytics. This will be used to price their risks, pay claims reliably and quickly, and react fast to customer sales opportunities across complex ecosystems. Big Tech will be significant partners to the industry but not, we suspect, direct competitors.

Solutions And Strategies For Success

So what should insurers do now to be successful in 2030? We have identified three main strategies for success.

Identify Services And Ecosystems

We don’t know exactly how insurance will change, but we may have a better idea of who will be involved. Insurance providers need first to identify the main ecosystems in which they can play a commercially attractive role and who else is likely to be involved in them.

In some ecosystems, insurers will control other service companies (such as senior citizen care providers and inheritance planners). They will also act as strong partners within the ecosystems of others (such as mobility, home and health) shaping and influencing them to their advantage: insurers will be embedded firmly inside them as service providers but with less direct contact with underlying consumers.

Embracing Big Tech

As customer behaviors and insured risks change, understanding the new profiles and risks, and pricing them, will be critical to staying competitive. Customers will demand that their claims are submitted, analyzed, approved, paid and supported quickly and conveniently. Gathering information reliably and accurately will drive not only customer satisfaction – and trust – but also avert the risk of fraud if done well.

All of these requirements need data. Advanced analytics skills will leverage growing volumes of Big Data, whether in-house or external, to develop a deeper understanding of customer needs – Amazon-style, but insurance-specific.

Developing all these technologies in-house will not be possible or desirable. Insurers will need to apply a strategic perspective to collaboration with tech partners.

Digitized Insurance – With a Human Touch

Thirdly, insurance providers must meet customer demand for digitized insurance – but without removing the human touch. Customers, shaped by the digital age, will demand online insurance that makes it easy for them to compare offers, seek advice, buy and modify insurance, and make claims. In many situations, however, insurance will remain a question of trust at ‘life moments’ of genuine emotion and sensitivity – and customers will want and need trusting human advice, understanding and support.

Agents and brokers will not have been replaced by algorithms or robots by 2030. They will, however, be transformed themselves, to operate using advanced digital capabilities, providing more tailored and more deeply informed advice, and with undeniable practical convenience.