Hyper-relevance in insurance

Thriving in the face of mounting disruption

What are the keys to sustainable growth in a world where market turbulence and disruption are becoming the norm? This is a question on the minds of many insurance leaders who are spending more money than ever before in pursuit of the next big idea, yet are finding it difficult to achieve the momentum they seek.

To identify a clear path forward for today’s large organizations, Accenture recently undertook a major research initiative. We wanted to determine how leaders in sustainable growth are different from their peers. We found that these companies:

• Have a better understanding of the changing digital needs of customers
• Pivot growth strategies to profitable areas beyond their core business
• Fund new growth by optimizing costs elsewhere

Additionally, our findings indicate that the path to continuous growth depends on developing the capabilities that characterize organizations that can consistently deliver hyper-relevant services. Such capabilities transform static companies into Living Businesses.

Transformation pathways to becoming a Living Business

Transforming to a Living Business means prioritizing relevance. We define relevance as a commitment to provide products, services and experiences that "wrap around" individual customers, constantly learning more about their needs, intents and preferences. This allows the insurer to flex and adapt to make itself and its offerings more engaging and useful.

Achieving relevance requires more than just a new product portfolio and a multichannel distribution capability. To become truly relevant insurers need to become truly customer-centric. They need the ability to listen and collect data continuously, beyond the scope of their core service proposition, and to use this information to respond in ways that create value to customers at a particular point in time, at a specific location, or in the context in which a need or desire arises.

Our findings indicate that the path to continuous growth and hyper-relevance depends on developing five interdependent sets of capabilities:

• Target new opportunities: Launch core and disruptive growth initiatives to fuel responsive innovation.
• Design for customers: Create products and services as hyper-relevant platforms.
• Build engagement: Develop intelligent marketing and sales experiences.
• Scale with partners: Expand operations with a broad and new set of ecosystem alliances.
• Rewire culture: Renovate their workforce with a customer-first mindset.

A track record of sustained success and longstanding customer relationships is no longer a reliable predictor of future growth, or even survival. That’s why insurance companies that aspire to become Living Businesses are focused on creating new advantages before their current strengths fade.

The contrast between their continuously highly relevant offerings, and those of carriers that cling to outdated “best practices,” will be stark. And we are seeing that today’s consumers choose relevance every time.

How do you achieve sustained growth at a time of unprecedented disruption? Read the report to find out how Living Businesses can keep pace with a fast-changing market.