APACs Digital Insurance

Transformers: Illuminating
the Way Forward
While heterogeneity in geographies, demographics and
organizational maturity across the Asia Pacific region
causes divergence in investment and digital strategies,
all carriers share one thing: they see digital as vital to
improving revenues and upgrading operations, our latest
research reveals.

Executive Summary
Applying Simon Sineks Golden Circle1 framework, when it comes to
digitally transforming their organizations, insurers in the Asia Pacific
(APAC) region have moved to the how and what from the why. In
our quest to discover what digital means to the insurance industry, we
spoke to C-suite executives representing a variety of insurers across
the APAC region (from the Middle East (ME) and India to ASEAN,
Greater China, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and Japan). Our goal
was to discover the convergence as well as divergence inherent in the
definition as well as interpretation of digital transformation.
What we found in our conversations is that insurers understand the
growing importance of these phrases in their daily business, but
at the same time translate them to suit their immediate business
needs. We also sought to assess how insurers see their industry
evolving via digital product and process innovation and their plans for
implementing digital initiatives by making the necessary adjustments
in their product engineering playbooks, marketing and distribution
efforts, and also throughout their back-office processes.
We conducted in-person and telephonic interviews of C-suite
executives from select insurers across the aforementioned regions

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August 2016

between January and July 2016. In the interviews we posed the

same questions to various senior executives some within the same
organization to test our hypothesis that executives who oversee
various functional areas interpret digital differently. Some of the
findings are in line with how global businesses are approaching the
digital puzzle awareness of digital transformation being a businessfirst, technology-enabled challenge, with emphasis on enhancing
customer experience and operational efficiency. But we also sought
to identify the organizational challenges that hinder digital success,
and the uniqueness of APACs business ecosystem revealed some
interesting insights. And thus we heard firsthand about outcome-based
pricing for digital programs, train-the-customers initiatives to drive
digital adoption, reliance on analog smarts to complement the digital
experience and other epiphanies.
As a result, this research paper not only examines the digital landscape
as a collection of numbers, but also digs deeper to create a veritable
compass a collection of market-proven best practices that could
help insurers worldwide with a range of business challenges and
models that can be applied in a structured manner to make digital
transformation a more rewarding and successful undertaking.

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

But First, an APAC Digital Roundup

We are investing big time in Asia. Thats one of the focus areas for us.
APAC is looked at as a growth engine. COO of a multi-LOB insurer in
Hong Kong
Several converging factors led to the rising digital maturity of the Asia Pacific
insurance industry compared with carriers in Europe and North America: A socially
and culturally cosmopolitan population that drives innovation, the existence of
operational and strategic problems that challenge insurers aiming to claim the vast,
untapped market and the relative novelty of insurance technology which means the
absence of monolithic legacy systems. APAC insurers have always been ready to
experiment more, spend more and learn/fail quicker compared to the more mature
environments.
However, even though all of our respondents replied in the affirmative when asked
about whether they are planning on or presently undertaking digital programs, the
digital behavior of insurers is very strongly tied to the regions business culture as
well as the maturity of carriers across individual countries.
Thus, insurers in China embrace inventive technologies to address the operational
and product efficiency needed to win over a mammoth, heterogeneous, addressable market. Horizons are opening there via business approaches covering new
peer-to-peer (P2P) models, use of the social media to sell and serve insurance,
crowdfunding insurance and diverse partnerships. A case in point is participating
WeChat policyholders with Taikang Life2 who have 1,000 Yuan coverage against
future cancer diagnoses. Crucially, users could also donate to their friends circle,
which can increase their friends coverage caps.
Hong Kong and Singapore, with their affluent, cosmopolitan population and
prolonged exposure to the Western insurance multinational corporations (MNCs),
have embraced and adopted the digital disruptions flowing from the U.S. and continental Europe (CE). Successful implementation of the AIAs Vitality program3 in both
the geographies is a prime example of this. AIA Hong Kong partnered with Nest,4
an early-stage venture capital firm, in setting up a start-up accelerator to grow
their health tech and/or wearable businesses. Apart from their goals of improving
customer experience (CX) and reducing operating costs, ASEAN insurers see value
in experimenting with new products and services.
Interestingly, even though India has similar demographics as China and a
comparable business environment, most digital initiatives in this country are
focused on improving front-end operations, enabling IT to create a digital future
and rolling out digital assets to improve sales and servicing. And this behavior
generally mirrors the larger industry trend of consolidation in a fragmented market
and also addressing the needs of the countrys huge underinsured by differentiating in sales and servicing. While true-blue digital disruptions remain over the
horizon, improved digital infrastructure for many Indian insurers have helped them
to achieve early returns on their digital portals and apps. Celents 6th Model Insurer
Asia awards5 reflected this, as Indian entities swept the awards in such categories
as IT management best practices, legacy and ecosystem transformation, and digital
and omnichannel.
The Gulf Cooperation Council countries in the Middle East, with their heavy
dependence on non-life insurance due to different social conventions, have been
late to the digital party. However, of late, digital activities have emerged around the
health, auto, fleet and Takaful6 insurance areas with the objective of improving CX

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across different customer journeys, faster customer enrollments and acquisition,

and data-enabled claims transformation to reduce fraud and turnaround time.
In the Australian insurance industry, Trov7 has led the way with its novel episodic
line of products that is sure to be copied. Furthermore, along with the regular portals
and apps, this region is also set to see a rise in usage-based insurance fueled by the
Internet of Things (IoT).
These occurrences are not only in tune with the hypotheses we started with, but
they also reinforce the view that digital innovations and interventions will be the
primary business determinants of market leadership.

Digital Focal Areas by Region

Current Focus
Digital Streams

Southeast
Asia

East Asia

South
Asia

Middle
East

ANZ

New business models (P2P insurance, crowd

funding, episodic)
New product models (auto-telematics, connected
home, wearables)
Innovation (labs, accelerators, co-innovation funds)
New partnerships (with lnsurTechs, VCs, device
manufacturers)
Bringing digital to the workplace (BYOD,
communication tools, KM tools)
Leveraging big data to improve top and bottom line
Leveraging social media and embedding the data in
products and services
Digital sales enablement and energizing the
sales force
Transforming CX (customer 360, revamping existing
customer-facing digital assets, omnichannel
implementations)
Platforms to sell OTC products and STP enablement
Improving efficiency through digitizing operations
(IT modernization, moving operations to cloud)
Indicates Digital Focus

Figure 1

Key Findings
Lots of untapped markets and segments are still left to explore, and
digital will help us to penetrate and reach out to the prospects. Sooner
or later, models are going to evolve. We have to adopt it right now.
CIO, leading ASEAN life insurer
Insurers are upbeat about the opportunities in APAC and are moving forward with
their digital transformation initiatives. Our research reveals where insurers are

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

investing, the challenges that they face in their digital journeys and how they are
tackling these challenges. Our findings include:

Digital transformation is both a technology and a business-first problem.

Roughly 71% of the insurers we interviewed have a clear digital roadmap and
have identified a digital task force that is leading the charge. These companies
see digital transformation as both a customer-centric and a business-first
initiative; only 20% see it as a technology challenge that can be solved by incorporating technology enablers.

Digital

transformation is part of insurers overall corporate strategy.

Approximately 64% of the insurers we spoke with are undergoing or planning
to undergo, within the next calendar year, a formal digital transformation
comprising a top-down approach for defining and planning an organization-wide
digital strategy. About 33% of respondents, however, are undergoing piecemeal
approaches to digital by adding technology components (apps, portals, platforms,
etc.) to the business wherever necessary.

Digital is as much of a threat as an opportunity. About 93% of the insurers

we contacted said that digital will fundamentally change their existing business
model and that they have to move quickly. Approximately 64% foresee competition coming from outside the insurance industry. While 57% mentioned that there
may be increased competition from new disruptive start-ups capturing customer
attention, most respondents feel the disruption will be restricted to specific
points in the value chain such as distribution and claims/risk management rather
than the entire value chain.

Insurers are willing to place their bets on digital. Insurers know where they

stand on the digital curve and are willing to bet more money to close the gap
with competitors within and outside the industry. They told us that they allocate
6-10% of their IT budget on digital; 60% of the insurers we spoke with plan to
raise their spend to 15% of their IT budget over the next two to three years.

Customer experience dominates the digital priority list. But future steps

involve transforming and innovating digital products/business models.

Roughly 79% of insurers responded that redefining CX is their topmost priority,
followed by digitizing operations. While only 43% are currently focusing on
experimenting and rolling out new products, in the next 12-24 months this
number will jump to 79%. This finding is intuitive, as it is typical of the business
psyche of the APAC for a large number of insurers to prefer to wait and see how
the early movers fare.

Creating P&L impact is a key digital driver today; insurers are also aware of

the strategic equity of digital in the near future. Nearly 87% of respondents
said that improving revenue by acquiring and retaining customers and reducing
operating costs are key digital influencers today. Taking a more strategic view,
80% responded that digital will help them to create differentiated market
positions in the future.

The digital journey is a long haul. Customer behavior volatility, poor digital

asset adoption, lack of internal structures/skills and the dreaded agency

problem impede digital success. Roughly 85% of respondents said that they
lack key organizational structures, internal skills and partnerships. Keeping track
of the ever-changing behavior of connected customers and constant updating
to keep products and services in synch are cited as another challenge by 83%
of the insurers with whom we spoke. About 85% cited conflicting business
priorities and lack of collaboration between departments, which makes working
together difficult; 74% cited poor digital adoption and user experience that

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makes it difficult to form a business case. The problem of plenty (i.e., choosing
the right set of opportunities from the wide range of disruptions in technology
and business) was also cited by 54% as a hurdle for implementing digital.

Leaders understand digital success requires a shake-up in existing organi-

zation structures, processes and culture. Insurers are changing partnerships

(e.g., coinvesting with insur-techs, collaborating with venture capitalists, etc.),
changing culture (e.g., embracing innovation management, collaborating across
units) and changing process (e.g., introducing design thinking, Agile development methodologies and customer journey mapping techniques) to tackle digital
challenges. About 74% responded that they want to partner with product, data,
analytics, open source communities and regulators to develop and try innovative
solutions. About 64% of insurers are realigning employees incentive, reward
and growth plans to sustain transformation. Roughly 54% mentioned recruiting
digital skills within and outside industry as a topmost initiative to overcome the
digital challenge. Approximately 76% said they have moved away from traditional methods of program management and have introduced innovations across
design, build and delivery of digital projects, and 83% asserted that design
thinking is one of the starting blocks of digital transformation.

Theres

a split mandate on having a dedicated digital unit. Approximately

47% of insurers told us they have established digital groups that cut across all
business units in the organization. Others feel that a loosely coupled group led by
an existing senior leader (in most cases, the CIO) satisfies current organizational
needs. Also, only 40% agreed that a formal digital governance committee is in
place, and the majority of those said there are formal working committees to
drive the transformation efforts. The fact that 85% of insurers mentioned conflicting business priorities in implementing digital as a major challenge in digital
transformation shows that insurers should have a formal structure in place to
drive digital, with relevant program identification, prioritization and implementation structures in place.

Sustained excellence will be brought about by insurers digital leadership.

About 74% of the interviewed organizations have already appointed a senior

executive to lead the digital transformation strategy. While in some cases it is
an internal rebadging or the CIO leads digital programs, many insurers have
opened up the role of a chief digital officer. Approximately 67% of insurers
want their CDO to lead digital transformation strategy-setting (what to do) and
management (how to get there), while digital championing (i.e., strengthening
CX and measuring it against business goals) is the next sought-after role for
CDOs (58% of respondents noted this). Apart from the CDO, in 85% of cases the
CEO is actively involved in digital transformation efforts, which reinforces the
conventional wisdom that digital transformation is indeed a top-driven, acrossthe-board program.

Digital Transformation Is a Must-Win Game

Going forward, we expect 50% of IT spend to be on digital.
CIO of leading Indian life insurer
This quote above is no exaggeration, based on our research and reading of the
market. The phrases digital innovation and digital transformation are often used
by our respondents. Moreover, APAC insurers are ready to bet a lot of money, effort
and optimism on the potential Midas Touch that a well-executed digital program can
provide within their important organizational vectors.

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

Insurers Are Bullish About Formal Digital Transformation Initiatives

Undergoing a formal digital
transformation effort

53%

Not undergoing formal digital transformation but

adding digital components

33%

Plan to take formal digital transformation

initiative sometime in 2016

7%

Plan to take formal digital transformation

initiative over the next 2-3 years

7%

Don't see a need of digital

transformation in the organization

0%

Response base: 16
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 2

Further, over 50% of respondents are undergoing a formal digital transformation effort that involves a top-down approach of defining an organizationwide strategy to incorporate digital value adds across their back-end systems (see
Figure 2).
The number of respondents undergoing formal digital transformations might
actually be higher than the 53% that replied thusly. During our conversations, it
was evident that one-third of respondents who claimed that their companies were
not already undergoing formal digital transformation programs are indeed
undergoing piecemeal projects of considerable magnitude and impact. However,
many of them declined to group those under the digital bucket because of the
following reasons:

The ambiguous nature of the term digital transformation some respondents

claimed their high-end data transformation project is an IT-only, non-digital

project.

Even though their digital transformation program is planned in the next two to

three years, theyve already, as part of their planning and preparation, drawn the
plan and started executing it through small technology initiatives and focused
hiring and operations investment on the future state.

There is no formal declaration of such a program in their organizations because

of other priority items that need to be sorted out first. Some also said their
organization does not see the need for any formal digital program because their
business is already digital-proof or they are too small or niche-based to care.

Hence, as we expected and sensed, APAC insurers have indeed jumped onto the
bandwagon. And this interest can be attributed to three factors:

The digital maturity of the insurers we covered, and how they are trying to stay
on and ahead of the digital S-curve.

The tangible as well as intangible costs of the initiatives.

The mixed nature of the cost in itself and the accounting
challenges it brings.

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and budgeting

Todays Stance Influences Tomorrows Direction

When asked about how they gauge their digital maturity against peers and other
industries in the geography, 60% of respondents believed that their companies
are in a transformative state relative to the competition when it comes to digital;
73% said that compared with other industries (especially digitally enriched ones
like retail, travel and hospitality, and consumer transportation), they are still foundational (see Figure 3).8,9,10

Digital Maturity: A Self-Assessment

27.0%
Transformative
41.0%

73.0%

Foundational
53.0%

Disruptive

0%
6.0%

Releative to Other Industries

Relative to Competition

Response base: 16
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 3

The digital maturity of an organization is determined not only by the organizations

digital assets deployed daily to perform its internal and external functions, but also
by the following factors:

If the business model has changed due to digital innovation.

The current technology stack driving the digital products and processes.
If digital innovation completes a particular business process or creates an online/
offline handshake.

These parameters are especially important because they also reflect how organizations define digital and their degrees of readiness.

Digital Transformations Are Expensive

Digital transformation initiatives, regardless of their size and nature, are relatively
more expensive than traditional IT transformation projects. This is especially true
if the applications to be created are customer-facing to a large market, are meant
to pass the Toothbrush Test11 and are built with a focus on agility, usability and
transaction accuracy. The major costs can be attributed to:

The use of newer, more expensive technologies to build agile, scalable systems
of engagement.

The cost of design-based execution, which includes specialized human resources

as well as relevant software licenses.

The cost of maintaining regulatory compliance, as well as the upkeep of systems

of records to maintain data flexibility, integrity and security.

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

 User-centric development principles that dictate the need of spends in extensive

primary research, focus group and A/B testing, and creating multiple minimum
viable products to observe different control-group behavior.

Costs

attributed to organizational change management; training provided to

internal and external customers, partners and employees to facilitate adoption;
and running business process reengineering programs to support the new digital
assets and also to perform operational reorganization, wherever needed.

The deluge of money required for digital and traditional marketing campaigns
to highlight the new products and processes that generally go with new assets.

To execute transformations that are more internal-facing, the cost of maintaining

systems of records constitutes most of the expense; but the burden of organizational change management (OCM) cannot be discounted. The mounting costs, however,
have not deterred insurers from betting on internal digital projects. This has been
evident with the market trends we have observed, such as an Indian insurers
investment in a smart workflow system for agency management. Not only did the
insurer choose the best-in-class technology stack, but it also spared no expenses
in setting up supporting cells to make sure that marketing, distribution and contact
centers shorten the horizon for ROI.
Faced with the steep costs of digitization, insurers are getting into innovative pricing
arrangements with their partners to ensure more skin in the game for the partners.
To cope with the steep, high-risk investments associated with implementing digital
programs, many insurers we spoke to showed interest in the following ways:

Take advantage of the innovation labs that various technology companies are

setting up to share the costs of reimagining, designing, building and implementing

their digital assets. True to the start-up approach, insurers participate in workshops
and hackathons with their technology vendors to find scalable solutions for their
business problems. A testament to this is our customers keen interest in the Collaboratories we have built across the globe to pilot test and bring new ideas to
market at scale. (View this video to learn more about our Collaboratories.)

With the lines between digital consulting and digital implementation blurring

rapidly, technology providers are expected to have more skin in the game.
Outcome-based pricing is the answer to that
insurers expect their technology partners to
deliver on the promises they make, and price
programs accordingly. By this innovative arrangement, technology partners agree on getting a
certain proportion of the total contract value
(TCV) only when the expected after-program
vectors are attained. This not only creates better
trust, but also loosely conforms to Eric Ries12
ideas of value accounting.

Faced with the steep costs of

digitization, insurers are getting into
innovative pricing arrangements with
their partners to ensure more skin in
the game for the partners.

Customer-Centric Business Drives

Digital Transformation
We made [digital experience and engagement] one of the strategic
pillars in our corporate strategy. We are going with much more alignment
of digital transformation from business strategy. Digital transformation
cannot be a separate initiative. This is a new way of operating.
CIO, ASEAN life insurer

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A Technology-First or Business-First Challenge?

Even though individual insurers definitions of digital transformation mirrored their
organizations priorities and digital maturity levels, identification of digital transformation as a business-first, humanenabling endeavor has only recently
gained momentum. More than 70%
of survey respondents mentioned
that there is consensus across their
organizations regarding what digital
means to them: the strategic means
to envision, design and devise tactical
enablers to ease the operational
hassles of their customers, employees
and partners alike. However, insurers
without an elementary digital team
and roadmap tend to still look at
digital transformation as a tech-only
initiative to paper over their organizational cracks (see Figure 4).

With the lines between digital consulting

and digital implementation blurring rapidly,
technology providers are expected to have
more skin in the game. Outcome-based
pricing is the answer to that insurers
expect their technology partners to deliver
on the promises they make, and price
programs accordingly.

This is evident from the mix of answers we received from insurers across geographies. An Indian insurance executive who spent the last three to four years getting
the base for digital in place (such as upgrading hardware and software, legacy
modernization, etc.) mentioned that the paperless office and integrated systems
delivering seamless experience are his companys digital priorities. Whereas another
Indian insurer took a slightly broader view of digital as tapping into technology
to achieve top- and bottom-line impact while delivering superior experience. Even
more interesting is the transformative view of digital by another insurance industry
executive who mentioned that his company is trying to rethink its business (i.e.,
people, process, technology and design) and organize the components in a way that
will fit the DNA of the digitally-driven organization that he envisions. These views
converge when insurers, irrespective of what they are doing in digital, embrace
business-centric problem solving by questioning how business models will change

The Many Faces of Digital Transformation

Secondary
Driver

Digitally
Modified
Products (2)

Data Mastery (4)

Process Integration (3)

Business
Transformation

Primary
Driver

What are the top three to five things that come to mind when you hear the term digital transformation?

Channel Expansion (5)

Digitize
Operation (4)

Mobility
Implementation (3)

Only

Paperless
Branch (3)

New
Business
Models (2)

New
Revenue
Streams (1)

Transform
Customer
Experience (10)

Portals, Apps,
Social Media (3)
Technology Transformation

Also

Response base: 16
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 4

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

11

in the future and where new revenue streams will come from, and debate whether
the business will be sustainable.

Digitizations Three-Dimensional Nature

Alternative views of what digital means to insurers come when linking their
ongoing initiatives to digitals 3-D impact (i.e., CX, operations and partners), with
an eye on business model transformation. It is interesting to note that irrespective
of their digital maturity, 73% of the executives mentioned improving or transforming customer experience as one of their organizations top priorities. Two-thirds
of the insurers responded saying that they are redefining CX by either creating
or revamping customer-facing applications, and more than 50% are modernizing
their contact centers.
The fact that more than 76% of CMOs in our study are actively involved in digital
transformation shows the importance of using digital as a customer-centric, problem-solving mechanism. The degree of confidence placed in transforming CX can
be seen in that 80% of the insurers we polled agree that revenue can be increased
by acquiring and retaining customers by addressing their changing behavioral
and purchase patterns (see Figure 5, next page). Empowering the sales force with
digital enablers has been applied by many insurers. For example, Max Life13 provides
its agents with tablets for selling and servicing customers.
Insurers journeys so far with CX are riddled with roadblocks related to adoption,
and very few have taken the right steps in delivering total CX.
Insurers have taken active measures in the past two to three years to strengthen
existing direct-to-customer assets such as sales and service portals and apps
for customers as well as sales enablers for their partners. Approximately 50% of
our respondents said they have completed their first generation of Web portals and
apps; and, another 30-35% are planning to roll out extended self-service capabilities. It is not surprising to find that 57% of the polled insurers are finding that these

Quick Take
Top Indian Insurers Foray into Paperless Insurance Branches
Inspired by the vision of selling insurance through digital kiosks, one of Indias top-three private life insurers
invited us to help them create digital experience centers to prospect, assess and sell insurance policies within
20 minutes all without any kind of human intervention.
As the name suggests, the main drivers were technology-led modules that would identify,
greet, assist and sell personalized and relevant products to customers visiting the kiosks. This is
accomplished while taking in minimal input and allowing the shopper to revel and relax in an
environment reminiscent of a Zara or an H&M fashion store. We even helped design a zone in the
kiosk where customers can let their children enjoy themselves.
Even though the costs were prohibitive, which had a huge operational impact, and the project needed to meet stringent regulations, the overall idea received due diligence, which revealed deep insights into what industry leaders consider when planning
to be digitally disruptive. With our help, the customer conducted a detailed cost/benefit analysis with special focus on unit
economics, average monthly users, adoption funnels and the like terms that you wouldnt generally associate with trying
to scope a technology project. Unfortunately, the project was panned due to budgetary constraints. However, this concept
of putting customers first by designing every possible component of the organization according to their views of insurance,
protection and investment has since become stronger.

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initiatives are not being warmly embraced by customers. As Figure 6 shows, there
can be a multitude of reasons for poor digital adoption (e.g., integration issues, not
having the right data to understand customers, etc.).

Where Digital Rubber Meets the Road

Much business value (i.e., greater revenue) can be gained by addressing customers and prospects changing
behavioral and purchase patterns through digital transformation today and over the next 12-24 months.

Today

80%

12-24 months

7%

93%

Agree

Neutral

13%

7%

Disagree

Response base: 16
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 5

When asked the approach their organizations have taken to enhance customer
experience, more than 35% of respondents said enhancing portals, improving selfservice capabilities and rolling out mobile apps. The efficacy of these approaches
to solve the CX problem depends on the type of questions insurers are asking
themselves before committing to a particular set of initiatives or investments (see
Figure 7, next page).

Just Building It Doesnt Mean They Will Come

Percentages of respondents who agree with the following customer-experience related statements.
We face difficulty in implementing consistent
customer experiences across different
channels because of the integration issue
between different technologies/platforms.

73%

While planning the CX program,

we consider the time, cost and
capabilities that will be needed for
educating and training the prospects and
customers after the program is implemented.

We have a complete understanding and

knowledge of our customers (what they like,
how they behave, when they act,
why they do what they do).

40%

7%

Response base: 16
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 6

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

13

Technology-Business Lens for Approaching the CX Challenge

How do I enable
online sales and
servicing?

Accessibility of
application from
multiple devices
from consumer

Provide flexibility
across device
(online & offline)
device-/platformagnostic experience
How well is
business equipped
to deal with
customer
expectation?

Technology Lens

Influencing the online behavior of

offline customers through
engagement

How can I exploit

technology to get
closer to the
consumer?
How to make the
interactions with me
easy for the
customer strategy
through technology
& design lenses?
Business Lens

Figure 7

However, certain insurers have achieved significant results by enhancing their CX,
which they attribute to taking a broader human-centric view to solving the CX
problem. One respondent from a Greater China (GCN) region life insurer approached
the CX transformation by asking, How do we increase the frequency of our interaction with the customer?
To better understand the customer psyche, the insurer partnered with external
design-thinking experts and conducted detailed ethnographic research. Based on
hours of videos and recorded conversations, this insurer converted its CX goal of
delivering superior customer experiences into a design phenomenon by starting
with an important but often overlooked question: Why do customers want to talk
to me? By answering this question, the insurer went ahead and created an advicecentric portal. (For more on this topic, please read Being Digital Means Being More
Human.)

Shifting Business Imperatives for Doing Digital

We have lot of digital solutions to choose from. Criteria to choose: We
see whether it will make the customers life easy. If so, and if there is
a differentiation that will help our business model, we will go ahead in
implementing it. COO of a large GCN P&C Insurer
Doing digital is different from being digital. While going digital began as a way to
solve customer-centric challenges coupled with business-first problems, when it
comes to actual implementation of digital most of the insurers are placing their
bets on cost optimization to free up funds for investing in next-generation digital
initiatives. Though cost optimization (79%) is the primary driver for insurers going
digital, other imperatives focus on CX improvement, data-driven decision-making,
etc. (see Figure 8, next page).
Setting the house in order is the current focus for all insurers. Digitizing operations,
CX and technology upgrades dominate the digital investments of those we polled.
However, in the next 12 to 24 months, as insurers achieve a fair amount of success
in their ongoing initiatives, the focus will shift. The next set of initiatives range from
new product introductions, powerful data-driven solutions, hiring digital experts
and rolling out digital solutions for internal stakeholders.

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Digitals Transformation Over Time

What are the top five things that your firm is doing today to digitally transform? What are your plans
for the next 24 months?

TODAY
50%

TOMORROW
Digitizing workforce Digitizing internal processes and operations to enable Future of
Work, where interactions and transactions happen remotely and/or digitally

70%

Lot of experiments and planning currently

Digitizing operations Streamlining core
insurance operations through IT

79%

79%

Continuous focus. Certain level of success achieved

51%

Data Mastery Collecting data via social networks, mobile devices, and/or additional
sensors and devices, and embedding the data into our products and services

67%

Breaking the data puzzle will continue to be a focus area

64%

Digitizing partners Building new digital enablers for sales force to sell, service and
communicate better including but not limited to new apps and portals

79%

Goes hand-in-hand with CX

79%

Redefining customer experience Create and/or revamp the existing

customer-facing applications/platforms

93%

Continue to invest and try to achieve highest order of maturity in CX

43%

New product models Disruption in the business model as well the products
sold e.g., creating a sharing economy-based model for retirement savings,
a suite of personal products that can be sold through social media only, etc.

79%

Delta of 33% - Significant investments to go here

Response base: 16
Multiple responses allowed.
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 8

The Changing Digital Wish List

Digital products/business models: We are not there yet was a familiar refrain

that we heard when talking to executives. Although 43% said that they are
focused on new products/product models, most of the insurers we interviewed
are in the planning or experimenting phase. A handful of insurers, such as an
insurer in GCN that has rolled out a wearables-enabled life insurance policy, have
gone ahead with MVP and gathering initial market responses. Some P&C insurers,
in their experimentations with telematics for more than a year, have struggled
with partner evaluation in ways that apply the right financials, handle regulatory
hurdles and also tackle back-end integration problems in order to create a sustainable business model. These long cycles of creating proofs of concepts have
proven that introducing a new business model requires much more than merely
installing the latest technology.

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

15

As the ecosystem matures and regulators set clear directions, focus in this area
is only going to increase. We expect to see additional investments directed to
generate new usage-based insurance revenue streams (see Figure 9).

Digital Technology Directions

Which areas of technology are your digital transformation initiatives focusing on today and
in the next 12-24 months?

7%

Internet of
Things

36%

14%

Wearables

50%
36%

Telematics

43%
0%

10%

20%
Today

30%

40%

50%

60%

Tomorrow

Response base: 16
Multiple responses allowed.
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 9

Digital

customer experience and operations: Well continue to learn from

our customers and keep fine-tuning our core operations in line with it. Insurers
will deploy design thinking and other human-centric approaches to get closer
to the customer. In that process, insurers are willing to take a holistic customer
journey view towards understanding how to transform the front office and keep
the back office in sync. This is evident from the fact that 83% of respondents
said design thinking (i.e., customer journey mapping, ethnographic research) is
one of the starting blocks of digital transformation; 73% agreed that formal user
experience elucidation must be conducted for applications exposed to end users.
(For more on this topic, read Human-Centric Design: How Design Thinking Can
Drive Change and Deliver Value.)

Digitize partners: Next to customer experiences, all of the insurers we spoke

with are trying to digitally enable their partners. Key initiatives cited include
rolling out partner-specific portals, co-branding exercises and mobile-enabling
sales agents. Similar to the roadblocks met by insurers in customer-focused
solutions, partner-specific digital solutions also suffer from adoption issues.
From multiple partnerships with insurers that are digitally enabling their sales
forces, we have observed insurers deploying the following solutions to tackle
adoption challenges:

>> Replicating off-line interactions and sales flow to avoid agents feeling that
they are losing eye contact with customers during the sales process.

>> Setting

up dedicated help desks and leveraging modern communication

channels such as WhatsApp to respond to real-time queries from agents. (For
more on this, please read Whats App Insurance? Shouldnt We Chat?)

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>> Continuous training and realigning incentives for those who adopt digital
solutions.

>> An augment-rather-than-replace approach to make agents feels that their

knowledge is still valued within the sales process.

Irrespective of all these challenges, 82% of insurers told us they feel that they
can derive business value from improved conversions and personalized sales
processes by applying deep customer-data-backed illustrations and offerings.
This number rises to 94%, when our respondents were asked whether these
initiatives will help to reduce sales costs and improve conversions over the next
24 months.

Digitizing the workforce: Productivity improvement solutions such as BYOD and

revamping internal portals for better knowledge management are primary areas
of investment. Only 14% of respondents have implemented some form of collaboration tool during the past two years. Another 30% said that they are planning
to invest in some form of productivity improvement solution such as device/
app management and information management tools to exchange information.
Similar to any implementation, these initiatives must overcome multiple barriers:

>> Lack of business context: There is a disconnect from the company processes
and different project/business teams.

>> Lack of participation, and managed content: Content flows mostly one way,
is slow-paced and has a defined structure.

>> Lack of freedom: Strong existing organizational hierarchies impede intradepartmental collaboration to come up with the best solutions.

>> Lack of discoverability: Silos that restrict inter-departmental activities often

result in hard-to-discover and non-contextualized content.

None of our respondents mentioned customer impact tools (e.g., enterprise

feedback management to bring the voice of the customer to life), customer

In Pursuit of Data Excellence

Which of the following statements do you agree with, respective to the ongoing data initiatives
in your organization?

We have taken initiatives across

advanced analytics and data science.

33%

We are collecting data via social networks,

mobile devices, and/or additional sensors
and devices, and embedding the data into
our products and services.

We are able to monitor customers and our

own performance in a hybrid world,
in which online and offline experiences merge.

50%

33%

Response base: 16
Multiple responses allowed.
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 10

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

17

service/support tools and workplace transformation tools (work-sharing

facilities such as Regus and WeWork to enable the free flow of ideas and quick
idea-screening, virtualized solutions, shared work spaces, etc.). Workforce digitization has taken a back seat to customer and partner initiatives, although our
respondents believe there will be traction in this area in the coming months. To
corroborate, 57% of our respondents said they plan to invest in mobile apps
targeted at employees in the next 12 to 24 months.

Data mastery: Reams have been written about achieving data mastery. To start

with, only 35% of our respondents agreed that advanced analytics and datagathering techniques have been deployed to gather customer-, product- and
service-related data. When we mapped insurers responses to the typical data
mastery roadmap, we found that most insurers are unaware of the potential of
the vast amount of data in their hands. While some use the prescriptive nature of
data to fuel their decisions, the majority use the descriptive nature to drive their
management information systems reports. That said, all of the insurers with
whom we spoke agree on the treasure trove that predictive data models hold
and are striving to become more data-/knowledge-/innovation-led enterprises
(see Figure 10, previous page).

Insurers Ready for New Ways to Do Business,

or to Face Failure in Stride
When we asked digital leaders in the organization whether they agree that they
need to apply different thinking and partnerships, as well as adopting a managed
innovation philosophy, most responded in the affirmative. But further conversations revealed the realities of how these constructs are being applied to their digital
strategies.

Fostering new partnerships, and open to fail. An Indian life insurance major is

partnering with new e-commerce leader Flipkart and tech start-ups (e.g., Prato, a
medical service provider and aggregator) to discover new ways of reaching out to
customers. The insurer sees this as more of an experiment that a competitor will
undertake if it doesnt. An ASEAN insurer is partnering with VC firms and relies

Quick Take
Partnerships and Open Networks: The New Vista
Ping An Insurance Company of China has partnered with British financial tech start-up
Bought By Many14 to develop and market new travel policy offerings to address the
domestic needs of Chinese travelers. Based on the research insights from social
interactions and online, Bought By Many offers unique insurance packages for Ping
An that cover specific risks such as altitude sickness and food poisoning.
Meanwhile, Australian non-life insurer Youi markets its customer-centric strategy
under the slogan, We get you.15 Youi allows customers to post service feedback
directly on its wall. Youi displays all the comments posted by customers, unfiltered,
in real time. Comments range from positive (I only have great things to say about
Youi.) to negative (The call seemed cold and unhelpful.). It also posts real-time
customer satisfaction scores for all to see. Youis wall feature Discuss. Share. Tell.
resembles the popular customer/peer review feature of e-commerce sites such as
Amazon. By allowing current and prospective users to see real customer reviews,
Youi promotes an open, attentive and responsive brand image.

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August 2016

on their intelligence to identify the right innovations to invest in. This insurer
noted that it doesnt completely rely on internal intelligence and research, and a
sourcing innovation for VC firms helps remove organizational bureaucracy that
would stifle innovation.

Innovation

management: Still a paper boat, but some have set sail. All
respondents acknowledged the importance of managed innovation and investing
in initiatives to share knowledge across the organization to generate ideas. A
whopping 87% of respondents agreed that innovation management is a technobusiness process a successful digital transformation program needs innovations that pivot across its design, build, implementation and optimize phases. But
no single organization seems to have strong formal structures in place to master
innovation. Almost all initiatives are led by an individual/leader who heads the
digital effort, with occasional participation from technology groups that feed
the digital leader and his small team with possible technology innovations. A
few more mature insurers see managed innovation as a separate function of the
organization, and appoint a chief innovation officer. One large Indian insurer is
focused on transforming the bancassurance channel experience of its customers,
and has assigned this problem to the recently appointed chief innovation officer.
Another case in point is the launch of Asia Lab by Allianz,16 with support from the
Monetary Authority of Singapore. The Allianz Digital Accelerator lab17 will work
closely with Asian start-ups, enterprises and institutions to share insights and
expertise, as well as to incubate and develop globally scalable market concepts
and prototypes.

Insurance digital leaders can take a leaf or two from these insurers that have
focused on uncharted territories to make their digital wishes a reality.

If Digital Were a Simple Linear Equation,

All Answers Would Be Similar
Digital implementation has its own set of challenges. The challenges that insurers
face and anticipate are spread across organizational functions and require specialized solutions in people, process, product and technology pillars (see Figure 11, next
page). Among the key challenges that a majority of respondents agreed to include:

Customer volatility: Keeping track of the ever-changing behavior of connected

customers and syncing products/services to these changes, resulting in quick

transformation cycles.

Achieving

ROI: Poor digital adoption and user experience among end users
makes it difficult for insurers to create a business case and obtain appropriate
funding.

The unruly house: Suboptimal organizational structures, internal skills and partnerships often impede programs through schedule slippage and poor solutions.

Problem of plenty: Choosing the right set of opportunities from the wide range

of available business and technology options to solve the problems at hand is

often tricky.

Changing

regulations: This refers to risk management, compliance and/or

regulatory measures that want to safeguard consumers through capital adequacy,
data security and serving their best interest.

All Is Not Lost: Insurers Are Poised to Tackle the Challenges

Insurers are making dramatic changes across their design and build processes, as
well as their technology infrastructure and approach to partnerships to provide
quick, measurable and scalable success for their digital programs. There exists

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

19

Sizing Up Digitals Transformation Challenges

Name the significant challenges (current or future) that your organization faces/anticipates in its
digital transformation.
Keeping track of every changing behavior of
connected customers and constantly updating the
products/services in synch with the customer behavior.
Lack of organizational structures, internal skills
and partnerships needed.
Poor digital adoption and user experience
among end users.
Choosing the right set of opportunities from the wide
range of disruptions (technology and business).
Conflicting business priorities and lack of
collaboration between departments, which makes
working together difficult.
Top leadership are divided on their views on
digital and the divided opinion prevents proper
planning and budgeting.
Risk management, compliance, and/or
regulatory concerns.
Effective program management to run two-speed IT
(legacy transformation and digital transformation).
No efficient tracking of program benefits and
course correction, leading to insufficient
knowledge of potential ROI.
The value from digital transformation efforts is
too ambiguous.
High maintenance costs of legacy technology/
architecture making it difficult to free up funds for
digital transformation investment.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Response Base: 16
Multiple responses allowed.
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 11

High

Medium

Low

some level of clarity on which activities should be stopped to free up time,

budget, energy and resources for new initiatives. Changing process design, using
design thinking and employing Agile techniques are becoming mainstream among
insurers. However, when it comes to changes to core structure and skills, there
seems to be a bit of reluctance because of acknowledged OCM challenges and
overcoming conventional notions (see Figure 12, next page).
Key elements of what is changing across respondents organizations applied to
partnerships, processes and culture. Heres our take on what APAC insurers are
doing.

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Changing Partnerships
Partnering with IT service providers; product, data analytics organizations;
regulators; and communities in a collaborative manner to create a set of solutions
as well as roadmaps. This will bring in fresh perspectives and save on cost and
efforts.

Involving partners from the planning phase and taking their inputs to formulate
a digital strategy.

Entering into a coinvestment arrangement with fellow providers to share the

expense of innovation, prototyping and solutions go-to-market costs.

Changes in Processes
Applying design thinking (i.e., customer journey mapping, ethnographic research)
is one of the starting blocks of digital transformation. More than 83% said that
they have started reaching out to external consultants to learn design thinking.

Using formal user experience elucidation for applications exposed to end users;

76% responded that they have followed this approach in a recent digital implementation and that theyll continue to use this approach.

Taking

an Agile approach to building, planning and integrating platforms to

create a consistent CX across different channels.

Changes in Culture
Making sure all relevant stakeholders across business functions and units sit
together and brainstorm on the digital strategy roadmap to ensure buy-in and
clear communication.

Making Change
Which statements do you agree with relative to your response to digital challenges?
All relevant stakeholders across business functions and units
need to sit together and brainstorm on digital strategy.

90%

We need to redesign our processes to embed digital properties

(new mobile or social platforms).

84%

Agile planning and design thinking are

starting blocks in digital.

84%

To suit the different needs of digital engagements we have

brought in innovations in design, build & delivery.

76%

We partner with IT service providers, product, data, analytics,

regulators, communities in a collaborative manner .

74%

We are realigning employees' incentives, rewards and growth

plans to sustain transformation.

64%

Recruiting digital skill-set from

within our industry.

54%

We enter into a coinvestment arrangement with the provider

where we share the cost of innovation.

54%

Response Base: 16
Multiple responses allowed.
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 12

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

21

 Recruiting digital skills within the insurance industry and from outside the field,
and forming first-generation digital teams (UX, UI, data science experts).

Tackling managed innovation, which requires a wholesale organizational change

with pivots across design, build, implementation and optimization.

Apart from these views, an investigation into our digital engagements reveals some
of the nonnegotiable changes (which our respondents didnt voice) to which due
attention should be paid:

Breaking

organization barriers/learning from digital leaders outside the

industry: One of the Indian insurers we spoke with has started its journey
to establish a first-generation digital team by visiting innovation labs of
e-commerce start-ups to understand what this undertaking requires. Not restricting its approach to functionality, this insurer also tried to emulate the physical
workspace setup followed by start-ups.

Operations

reorganization: Strong front-end digital solutions rollout should

have equal focus on realigning operations teams. We couldnt find any mention
of this by our respondents. Some have started realigning the actual processes.
However, we observed the most critical piece of the puzzle is envisioning futurestate team structures, job descriptions, skill sets and operating cultures. This is
key to respond faster to the demands of customers who now expect a near-realtime response.

A Dedicated Structure & Leadership Clout Drives

Organization-Level Transformation
It was universally acknowledged by respondents that digital transformation success
is a top-down process and can be achieved only if the right leaders are at the
helm; sadly, they also said there is not optimum synergy between the CXO suites.
A few respondents noted that they have no plans of opening a digital office and

Quick Take
Indian Insurer Deploys Platform to Digitally Enable Sales
One of Indias foremost private life insurers wanted to energize its sales force by implementing a suite of connected apps that
helps agents to learn, pitch, sell and serve better through an end-to-end digital process. We worked with this insurer to not
only figure out the best technical path to design and build the platform (our Life Engage platform), but also to understand the
importance of the non-digital part of the program through user interviews and focus discussions.
Consequently, the teams worked together to set up a digital
workforce comprising senior executives who would not only
oversee program management, but also help instrument
the pre- and post-implementation activities around change
management, business process reengineering, marketing
and even human resources. These initiatives were necessary
because the success of the pilot phases was dependent as much
on the technology excellence platform as on agents motivation
and level of comfort with the new sales enablers. This crossorganizational effort, led by a digital center of excellence, led to
higher sales efficiency, lower costs of acquisition, higher sales
per agent and increased efficiency of the operational back end
due to fewer manual errors committed at the policy application
stage. This, among other benefits, readily justified the cost of
the program for the insurer.

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August 2016

hiring a CDO-led organization. Their chief reasons reflect the absence of a firm
digital strategy and not enough digital maturity in the local market. Interestingly,
roughly 40% of respondents said that they already have a shared digital unit that
cuts across all business groups within the organization. Another 30% were neutral
when asked about this, which makes the digital unit argument even more interesting. Possible structures could entail:

Carved-out

units: A dedicated unit, led by a senior leader and formed by

bringing in key people across business units. Employees in this unit are dedicated
to solving digital problems across functions. This structure emulates a shared
service organization implementing all digital initiatives by securing funding from
business owners from the respective functions.

Outside-in

view: Digital insurance these days borrows heavily from the likes
of Uber, Amazon and Airbnb when it comes to technology innovation, digital
asset design, understanding customer behavior and providing state-of-the-art
CX. Hence, it is no wonder that insurers are hiring digital heads from non-insurance sectors such as retail, consumer goods, logistics and hospitality to bring in
fresher perspectives.

Lean

innovation units: This could include a group of technology and design

experts along with a senior executive focusing on market scan, technology disruptions and digital opportunity identification. They would work closely with the
CIO, jointly taking forward the ideas to other business units for implementation.

Tech-led hybrid units: This could be a dedicated unit with limited resources (one

or two key people from IT) and defined governance structure that guides how
the unit should identify initiatives and take them to the organizations larger
business community.

Lone-wolf units: This would consist of a dedicated senior leader who tries to

coordinate with other business unit leaders to influence digital decisions and
bring technology innovations to the business community for further action. CIOs
or COOs assume this role in most organizations. About 54% of our respondents
companies fall in this bucket.

Insurers we spoke with follow a variety of digital team structures, which has
resulted in different degrees of digital success. The fact that 84% of respondents
cited a lack of collaboration between departments, which makes working together
difficult as a medium-high challenge in realizing digital transformation goals
suggests that most insurers have yet to find the right organizational structure to
implement digital.
More than half of our respondents have realized the importance of bringing in
digital experts outside the industry and have appointed CDOs to lead and coordinate
digital efforts. Roughly 85% said they have appointed or are planning to appoint
(7%) senior executives as digital officers. These insurers want the CDO to act as
a digital strategist/transformation expert and play the role of a digital enabler/
new product/service development guru (see Figure 13, next page). In almost all the
cases, the CDO has been entrusted with P&L responsibility.

Final Words
Insurers digital transformation journeys have largely been piecemeal, siloed,
technical solutions to business problems, and as a result their experiences have
been suboptimal. The following responses by our respondents offer greater clarity
on where disconnects exist.

Understand why digitization is better. All respondents said they strongly believe

that in the next five years digital products and processes will fundamentally

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

23

change their business model, reconfigure delivery models and lead to rethinking
of value propositions, among other outcomes. And they correctly identified the
following as the most important pieces needed to solve the digital puzzle: know
customers behavior to create the best experience for them; remove process
inefficiencies in marketing; sell, service and, most importantly, sync internal
business units to prioritize as well as maximize digital equity.

Digital technology is the enabler to solving business problems. More than

75% of respondents said their digital transformation programs are not the
results of ad hoc procurement/tactical visions but rather are implementations
of a strategic vision. However, 75% agreed that their technology-first approach
of tackling digital programs and problems didnt yield optimum results, and thus
they need to be more holistic moving forward. When probed on the innovative
things that caught their fancy, many pointed to design-centric building, training
the end customer, and creating an MVP and rapidly scaling up. Clearly, deeply
entrenched insurers are also speaking the language of the start-ups.

Innovative

programs need innovative metrics to be evaluated properly.

Roughly 60% of our respondents use new metrics (e.g., the number of online
quotes and illustrations generated, percentage of renewal premiums paid
through payment gateways, the number of clicks on a new digital banner, etc.)
to measure digital success. Even though only 30% use customized, programspecific value metrics, through our conversations it was clear that the rest
understand the importance of a clearly defined, customized KPI playbook that
could be easily configured to capture and assess the relevant success metrics.
An outcome-based success tracking model was pointed to by some respondents
to track the success and ROI of their programs.

Digital

program governance is a specialized, multidisciplinary game that

few are good at. Even though 80% of respondents said they lack strong digital
governance structures, a majority could correctly identify the exact challenges

The Many Roles of the Digital Strategist

What is/would be the job title and key responsibilities of the senior digital executive?
Digital Enabler
New product/service
development related to
digital transformation.
Digital Customer Champion
Strengthening customer
experience and measuring it
against business goals.

58%
58%

Digital Strategist
Digital transformation
strategy-setting (what
to do), and management
(how to get there).

KEEP CHALLENGING

Digital Controller
Connecting digital investments
to enterprise business goals.

50%
50%

67%
42%

Response Base: 16
Source: Cognizant Technology Solutions
Figure 13

24

Digital Evangelist
Leading digital transformation
from within the organization.
Getting everyone on board with
the digital transformation vision.

August 2016

Digital Enforcer
Driving tangible and
measurable results
(e.g., new revenue streams,
higher efficiency, faster
time to market).

that they face due to weak program management. Thus, while many insurers
have a CDO to take care of all things digital, some insurers have formed digital
centers of excellence with equal and active participation of the marketing,
product, technology, operations and distribution heads to ensure that the digital
roadmap is well-charted and followed.
Insurers are no longer fence-sitting on the digital questions that are asked by
customers, partners and employees alike; the surge of digital spend and activities
bear testimony to this fact. However, in their eagerness to beat the competition to
the punch, insurers would benefit from donning the varying lenses of the different
actors across their far-fledged ecosystems to see the big picture that they are
attempting to solve digitally.

Appendix
We conducted in-person and telephonic interviews of 16 CXOs of select insurers
across Saudi Arabia, India, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia between
the months of January and July 2016. Respondents were near-equally split between
life (seven) and property and casualty (six) insurers. The carriers consisted of clients
and companies that we do not work with but are considered bellwethers of digital
insurance in the APAC region.
In each of the organizations, we often followed up our interview sessions with a set
of personalized questions to further develop the interesting insights that we heard
from executives. While a majority of the people who were interviewed were CIOs
tasked with looking after the technology programs of their organizations, we did
speak to a few COOs and CMOs to understand how they perceive the digitization
of insurance and ongoing digital transformation initiatives at their organizations.

Footnotes
1

How Great Leaders Inspire Action, Simon Sinek, TED Talk, September
2009,
https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_
action?language=en.

Taikang Life embraces WeChat to attract customers, The Digital Insurer, http://
www.the-digital-insurer.com/dia/taikang-life-embraces-wechat-to-attract-customers/.

AIA Vitality Hong Kong, https://www.aiavitality.com.hk/vmp-hk/.

Seven Start-Ups Successfully Secured Funding In The Inaugural Phase, AIA

Press Release, August 6, 2015, http://www.aia.com/en/media-centre/pressreleases/2015/aia-launches-second-phase-of-asias-first-of-its-kind-acceleratorprogramme.html.

Celents 6th Model Insurer Asia awards, http://www.celent.com/news-andevents/press-releases/celent-honors-fourteen-financial-institutions-model-insurer-asia.

Takaful Insurance, http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/takaful.asp.

Trov App Provides One-Swipe Insurance For All Your Electronics, Life Hacker,
Australia, May 30, 2016, http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/05/trov-is-an-ondemand-insurance-app-that-lets-you-insure-stuff-by-swiping-your-finger/.

Foundational: The insurer has digital capabilities limited to user-facing applications (e.g., portals, apps, etc.).

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

25

Transformative: The digital capabilities of the insurer are extended to smart

data capturing, processing and analyzing and also better digital security (e.g.,
predictive analytics, encryption, etc.).

10

Disruptive: The insurer is influenced by and is introducing new business models

that are digital at their core (e.g., peer-to-peer insurance, mobile wallet, etc.).

11

Heres The Toothbrush Test Googles CEO Uses To Make Acquisition Decisions,
Business Insider, August 18, 2014, http://www.businessinsider.in/Heres-TheToothbrush-Test-Googles-CEO-Uses-To-Make-Acquisition-Decisions/articleshow/40375194.cms.

12

Lean Startup, Eric Ries, 2011, http://theleanstartup.com/.

13

Axis Bank partners Max Life Insurance to launch financial planning app, Live
Mint, March 24, 2015, http://money.livemint.com/news/company/news/axis-bankpartners-max-life-insurance-to-launch-financial-planning-app-365778.aspx.

14

Multi Award Winning UK Fintech Startup Bought By Many Announces China

Launch, July 10, 2015, https://boughtbymany.com/news/article/fintech-startupchina-launch/.

15

Youi We get You homepage, https://www.youi.com.au/.

16

Allianz launches Asia Lab to drive innovation, The Straits Times, May 26, 2016,
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/allianz-launches-asia-lab-to-drive-innovation.

17

Allianz Digital Labs, http://digitallabs.allianz.com/en/.

About the Authors

Srikanth Venkatesan is AVP within Cognizant Business Consultings Insurance
Practice. He has 23+ years of experience with the insurance industry in consulting
and IT services. Srikanth has managed multiple high-value strategic business and
IT programs for large insurance companies in North America, South America,
UK, Middle East, India, China, Korea, Southeast Asia and Australia. He has wide
experience in consulting with various life and P&C insurance companies across
geographical environments. Srikanth has aided them with setup, business process
definitions, business process reengineering, IT project and program management,
managing IT operations, selection of software systems, development, implementation and support. He can be reached at Srikanth.Venkatesan2@cognizant.com |
https://www.linkedin.com/in/srikanthvenkatesan.

Srinivasan Somasundaram is a Director within Cognizant Business Consultings Insurance Practice. He has over 20 years of experience in the life, annuity
and pension sectors. Srinis experience includes managing insurance operations,
business consulting, product development, business transformation program
delivery, developing business propositions, GTM and large deal support. He has
worked on projects in the UK, U.S., South Africa and APAC, with a focus on sales
and distribution. Srini holds a post-graduate degree in management from Bharathithasan University. He can be reached at Srinivasan.Somasundaram@cognizant.
com | http://in.linkedin.com/pub/srinivasan-somasundaram/0/a5a/156.

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Sridhar Devarajalu has over nine years of experience in the property and casualty
insurance domain. He is experienced at defining solution approaches and providing
competitive intelligence for insurance carriers across the globe, pertaining to
problems covering insurers digital transformation strategy, customer experience
management and process transformation. Sridhar also co-heads the Digital Center
of Excellence within Cognizant Business Consultings Insurance Practice. He holds
a post-graduate diploma in general management from the XLRI School of Business.
Sridhar can be reached at Sridhar.Devarajalu@cognizant.com | https://www.
linkedin.com/in/sridhardevaraj.

Aritro Bhattacharya is a Manager within Cognizant Business Consultings Insurance

Practice. He has nearly 10 years of experience in the life, annuity and pension
sectors, including consulting and delivery management, insurance IT products
development, organizational change management, functional implementation and
migration. Aritro also has dabbled in social media consulting, digital distribution
transformation, digital marketing and sales consulting and digital innovation. He
holds a post-graduate degree in management from the Indian School of Business.
Aritro can be reached at Aritro.Bhattacharya@cognizant.com | https://www.
linkedin.com/pub/aritro-bhattacharya/21/34b/629.

Angela A is a Business Analyst within Cognizant Business Consultings Insurance

Practice. She has four years of experience in the property and casualty insurance
sector across functions such as new business, policy administration systems,
regulatory reporting and business analysis. As part of her exposure to the global
insurance industry, Angela has worked for major North American insurance clients.
She holds a post-graduate diploma in management from the Loyola Institute of
Business Administration. Angela can be reached at Angela.A@cognizant.com |
https://in.linkedin.com/in/angela-raja-422b8421.

Sreejit Janardhanan is a Business Analyst within Cognizant Business Consultings

Insurance Practice. He specializes in the property and casualty industry, and has
over four years of business analysis experience spanning the areas of underwriting,
policy administration and distribution across personal and commercial insurance
domains, and consulting experience in the area of business process improvement. Sreejit has worked with North American and APAC insurance clients. He
holds a post-graduate degree in management from the Great Lakes Institute of
Management, and he can be reached at Sreejit.JanardhananAlakkadan@cognizant.
com | https://in.linkedin.com/in/sreejit-janardhanan-a1205777.

APACS DIGITAL INSURANCE TRANSFORMERS: ILLUMINATING THE WAY FORWARD

27

About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information
technology, consulting, and business process services, dedicated to helping the worlds leading companies build stronger
businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology
innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and
a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of
work. With over 100 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 244,300 employees as of June 30,
2016, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500,
the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked
among the top performing and fastest growing companies in
the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on
Twitter: Cognizant.

World Headquarters
500 Frank W. Burr Blvd.
Teaneck, NJ 07666 USA
Phone: +1 201 801 0233
Fax: +1 201 801 0243
Toll Free: +1 888 937 3277
inquiry@cognizant.com

European Headquarters
1 Kingdom Street
Paddington Central
London W2 6BD
Phone: +44 (0) 207 297 7600
Fax: +44 (0) 207 121 0102
infouk@cognizant.com

India Operations Headquarters

#5/535, Old Mahabalipuram Road
Okkiyam Pettai, Thoraipakkam
Chennai, 600 096 India
Phone: +91 (0) 44 4209 6000
Fax: +91 (0) 44 4209 6060
inquiryindia@cognizant.com

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