So far, 2020 has been an unusual year hasn’t it? Many businesses were forced to close doors for weeks and those that were able had to adjust to working from home. What about the insurance sector? How has COVID-19 impacted the insurance industry?
Due to many people losing their jobs during the corona pandemic, they had to re-think and re-plan their monthly expenses to cut costs where possible.
Since being restricted to working from home and on a national lockdown, travelling had become a less important expense. For that reason, several people decided to cancel their car insurance premiums or asked for a re-evaluation on their monthly premium.
Simply saying this impacted the insurance industry is an understatement.
All businesses have faced many challenges during COVID-19. Let’s take a look at how COVID-19 has impacted the insurance industry.
Challenges
Security
Cyber-security is a major factor that has been impacted by employees having to work from home. To overcome this challenge, insurance providers need to look into the best and most reliable ways to prevent cyber-attacks and security breaches for their team and clients.
Financial impact
Possibly one of the most impactful effects from COVID-19 is the financial impact. Due to a mass of policy cancellations or downgrades, the insurance sector will take quite some time to recover from the impact of financial losses. To keep the income stable, insurance providers should consider offering special packages or discounts to their clients. This encourages them to keep their premiums.
Increased customer queries
Customer calls and queries are at an all-time high during COVID-19. Customers have questions and are keen to find out how their insurance providers are able and willing to help. This resulted in an influx of customer support messages, phone calls and emails. Think ahead and plan for how you and your team can manage and respond efficiently to the mass of customer queries.
Delays
Unfortunately, one of the biggest setbacks the insurance sector faces is delays in settling claims. Without the usual level of resources and support, filing and settling claims can take a bit longer to process to complete.
Overcoming the challenges
The insurance industry can overcome, or at least ease the impacted challenges from COVID-19, by taking practical steps and researching all available options for maximum work performance.
Reach out to stakeholders and the company that provides your security to ensure you’re taking all the precautionary measures to get sufficient security & protection for your clients and team.
Engage with your employees. Your employees will need your support to help make sure everything runs smoothly and functions to the best of its ability. Make sure they have all the access they need to software, programs and technical support. Communicating with your employees and holding regular virtual meetings will help ease their stresses. It’s also a good way to discuss any issues and setbacks they may be facing.