Sri Lanka’s insurance industry is highly agile and innovative. During the early stages of the pandemic outbreak many players modified their product offerings to include Covid-19 coverage thereby becoming one of the first industries to successfully adjust to the ‘new normal’. Insurance also happens to be one of the first industries to embrace digitalization which is synonymous with restricted contact & travel.

Digitalization & Insurance:

In the Sri Lanka Insurance Report published by KPMG, industry veteran and Managing Director of Softlogic Life Insurance PLC Ifthikar Ahamed is quoted noting: “Digitalization is not the future – it is here and now.” He said that insurance digitalization must begin at the point of where a potential customer is identified; this enables a seamless process of capturing the risks that need to be underwritten and priced.

He goes on to explain how digitalization helps to crosscheck claims with profiles and integrate the settlement of claims with minimum waiting times: “Looking at today’s state, technology and talent are readily available compared to how it was two decades ago. Insurers need to invest wisely on whatever brings the most effective outcome and customer convenience.”

What are the tools available?

DigiMed is currently the highest ranked platform servicing insurance customers to seamlessly process medical claims fast and efficiently. All corresponding bills can be submitted digitally via DigiMed for quick processing and the approval workflow for the claims are fully automated. Once submitted, DigiMed also acts as an archive whereby all information is securely stored for later retrieval or reference. This completely paperless process is a welcome improvement to the traditional approach which is seen as being cumbersome by many.

Another advantage is that claims can be submitted around the clock and all parties involved can monitor the status of the process in real-time. Documentation can be submitted with a few easy steps which completely eliminates the need for travelling. The creators of DigiMed are hopeful that the local industry will use this product to optimize their operations.

What does the future hold for insurance?

The growth of the insurance sector was stunted due to the cash crunch prompted by the pandemic. It is becoming increasingly clear that insurance companies will have to remodel their distribution strategies in order to survive in the post-pandemic ‘new normal’. The first half of 2020 was reflective of a contracted growth of Sri Lanka’s insurance industry. The industry’s total recorded premium was LKR 95.16 Bn, a scale down of 2.79% in respect of the corresponding first half of 2019.

Conclusion:

The pandemic has ushered in a host of challenges as well as opportunities for the country’s insurance sector. Following the pandemic, the interest for health insurance among the general population has surged. Even if this may not be reflected in the short term due to the current economic downturn, one could be hopeful that soon Sri Lankans will embrace insurance as a necessity as opposed to a luxury. .

As experts have indicated, digitalization is the way forward for insurance. It can be beneficial in serving existing customers better while attracting new prospects particularly from millennial & Gen Z categories. DigiMed is a game-changing solution to eliminate inefficiencies and accelerate the claims process in relation to life insurance; a similar product, DigiEye, serves to make the claims process efficient and hassle-free in relation to automobile insurance. How it works is by picking up the location of the accident via GPS and assessing the magnitude of damage via livestreaming. Once the necessary information is obtained, the claim will be processed within a brief period of time, a couple of hours, which is a notable improvement when compared to the conventional approach.

Sources:
https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/lk/pdf/2020/11/sri-lanka-insurance-report-november-2020.pdf