Interview: Creating products and solutions for today’s customers
Alan Berry, Chief Underwriting Officer Europe at Cover-More Group, speaks to Michelle Royle about his role, and explains how technology has changed the underwriting process
You have been in the travel insurance industry for more than 20 years, in a diverse set of roles. What have been the most significant changes you’ve noticed in that time?
Digitalisation and digital transformation must be at the forefront of all changes – and not just in insurance. We’ve seen all types of businesses transform almost overnight with greater speed, efficiencies, adaptability, and the limitless ability to continually evolve. This has resulted in a new world of opportunity, and benefits for both businesses and customers alike.
Specifically, with the travel insurance market in the UK and Europe, I’d say that the aggregator space has had one of the most profound impacts because it allows instant comparison of products and prices. This has created more savvy and aware travellers, who are demonstrating new purchasing and travel behaviours.
Digitalisation and digital transformation must be at the forefront of all changes
You joined Cover-More Europe over a year ago. What does your role involve, and which aspects do you enjoy the most?
My role covers full retail travel underwriting, which involves creating products and solutions for today’s customers, looking at sustainability options, pricing and analysis of both new opportunities and the existing portfolio, and P&L [profit and loss] control and accountability.
I analyse customer behaviours by studying purchasing and claims behaviours, always looking for USPs, customer enhancements, innovation and partnership opportunities and, of course, governance.
I enjoy all areas of my role with Cover-More Europe. Each day is different and brings different challenges. I mostly enjoy the challenge of a blank canvas. I love creating a programme from nothing that fits and exceeds our partners’ expectations, balancing that with meeting and exceeding customer value and the customer experience, and ensuring the programme is sustainable long-term for all parties involved.
Tell us about your e-commerce purpose-built platform, Impulse.
Impulse is Cover-More’s proprietary global distribution and sales optimisation platform. It combines our ever-expanding knowledge of today’s traveller with the technology to capture all available customer data. This enables us to better understand our customers’ wants and needs, which results in better conversion rates, increased revenue and the likelihood of more repeat business.
The heart of Impulse is its ability to allow for dynamic real-time optimisation of insurance offers. This means we can personalise the offer made to customers, in real time.
The platform delivers dynamic insurance offers via a flexible API [application programming interface] technology that can integrate into any web portal or sales tool.
What new tech innovations are next for Cover-More?
Cover-More continues to invest in technology at every step of the value chain, from integrated purchase pathways to global tracking, intelligence, and care platforms to locate and look after travellers at risk.
We were delighted to be awarded the ITIJ Travel Insurance Product Innovation of the Year in 2023 for our Cover-More app. It’s a leisure travel companion and assistance app, currently available to our Australian and US customers so far.
The app enables us to facilitate safer travel by providing travellers with real-time, proactive information, protection, and care – all supported by sophisticated global command centres in the UK, Australia and Canada. We will continue to innovate within the app and roll it out to more markets.
How has technology changed the underwriting process?
Are insurance providers nimbler now than they used to be as data can be gathered more efficiently and policies amended more quickly? Technology has increased the speed of delivery of the data that is provided. So, in that area, technology has changed the underwriting process. However, the analysis of the risk and decision-making process still takes around the same time, if not longer, with the ever-changing regulatory environment requiring more checks and balances. In the main, insurance providers are nimbler now and, in certain areas, incredibly so, compared to a few years ago. There is still room for improvement and that will always be the case in an ever-evolving digital world.
With Cover-More Group being a global company, you have a chance to test products out in one region before rolling them out worldwide. How does the company use this to its advantage?
Are there products that have worked well in one region, but not in another? Travel insurance markets are different from country to country, region to region. For example, even though Cover-More Group is today a global player, the company originated in Australia, which is a high-value travel insurance market, even though the population is only around 26 million. The international travel insurance market in Australia is characterised by single-trip, higher-priced policies because the cost of travelling anywhere from ‘down under’ is much higher, and trips are generally of longer duration.
Contrast that with the travel insurance market in London, which is characterised by multi-trip annual policies due to the proximity of so many popular destinations in Europe. Policies are generally much lower-cost to reflect the lower cost to travel.
Also, Cover-More Group does have direct-to-consumer platforms in most markets, which gives us the opportunity to trial products or new features in that channel before sharing them with our distribution partners. Our global approach is to read markets carefully and to understand customer needs and traveller behaviour before introducing new products or features.
What do you think customers are looking for in insurance products now compared with 10 years ago?
While some customers will still shop for the best price, today’s travellers are now looking for assurance and a trusted brand over price. They want someone to count on – and easy to contact – should anything go awry on their trip, with more digitalised services.
How do you think the insurance industry can better educate customers to improve their understanding of the policies they are buying?
I think the insurance industry does a reasonable job of educating customers. While documentation is key to the insurance provider, to the customer, however, it is not. Reading policy documents is seen as a chore. For most people, holidays are a time to relax and enjoy; the disconnect is between that enjoyment and appreciating risk. That is, until something goes wrong. I think the way to educate people better would be to provide details of actual costs of claims, in particular medical-related claims, and the consequences of actions, from activity-related claims to simple slips and trips.
We don’t seek to alarm travellers; we want to encourage them to spend more time learning what their travel insurance will and won’t cover them for.
Travel insurance markets are different from country to country, region to region
Do you think that the industry is flexible in its desire to customise policies for different partners, brokers and retailers?
Yes, I would say the industry is flexible in supporting bespoke and customised programmes and always has been. Providers are constantly innovating and looking to support individual clients with products and services. It is how the market evolves.
What are some of the key trends we’ll be seeing in travel product features of the future? Is it all about parametric solutions and real-time reimbursements?
Over the next five years I think one of the key trends will be the move further towards automation. Artificial intelligence (AI) will play a major part in our industry, as it will in so many other industries, potentially in the design and pricing of super-personalised travel insurance products based on an individual traveller’s unique characteristics.
In terms of parametric solutions and real-time reimbursements, they will definitely become more ubiquitous in travel insurance offerings, as will motion-detection and real-time sensing via mobile apps. This will help ensure that travellers have the right sort of protection and cover if they are ‘sensed’ skiing or riding on a motorcycle.
We will also see a stronger move towards respectful and thoughtful travel as more travellers consider the sustainability and true ‘footprint’ of their travel plans.