Insurance Challenges and Digitalization in 2022

By: Lotfi Al-Sarori

As the whole world was on the precipice of the COVID crisis and its effects, a lot of remarkable impacts were registered in business history as a whole. This impact can also be seen in the insurance industry as the pandemic had its toll on this key sector. Insurance businesses worldwide faced many challenges during the pandemic.

In this article, we focus on three main challenges facing the insurance industry in 2022. The first one has to do with the direct impact of the pandemic itself while the other two relate to how the pandemic created or intensified the need for workforce expansion and better cybersecurity.

All you need to know about digital patient engagement

By: Omar Abdulhafiz

In a previous article, we talked about the future of telemedicine as a rising trend due to the difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 crisis. We discussed several real-life cases where telemedicine truly played a vital role in protecting the sustainability of healthcare services amidst the hard and delicate circumstances caused by the pandemic.

Yet after tackling the curious case of telemedicine in particular, let us take a step back and talk about the concept of digital patient engagement as a whole. Thus in this article, we will be answering the following questions:

• What exactly is digital patient engagement?
• How can we improve it?
• What are the tools that can help doctors in boosting their patients’ overall engagement in their healthcare process?

So, without further ado, let’s get to it.

Where does Telemedicine stand after the COVID outbreak?

By: Omar Abdul-Hafiz

There is no question that 2020 was an extraordinary year in all facets of life, and most remarkably in the healthcare sector. One major challenge that faced the world during those difficult times was maintaining adequate and smooth access to healthcare services while at the same time maintaining sufficient social distancing. One of the major ways that this was achieved was through the fast emerging trend of Telemedicine.

Telemedicine, despite its limitations, has indeed proven quite useful in maintaining continuous communication between doctors and their patients, especially for cases that required routine check-ups.

But before we go further into the discussion, let us first differentiate between Telemedicine and Telehealth as these two terms often get mixed up.

Top insurance risks to watch for in 2021

By: Cesilia Faustina

The insurance sector has experienced its fair share of hardships since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to S&P, reinsurers stated about $12 billion in COVID-19 loses in the first six months of 2020. HSBC had also reported that COVID-19 claims had increased three times during the second quarter of 2020, from $6 billion to $20 billion, many of which came from the property and casualty sector. That said, such losses are to be expected for the insurance sector during a pandemic and (re)insurers are generally prepared for loss events. Overall, the insurance sector has fought resiliently despite the challenges of the pandemic, of course, financial losses will need time to work themselves out and insurance specific efforts will be needed to support this recovery. With many of the financial markets recovering though, we can only expect greater rehabilitation plans for this sector in 2021.

The many handy applications of Web Portals, Part IV: Insurance

By: Lotfi Alsarori

The insurance industry is increasingly taking full advantage of information technologies to enable digital transformation. Insurance providers, whether they are in the life or non-life insurance business lines, are already benefiting from using business systems, such as claims management and policy administration (PAS) systems. Insurance digitalization also entails providing access of certain system functionalities to external stakeholders. Whether they are customers, partners, agents, or brokers, providing access to relevant information and providing extended services can be particularly valuable to the insurance organization. This is where web portals come into play. 

Insurtech: understanding the impacts of insurance automation

By: Lotfi AlSarori

Insurance companies, just like all businesses in the information age, rely heavily on information systems. Whether it is to automate underwriting and claim processing or keep track of their financial transactions, business software brings a lot of benefits to this important financial sector. Business systems are made to facilitate the work of organizations and make them more productive saving them time, cost, and effort. Insurance companies are no exception. 

While Fintech describes the use of technology in the financial services, Insurtech is the intersection of technology in a specific financial services sector, insurance. According to Investopedia: “Insurtech refers to the use of technology innovations designed to squeeze out savings and efficiency from the current insurance industry model.” 

Hot topics in the Insurance industry 2020 and what to expect for the near future

 By: Omar Abdulhafiz

The year 2020 was certainly full of challenges the magnitude of which is rarely witnessed in the business world as a whole, let alone the insurance sector. With the COVID-19 pandemic as the leading factor behind the worldwide pandemonium, insurers have found themselves in a race against time to adapt to a completely new reality before it is too late.

Amidst all these challenges and turbulence, market experts are working to map out the main critical trends that have grasped insurers’ attention. Most notably, statistics show that customer satisfaction was perhaps the most trending concern among insurance providers. This article touches upon this issue, among several others, in some detail.

What the COVID-19 challenge means for Customer Experience in the Insurance industry

By: Omar Abdul-Hafiz

In a previous article, we talked about how the ongoing pandemic has spurred investment in InsureTech. We touched upon the immense rise in investment in InsureTech through the first half of 2020, then discussed three main factors behind this upsurge in investment. Interestingly enough, however, this interest in investment in InsureTech was looming in the air even before the COVID-19 crisis had struck the world.

In their 23rd annual global CEO survey, PWC identified the top three opportunities that CEOs have prioritized investing in for 2020.

As shown in the diagram below, these three factors were Customer Experience, Core Technology Transformation, and Intelligent Automation. What is more intriguing is that Customer Experience was at the very top of the list. But, why?

How digital health is shaping the medical insurance scene

By: Cesilia Faustina

The health sector is of great importance. It continues to be a huge market with 1.4 billion dollars of gross-written-premium in 2017, according to McKinsey. With rising numbers of natural disasters and diseases, more and more people are looking for greater solutions to maintain good healthcare.

Technology is becoming a powerful trait in healthcare these days. The industry is now taking advantage of various different tech, from AI and blockchain to wearables. This ecosystem has created a world of digitalization that has seeped into the way healthcare is measured and analyzed. Examples of this may be seen through many companies now gathering health data through machines, even health insurance companies now are getting in on the action.