InsureTalk22 – The new normal: what does the data say?

InsureTalk22 took place on a beautiful autumn day on 26 May 2022. MC Nonnie Mhlungu was in fine form, as usual. She welcomed delegates and introduced the theme for the day: “The new normal: what does the data say?” and expressed gratitude to Discovery for coming in as our headline sponsor, as well as the IISA and Cover magazine for their ongoing partnerships.

The event was accredited with 2.5 CPD hours.

The first speaker was Tamara Parker, CEO of Mercer South Africa, part of the Marsh McLennan group, who gave a fascinating talk on change management and what it means to return to work after Covid lockdowns. She unpacked a global talent trends report published annually by Mercer.

ESG and sustainability are key, as is talent attraction and retention. She spoke of trends that emerged in the insurance industry during lockdown and the impact that they have on attracting and motivating the right people for your business.

Precious Nduli was up next. Precious is the head of marketing and technical marketing at Discovery Insure and her talk was on insurance trends.

“We’ve had an interesting period from an insurance perspective,” she said. “Recent events that have affected the insurance industry – with the most recent example being the riots and floods in KZN – have reshaped our view of insurance and our view of risk.”

Here’s a view of the current insurance landscape:

“People still value insurance a lot,” she said. “That’s because insurance gives security in the face of uncertainty. Insurance is actually the second most important financial need, after income. So people still see the value of insurance … which cushions individuals and businesses.”

Dr Ronald Whelan, chief commercial officer at Discovery Health, was up next. Ron spoke on Covid – the landscape, future and potential impact of the virus.

He provided an update on the current Covid-19 situation in South Africa and shared some insights on the latest vaccine effectiveness studies carried out at Discovery. He also shared some thoughts and reflections on the way forward.

“It looks as if we’re moving towards a recovery phase now and there are certainly some promising signs that we’re moving out of Covid,” he said, but cautioning, “We cannot declare victory over Covid too early … even though there are promising signs of a recovery.”

His fascinating talk covered infection and mortality rates from countries around the world and unpacked the various strategies used to combat the virus.

“We’ve had a tumultuous time in South Africa over the past two years as a result of Covid,” he concluded. “The upside of that is that it has resulted in good infection mediated immunity across South Africa; we’ve had a good vaccination programme – we want to continue to ramp up our vaccination rates; we are seeing recovery taking place clinically and economically; the fifth wave is beginning to peter out, so I’m feeling pretty confident that we’re going to be able to navigate the last few months of Covid. We certainly have got enough measures in place to be able to live with Covid going forward.”

Saxophonist Donvino Prins provided a beautiful set of smooth sax for the entertainment portion of the webinar.

He was followed by IISA CEO, Thokozile Mahlangu, who reminded everyone who has to be CPD-compliant that the CPD cycle ends in just a few days, on 31 May. She also spoke about the speaker line-up for the upcoming African Insurance Exchange, which takes place at Sun City on 25 and 26 July. The conference will also be live-streamed, which means you can watch and participate from wherever you are.

REGISTER HERE FOR AIE 2022

Tony van Niekerk of Cover Publications was up next. He gave some inspiring words about ambition and taking action.

The crux of Tony’s talk focused on a quote by former British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli: “The secret to success is to be ready for the next opportunity when it comes.”

Following Tony was Steve von Roretz of Leppard Underwriting, whose talk was titled “FSP @ risk”. His presentation focused on challenges facing advisors in the current insurance landscape.

“The landscape,” he said, “is getting more complex; it is more difficult. The advisory’s capability is changing.”

He spoke of systemic risks such as business interruption and the pandemic, the riots in KZN, weather patterns etc. and customers’ focus in relation to these risks.

Fundamentally, your business – and your practice of business in relation to risk management – is an enormous topic. It’s about self-help. If you don’t do this risk management and don’t think about your business in terms of the risk your business faces, it will become a problem in the longer term.”

Some of Steve’s points included:

• Investment in capacity, skills and training is key
• Compliance needs to become part of your DNA
• You need to keep proper records of advice
• Service contracts are vital!
• Join the FIA

He focused on the need to draw up proper agreements as per the points in the slide below:

Watch The Insurance Apprentice season 8 episode 1

Watch The Insurance Apprentice season 8 episode 2

Liezel Jonkheid of The Consumer Psychology Lab gave an insightful talk on the changing needs and expectations of the post-pandemic consumer.

“We live in an experience economy and the pandemic has had a huge impact on consumers globally,” she said. “We are now entering the post-pandemic phase, and the question is, ‘What is this new normal, and is business keeping up with the changing consumer?'”

She cited the demise of brand such as Kodak, BlackBerry and Nokia, which came about as a result of not listening to consumers or adjusting to changing context. Even Netflix is battling.

She spoke on the pursuit of purpose, attention recession, a drive towards wellbeing, the great resignation and curated imperfection – the fact that the idea of living up to perfection is being discarded.

Liezel’s three key takeaways were:

• Know your NEW customer
• Redesign the customer journey
• Empower your staff

The next instalment of InsureTalk takes place on 23 June. You can book your spot here. Remember, each InsureTalk session will earn you 2.5 CPD hours. Attendance is free.

For the recording of InsureTalk22, click on the screen below: