Despite the headaches the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will create and the regulatory fatigue common to all insurers, particularly in Europe, let’s try to be positive and look at the GDPR as something of a spring cleaning (‘When life gives you lemons…’). Some insurance policy holders have had policies for many decades. Some of these customers have been largely forgotten, especially considering that insurers have some of the lowest customer-touch levels across all financial services industries verticals. GDPR is the mandatory nudge that insurers can use to take these customers out of the attic, dust them and their policies off, and give them another good look.

Insurers can now take full advantage of being required to make customers aware of the new regulations and re-engage their customers in a whole new conversation. Not only will they be complying with the GDPR and giving their customers the information they need, but they can also leverage their renewed connection to sell new services, creating new revenue opportunities and re-engaging with customers. After all, it’s a much bigger investment to land a new customer than it is to expand a relationship with an existing policy holder.

Two Choices

Insurers are faced with a choice within a no-choice situation. They must adapt to comply with the new regulations – that’s the ‘no-choice’. This requires a reworking of their systems to ensure support for GDPR compliance. They can go about this in one of two ways:

  1. Either they can make the changes to their system in-house, wrapping cobbled together solutions around existing frameworks, which won’t necessarily make it easy to prove compliance (and will unfortunately be labour- and resource-intensive, and costly)
  2. They can implement new, up-to-date, digital solutions, with built-in compliance.

In addition to enabling European insurance providers to comply with GDPR, this approach will provide the option of full digital transformation, potentially touching every area of their business. This will include unearthing new business opportunities, providing a unique customer experience, cutting operational costs through automation, reducing headcount and more.

To learn more, please check out my white paper: Preparing for GDPR: Challenges and Opportunities for Insurers.

  • customers
  • digital solutions
  • Digital transformation
  • Europe
  • GDPR
  • in-house
  • insurance policy holders
Richard Walker

Richard Walker Richard Walker is head of the insurance practice at Sapiens. He possesses extensive expertise in insurance technology, specifically in the property and casualty/general insurance and life and pensions markets. Richard collaborates with insurers to help them operate more efficiently, increase revenues and prepare for the future.