Episode 25 – Innovation Panel, “What Do Carriers Need to Do to Embrace Innovation for Long-term Growth?”

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Beyond the Challenge is a podcast where executives in the insurance and financial services industry share their insights and experiences. Hosts Kevin and Sandy Dougherty talk with today’s top business leaders about what keeps them up at night and the biggest opportunity organizations can capitalize on today. We encourage you to listen, share, and subscribe to our program.

Kevin and Sandy Dougherty each have over 20 years of experience in insurance and financial services, corporate leadership, and executive search. They’re the owners of Global Corporate Solutions and Global Corporate Leaders. Global Corporate Solutions partners with organizations to gain efficiencies and contain costs. Global Corporate Leaders partners with organizations to enhance and evaluate talent.

Beyond the Challenge podcast is sponsored by Exactuals, perfecting payments and the data driving them.

Welcome to Beyond the Challenge. Here are your hosts, Kevin and Sandy.

Sandy: Welcome to Beyond the Challenge. We have spent the last year talking to some of the most influential and forward-thinking leaders in the insurance marketplace.  Their perspectives have been very well received by our audience and we thought it was time to put together some of our favorite guests to see what they thought about some hot topics.

Sandy: In this episode you will hear from Rino D’Onofrio, President and CEO RBC Life. Nick Lane, President of Equitable. Bruce Parker, President, Global Life Insurance at Pan-American Life. Robert Grubka, CEO Health Solutions at Voya Financial, and Pat Foley, COO at Ashton Thomas Private Wealth.

Kevin: During our interviews, we asked our guests what insurance carriers needed to do to embrace innovation and transformation to improve performance and drive long-term growth. Let’s start with what Rino had to say.

Rino: Yeah, thanks, Sandy. So, I mean, look, the first thing I’d say is that companies need to understand that embracing change and fostering an innovation mindset isn’t an optional thing. It’s critical to your company’s long-term viability so it isn’t a side-of-the-desk job, it’s a main part of the core business and you need to make that part of your DNA. And I think one of the reasons for that is because the attitudes and expectations of our consumers are really changing and they’re changing rapidly. For me, I like to look at other sectors and other industries to give me insight around consumer expectations. And I’d say, one in particular that I like to look at is the retail space. So, you know, how we shop for things, how we buy goods, food, clothing, whatnot, how we buy things every day, and I look to that as insight around consumer expectations and when you think about that and, look, everybody who’s obviously listening to this podcast is a consumer of something. Just think about how the tremendous revolution that’s occurred in retail, in areas like simplicity and choice and convenience and how you receive advice. I mean, we don’t buy anything in my home that, you know, we don’t normally find or we don’t go online and get advice around and get, you know, recommendations and so on so that’s the fundamental change in the retail industry and that’s what consumers expect. So, those experiences are shaping what consumers are looking for from all of the companies they do business with. And, of course, that includes insurance. So, to me, you know, in order to serve an insurance client’s needs and really be there for clients the way they want us to be there, we need to change and we need to innovate. And the ones who do that well and make it a core competency, they’re gonna be the successful ones in the long run. I am fully convinced of that.

Sandy: So, Rino thinks companies need to understand that embracing change and fostering an innovation mindset isn’t an optional thing.  That it’s critical to a company’s long-term viability so it isn’t a side-of-the-desk job, it’s a main part of the core business and you need to make that part of your DNA.

Kevin:  He also said that attitudes and expectations of our consumers are really changing and they’re changing rapidly, and the insurance industry needs to keep up to stay relevant. Let’s see what Nick thinks.

Nick: Yeah, you don’t stick around for 160 years unless you embrace innovation and transformation. And, to me, it starts with how does that help your consumer achieve their goals. How does that help your advisors be more productive and more impactful in their client interactions? And how does that enhance the efficiency of your backend operations so you can enhance the value proposition to your clients and shareholders? So, to me, it starts with mindset and it starts with this focus on continuing to experiment with new technologies, new ways of doing things.

Kevin:  Nick says it starts with mindset and focus on continuing to experiment with new technologies, new ways of doing things.

Sandy: Yes, I also liked the part where he said you don’t stick around for 160 years unless you embrace innovation and transformation. Next up is Bruce.

Bruce: Well, I feel you have to have a strategic plan first. Where are you trying to take the company? And what I mean by that is not just a pure sales plan, if you will, but the overall customer experience, customer defined as the end buyer, but also including that very critical agent in the middle, and then trying to figure out what’s the best way to have both of those experiences different than everybody else. And you have to be able to embrace technology. And to be able to embrace technology, you really do have to work with outside resources as well as inside resources and constantly you have to be evaluating both of those. Do you have the right people in the right seats? Did you hook your wagon to the right company for this particular piece of the process? That vigor of looking constantly at the process is really key to building the long-term strategy.

Kevin: Bruce thinks you need to have a strategic plan first, so you know where you are trying to take the company. He said you really do have to work with outside resources as well as inside resources and constantly have to be evaluating both of those.

Sandy: I think he’s right on the money when he talked about understanding your overall customer experience from the agent to the end customer and trying to figure out what’s the best way to have both of those experiences differentiate you from everyone else. Next is one of our more recent guests, Rob Grubka.

Rob: So, I’d really start with the customer in mind here. And so, you know, when I think about what we as an industry and, in particular, the voluntary and supplemental health products, you know, they’re not overly well understood. When you think about, again, the impact that the product can have at a time when someone really needs the help and support, I think, for myself and, hopefully, for the industry, we can find ways to better engage with, better educate consumers. Certainly a lot of that will be supported by technology and digital engagement, but a lot of it also is sort of in the healthcare ecosystem and benefit ecosystem. There’s an awful lot of products available today. There’s a number of ways that people elect or find out about the products. How do we start to bring that together and do it in a more holistic way and, ultimately, help people make decisions that they feel confident in and understand why they checked the box or didn’t check the box in the enrollment process? And, I think, you know, as you do the step back in the proliferation of benefits at the workplace, you know, on average, there’s about 17 decisions people are making at enrollment time and when you throw retirement in there, maybe it’s 18 or more, and so that whole dynamic of the amount of choice, amount of decisions that are there for the customer, how do we engage them in that better, to me, I think is sort of the home base, true north, so to speak, of where the industry needs to really focus our time and attention. I think that naturally leads to innovation and technology and finding ways to more deeply engage, and not just at enrollment time. I think that’s a little bit of, you know, what we’re all trying to do as an industry is what’s ongoing engagement look like? How does that work? How do we be effective at that? Because it’s one thing to elect benefits, it’s another thing to then know how to use them and get value from them. And, again, when people are making a lot of decisions at one point in time, it’s pretty easy to forget that, you know, 15th choice or that 16th choice and how do we, as an industry, help support them as those decisions that they made, you know, turn into opportunities to, you know, address a risk or address an issue that they’ve got and, generally, it’s at a time of crisis and a time of need that’s extraordinary, and I think that, to me, is a great motivator for everybody in the industry.

Kevin: It sounds like Rob agrees with Bruce that everything starts with the customer in mind.  

Sandy: Yep, he also talked about how innovation often comes from a time of crisis like the Covid pandemic. Let’s see what our final guest, Pat Foley had to say.

Pat: Well, the challenge most companies have is technologically, they’re dealing with a lot of legacy systems. So they really need to make major investments to become more efficient, but also to be able to communicate with the consumer and with their distribution partners efficiently and quickly and accurately. And so, consequently, the big challenge is making a big investment, not only in the technology, but also making a big investment in education. So the distribution partners and the consumers understand how they can access the information and their values and those types of things in the products they own. It’s really, in my opinion, about revamping the whole customer experience and realizing, just putting quick fixes and band-aids on it is not going to work.

Kevin: Pat says the challenge most companies have is technologically. That they’re dealing with a lot of legacy systems. So, they really need to make major investments to become more efficient, but also to be able to communicate with the consumer and with their distribution partners efficiently and quickly and accurately.

Sandy: He also agrees with Bruce and Rob about innovation being centered around the customer experience.

Sandy: One of the repeating themes I heard from many of our guests was that insurers need to look at innovation from a customer experience perspective which includes innovations for the agents.

Kevin: I really enjoy going back and listening to our past interviews.  I always find something new that I missed the first time and today was no different.

Sandy: I agree, I always pick up at least one more tip that I missed the first time.

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