“I think the industry’s challenges stem from their ability to innovate; the capacity to transform not just products but more importantly processes, underwriting and policies to make them more suited for this “new reality””, commented Murtaza Khalil Hassan, CEO, BIMA Pakistan, while discussing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on insurance sector in Pakistan in an exclusive Q&A session with our editor in Chief.
1. How do you imagine insurance sector post COVID-19?
In my opinion. we will see an increased reliance on technology to make the sector agile, and not just digital subscription but digital processes, work from home capabilities and digital claims/services. In the wake of this crisis, we have all realized, that the level of digitization of an organization, will greatly determine its ability to succeed. To illustrate the importance of this, consider that when on the 24th of March everything was locked down, businesses that already had a business continuity plan in place, that already had systems and required configurations for their employees and that already had digital friendly business processes were quickly able to adapt themselves in the radically changed environment and get back to servicing their customers.
2. What are the challenges and opportunities for insurance industry in the current crisis?
We have all seen that the healthcare system on its own, is unable to deal with pandemics like COVID-19, and that there is a need for public-private partnership. Organisations offering telehealth services, like BIMA Pakistan, have contributed significantly to the governments’ efforts by partnering with Digital Pakistan Foundation and imparting relevant COVID-19 related information. These telehealth organizations are not only providing employment to qualified doctors working from home, but they are also taking excessive load off the healthcare system, allowing this to focus on more critical cases. I therefore see an opportunity to increase collaboration between key players of the industry: the government, insurance companies and mobile network operators and organisations offering telehealth services.
3. What key actions did you make to stand by your customers and society?
From the very start of the lock-down we were clear that the maintenance of reliable customer services, including our telehealth service, was the single most important objective of our organization. In the face of the lock-down, we added resources to our inbound setup and also to our telehealth services to ensure that our customers received 24 / 7 uninterrupted support. As a result of actions that were taken early on, we have been able to service close to 30,000 telehealth calls since the lock-down and close to 400,000 inbound customer calls. Furthermore, in order to extend greater support to people in general, BIMA also partnered with Digital Pakistan Foundation to ensure that telehealth advice on Coronavirus is available to any individual who wanted access to additional COVID-19 information.
4. How do you see consumer behaviour shifting towards digital during this crisis time and what is your approach while understanding and responding to their needs?
In this time of crisis, where people do not want to leave their houses for anything, be it a health check-up, grocery or using an ATM, it is certain that consumer behavior will sway towards digital. We are also seeing this as far as health care needs are concerned, and BIMA has responded by ensuring that it provides round the clock telehealth facilities not only to our customers, but also to any individual who goes to our page https://milvikpakistan.com/corona/ and fills in a request.
5. In your opinion, how can HealthTechs help the insurance and financial sector to cope up with current crisis scenario?
HealthTechs can support the industry by contributing to the overall credibility of the insurance sector, this they can do by using technology to reliably meet claims and telehealth obligations for products relevant to the average Pakistani even in difficult situations. HealthTechs can partner with telcos to ensure that information related to the customer’s policies, claims and health can be provided quickly and effectively.
