<!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>Click2Sure</strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong><em>Dog and cat owners take out pet insurance to cover the costs that might arise from having a pet – accidental injuries, veterinary surgeries, prescribed medications. When it comes to households with more than one pet – two cats, a dog – these costs can really mount up.</em></strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>So while it’s still a relatively small sector of the insurance industry, pet insurance is growing fast with the global pet insurance market set to reach a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/05/20/2036190/0/en/Pet-Insurance-Market-to-Rise-at-8-CAGR-till-2026-Increasing-Awareness-Regarding-Animal-Health-and-Well-being-Will-Bode-Well-for-the-Market-says-Fortune-Business-Insights.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">value of USD 11.25 billion</a>&nbsp;by the end of 2026. In South Africa, this trend is reflected- by the end of 2019, one South African insurer said that over 60% of households it insured had pet insurance, covering more than 100 000 pets.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>“The growth of pets as a retail category has been exponential, as has the related growth of pet insurance. As one of the leading insurance SaaS platform enablers, we enable both insurers and affinity partners such as pet stores, vets or pet food suppliers to drive increased customer satisfaction and incremental revenues and profits.”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielguasco/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Daniel Guasco</a>, Click2Sure founder.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>Read on if you are:</strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:list --><ul><li>An&nbsp;<strong>insurer</strong>&nbsp;offering pet insurance but looking for a better way to do it.</li><li>An&nbsp;<strong>insurer</strong>&nbsp;who’d like to add digital pet insurance to your customer offering.</li><li>A&nbsp;<strong>brand&nbsp;</strong>passionate about pet welfare and care wanting to deepen the relationship with your customers (and bring in some extra revenue)</li></ul><!-- /wp:list --><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --><h4>Why the sustained growth in pet insurance?&nbsp;</h4><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>We can speculate that it’s because pets are increasingly becoming much-loved family members, with more and more households feeling a responsibility to grant their animals the same right to medical care as they do their human family members.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Also, during the global pandemic, the bonds between pets and humans have grown stronger. With lockdowns and the new work-from-home lifestyle, more single people have adopted pets – and all of us have spent much more time with our cats or dogs, making us more aware of their welfare. Whether our pet is a pedigree breed or a “street special” with a missing ear and a weird bark, we love them the same – and want to be able to rush them to the vet when needed, without worrying about money.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>There’s a more technical reason, which is that pet insurance has become more widely visible to consumers, as well as faster and easier to take out, thanks to the fast-growing trend of&nbsp;<strong>embedded insuranc</strong>e. This is technology that enables a digital insurance offering to be built into almost any transaction at the point of sale. Two examples:</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:list --><ul><li>You pick up a bag of dog food from the supermarket and there’s a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6780738497851465728/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">QR code on the pack</a>&nbsp;and an invitation to scan it with your phone and take out pet insurance, with a free month to start (it’s so easy to take up the offer, you think why not?).</li><li>You choose a Rogz harness and leash at the vet, and see that it’s tagged with an offer to take out pet insurance as a Value Added Service (this makes you think about what dog walks can entail, like speeding drivers or encounters with non-leashed dogs; you decide to take out insurance).</li></ul><!-- /wp:list --><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --><h4>What makes embedded insurance more compelling than traditional insurance?</h4><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Unlike traditional insurance which is something they might look into later, whenever they get around to it, embedded insurance is offered to consumers when it feels most relevant to them – in the case of pet insurance, just they are shopping for their pets and most likely to have their welfare top of mind, as the above examples show. Since it’s relevant, they are interested – and since it’s easy to apply with a few simple clicks, they do. So, psychology plus convenience are driving what is predicted to be a<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/embedded-insurance-3-trillion-market-opportunity-could-simon-torrance/">&nbsp;$3 trillion embedded insurance market globally.</a></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --><h4>Three important thoughts to leave you with:</h4><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:list --><ul><li>As the world continues to worry about Covid-19,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.teleperformance.com/en-us/insights/blog/2021-customer-service-key-trend-empathy-is-the-star">trend analysis shows&nbsp;</a>there is a great need for brands to demonstrate more<strong>&nbsp;empathy</strong>&nbsp;to consumers; offering easy pet insurance is a way to show empathy for both consumers and their “fur babies”</li><li>Given the sustained growth of both pet insurance and embedded insurance, there is significant&nbsp;<strong>revenue&nbsp;</strong>potential in positioning yourself where the two meet.</li><li>Whether you’re a traditional insurer looking for a digital pet insurance partner, or a company passionate about increasing insurance cover for South African pets, we can launch your new offering in&nbsp;<strong>30 days.</strong></li></ul><!-- /wp:list --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>Call +27 (10) 045 4019 or e-mail&nbsp;<a href="mailto:hello@click2sure.co.za" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hello@click2sure.co.za</a>&nbsp;if this is an opportunity you’d like to look into (ahead of competitors).</strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph -->

Insurer King Price has launched an industry-first ‘pay as you farm’ agricultural insurance product that offers farmer...

<!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong><em>There are two rivers flowing through insurance today: the need for personalisation and the demand for a simple user experience. Telematics is the merging of these rivers. In this shortened version of an article on the role of telematics in insurance, Belinda Felix from Netstar and other industry experts explain how telematics is transforming the industry right before our eyes. </em></strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Vehicle telematics was originally widely used from a specialised fleet need to track heavy load vehicles and delivery drivers, to something increasingly used by the vehicle insurance sector today. Though some drivers are wary of giving their insurance provider detailed access to their driving habits, many are happy to trade off their concerns for the increased benefits and ease of use the technology offers.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>There are essentially five broad benefits to using telematics for insurance: </strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --><ol><li>More accurate premiums</li><li>Ability to reward (and retain) low-risk drivers&nbsp;</li><li>Accident prevention&nbsp;</li><li>Quick, seamless claims&nbsp;</li><li>Rapid accident response&nbsp;</li></ol><!-- /wp:list --><!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --><h3><strong>More accurate premiums&nbsp;</strong></h3><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>For insurers, the benefits are substantial. It is a revolution in the making for an industry that has historically had to rely on educated guesses to rate risk. As Deloitte explains in a recent paper, <em>Auto insurance telematics, The three-minute guide</em>, “Telematics is a potential game-changer for auto insurers, allowing them to decrease reliance on proxy-based measures—such as demographics and credit scores—and incorporate real-time driving behaviors to more accurately measure driver risk.”</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Telematics takes traditional insurance a step further. Belinda Felix, General Manager for Insurance Markets at Netstar, says, “Traditionally, insurance premium calculations were based on where the vehicle 'sleeps', the make and model of the vehicle, and the age and gender of the insured driver. Insurance telematics measures ‘how you drive’ in addition to the above factors, and a consumer’s premium is based on their individual risk behaviour.”&nbsp;</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --><h3><strong>Retaining drivers&nbsp;</strong></h3><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Data is the new gold and telematics is the motherload. With accurate data based on behaviour, policyholders gain some control back over their insurance premiums. As Phumulani Mazvabo, Business Development Executive at Khanyisa Risk Services, explains, “Telematics helps us reward the effort and not the result.”&nbsp;</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Telematics also allows insurers to offer adaptive insurance. Insurance that adapts to real life situations with minimal input from the policyholder. Take the rapid escalation of events over the past few months: “Working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic has made more people review their insurance policies and their premiums, thus you will see more insurance product offerings like ‘Pay as you drive’ and ‘Pay how you drive’,” says Felix, as people working remotely are proactively paying lower premiums by keeping their cars safely at home in their garages.&nbsp;</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Among the benefits for an insurer is attracting ideal clients by merely having these types of policies on offer. “These policies generally attract lower risk drivers. Usage-based insurance (UBI) has changed the landscape of the motor insurance market and insurers slow to take up the opportunity are at risk of losing clientele to competitors that offer UBI products with premiums aligned to ‘good drivers’,” explains Felix.&nbsp;</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><em><strong>Read the full version of this article in the Netstar CPD Hub. Apply for your sponsored 6 CPD hours by following this link  </strong></em><a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgifs.africa%2Fnetstar-cpd%2F&amp;data=04%7C01%7CAndiswaN%40netstar.co.za%7C56edfb2cdad34e05e94f08d9030f4111%7C2ae977fc238e491fba435095e226806b%7C0%7C0%7C637544186315718882%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=2kRvVqbIVfQ8nWK%2BUnBbJbkdV4KslC29w3fS0M%2BmzH0%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong><em>https://gifs.africa/netstar-cpd/</em></strong></a><em><strong>. Remember, the CPD deadline is around the corner and seats are limited. Register today!</strong></em></p><!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong><em>Michael Clack, general manager business development at </em></strong><span><em style="font-weight: bold;">Renasa spoke to COVER about the importance of insuring small and medium enterprises.</em></span></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>COVER: From your perspective, what do you see as the biggest risks these SMEs face?</strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>Michael</strong>: About a third of SA’s GDP comes from small to medium enterprises and another staggering fact is that about 70% of these businesses fail within three to five years, obviously because of the risks that surround them. Two of the most significant challenges in my view are finance and tough economic conditions that the SMEs will face, and then crime. Add lockdown to that and you find that this segment has been hit hard, because it is such a volatile segment of the economy.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>They mostly have limited funding, limited staff&nbsp;complement and lack continuity in their business, because it’s a business that they started up and got going. There’s a lot of risks that do not always come to the fore in this business segment, for example, take cyber risks and operational IT risks that they will most probably face at some stage. These are just some of the risks that they would face, There are many more risks they will face, but those are probably the highlights.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>COVER: If you then look at us as an insurance industry, wanting to underwrite and protect these businesses from those risks, how do you rate our ability, at the moment, to address these risks?</strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>Michael: </strong>I think the industry is coming around. There is a lot of focus on this type of business and the risks associated with them. The big need in the industry is for a bespoke type of product for these SMME businesses. The general focus needs to be placed on establishing an environment for the small business owners to comprehensively manage their insurance risks that their business might encounter. Now with these non-traditional businesses it changes all the time, they need a product that can grow with this type of business. You know, they also don’t generate large premiums, there’s not large exposures to begin with, to create a product that is designed all geared up for the startup type SMME. I think that’s what we see now.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>I know COVID is a thing that we all talk about but it’s affected these businesses and unemployment is going up because of that, a lot of people are looking for other avenues to create a business, to create an income. So it’s got to be a flexible product, kind of like the banking that is also coming around with their fees. They create special accounts for an SMME type business and I think our industry is doing that, but I think we need to gear it up a bit more because this is a traditional business, and then we need to kind of look outside of the box a little bit to gear ourselves up more to do this maybe quicker.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>COVER: Obviously we’ve got a considerable range of products already that we are targeting them with, similar to what Renasa already has in the market. But how do you make sure that they actually have appropriate insurance because, as you said, these businesses are small and they don’t necessarily have capacity, they wouldn’t have somebody dedicated to managing risk?</strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>Michael: </strong>Good question. I think the big thing is education. Looking from Renasa’s perspective, seeing as we only deal through brokers and we don’t have a direct arm, we need to educate our brokers that we have a suitable product. Product design is most important to be specific to what the needs are for this type of business. Because an SMME type of business, as I said before, is very different to the old traditional commercial or business type of insurance. You’ve got to create, firstly, the culture to insure amongst these small SMMEs, especially because they operate in very low margins and insurance might not be a consideration when you’re starting up. But not being insured, no matter how big or small your business is, that will definitely ruin your business, if you have any kind of an adverse event.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>So where a small business might lose a laptop, and they&nbsp;don’t have R15,000 to replace it, the loss would be as big&nbsp;as the losses for a manufacturer that loses his whole factory. I think education is a big thing and the product&nbsp;design, as I said, is important. You’ll probably find the type&nbsp;of product that is needed is more geared to ensure mostly electronic equipment, etc.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>For that reason, Renasa developed a bespoke SMME commercial product for this exact segment, we call it LiquidSure. The idea behind LiquidSure for the brokers and the insured is to create a product that is compellingly convenient. It allows the small business owner to manage the financial challenges they might face by not forcing cover upon them which is not relevant to the field of business that they’re in and that they can afford. It’s a product that is aimed at the startup and small to medium enterprise. For example, the product band is determined by the business’s annual turnover. A few of the unique benefits which will help the businesses to grow and not have a big financial contribution from an insurance perspective, is that the policies are on a first loss basis, with no excesses applicable to any section. The average condition has been deleted, so there’s no average for all sections of the policy, which makes it compellingly convenient for the brokers as the need for advice is limited. There’s no indemnity period on the BI because it’s on a first loss basis and SASRIA cover can be added. So all of those things are geared to not financially burden the company. Furthermore, it is geared to focus on the circumstances of the particular business, taking away the irrelevant covers that’s not really applicable to their form of business.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>It is all driven by the business interruption or the turnover, but they can obviously select additional cover for something else, with an appropriate premium. It is one of those very flexible products that is designed to, for example, when the need was there in the beginning of lockdown, to detune your cover. Now going forward for new startups, they have a flexible insurance product that can grow with the business from the early stages right through until they’re this big multinational. LiquidSure is a product that is designed for exactly that.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>COVER: You mentioned education earlier, especially around the client, but how do you include the broker in that education process, and what role do they play?</strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>Michael:</strong> They definitely need to play a role, especially in our environment, as Renasa. If you look at what’s happened in the last year or so, the focus has been strongly on consolidation, on keeping the business that we’ve got on the books. The same for brokers. And now I think business and the world is opening up again, so we need to put the focus on increasing business and ensuring ongoing advice. We would need to get out there to create that environment where we bring this to front of mind for the brokers. For example, the traditional policies that were out there pre lockdown might not be appropriate now, especially due to many businesses having changed.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>So where you had these office blocks full of people, they’re not full of people any more. That would definitely&nbsp;have a change on the way the policy is structured in terms of the covers that is required. It might mean restructuring of the policy or maybe detuning the cover to a large extent, because some of the coverage is not required. This is where clients’ needs analysis comes very much to the forefront. This is the principle that we need to get out there, ensuring the client understands that a renewal needs to be done, and more thorough than in the past.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>COVER: Lastly, anecdotally maybe, based on the COVID experience from last year, have you seen any change in the uptake from small businesses on insurance or trying to manage risk differently?</strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>Michael:</strong> Certainly. Small business owners are looking at risk differently from the past. They now realise that the world can throw unexpected risks at them and they need to look differently at their insurance needs. We are seeing requests for differently structured and more flexible products, which we now offer, as explained above. Brokers are picking up on that and we are seeing very positive trends in the insurance of the SMME market.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --><h4><a href="https://cover.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Michael-Clack-Renasa.pdf" target="_blank" aria-label="undefined (opens in a new tab)" rel="noreferrer noopener">Download the article as it appears in the April edition of COVER</a></h4><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p></p><!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong>By: Hollard Insure</strong></p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Hollard’s business purpose is called #BetterFutures: it binds every employee to create and secure better futures for more people. Such as the tens of thousands of people dependent on South Africa’s wine industry.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>This is why Hollard Insure, the Hollard Insurance Group’s short-term insurance arm, has partnered with the TOPS at SPAR Wine Show, South Africa’s largest “try and buy” wine event, on a wonderful project.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>When the national COVID-19 lockdown led to the show’s cancellation last year, the TOPS at SPAR’s organisers instead decided to find out exactly what lay over the horizon and channelled their energies into conducting a comprehensive survey of South Africa’s domestic wine market.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>That was the first-ever Great Big Wine Survey, which recorded the views of no fewer than 21 000 people.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>“The wine industry is a major contributor to South Africa’s GDP, not to mention a heavyweight ambassador for the country’s brand,” says Andries Wiese, National Business Development Manager for Hollard Insure.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>“Like many other industries, it suffered severely as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, including disrupted exports, the national COVID-19 lockdown and a series of bans on the sale of alcohol.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>“But while restrictions have eased again, the reality is that the world – and how consumers interact with wine – has changed forever. It will never be business as usual again. So, to help it get back on its feet, and save tens of thousands of jobs, it became imperative to take a long, hard look at how the wine market works now.”</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>The Great Big Wine Survey recorded the responses of 21 000 people. It was carried out by the TOPS at SPAR Wine Show team in collaboration with KLA, a leading independent SA consumer insights research business, and Peter McAtamney, founder/principle of Wine Business Solutions (WBS) – a renowned global wine business intelligence consultancy.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>The survey results are now in, and the industry has gleaned some excellent new insights into the domestic wine market.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>“Proudly sponsoring the survey is our way of giving back to the Western Cape and its iconic wine industry, which has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The great news is our wine producers had an excellent season last year; now the industry can use the consumer insights of the Great Big Wine Survey to tailor its offerings for the greatest success.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>“Helping the industry to recover will go some way towards preserving the jobs of the 45 610 people who work on the primary production side of the wine industry – and supporting all their dependants. That’s a lot of #BetterFutures!” says Wiese.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>For more information about the Great Big Wine Survey results, please visit:&nbsp;<a href="https://news.wine.co.za/news.aspx?NEWSID=37729&amp;CLIENTID=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://news.wine.co.za/news.aspx?NEWSID=37729&amp;CLIENTID=</a></p><!-- /wp:paragraph -->

There are many aspects of modern family living that require thorough planning, and short-term insurance should be key...