Maximising customer outcomes through innovation in the complaints landscape

The UK insurance industry is experiencing a period of profound change. Unprecedented macro-economic, social and regulatory trends continue to vex and challenge insurers. Digital transformation and disruptive innovation have gone from being vague futuristic concepts to immediate-term action items on strategic agendas. Fierce competition and sustained low profitability is fueled by the predominance of online distribution channels, aggregators, brokers and other direct distributors. The battle for repeat business is keeping downward pressure on pricing, while a changing regulatory agenda increases costs and challenges margins.

Insurers are being forced to strive for competitive advantage across product, distribution and customer experience to survive. The need for innovation among incumbents is opening the door for disruptive, creative FinTechs and InsurTechs. These firms are seeking partnerships with insurers and distributors to successfully break into the sector and bring the modern solutions and service capabilities that customers expect. One area where firms are already making changes to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market is in complaints, both to bring down costs and unlock potential for growth and learning.

To my mind, customer complaints are at the heart of innovation, as inexorably linked as problem and solution.

Innovation is a much over-used word, but relates to the delivery of better outcomes, not just the ideation, but the tangible delivery of change in the pursuit of excellence.

Complaints drive innovation if they’re harnessed correctly, informing better outcomes for all concerned and minimising demand failure. After all, what would fuel complaints if it were not for innovation, where changes are made and things fail to match up to expectation? Whilst no one apparently really enjoys change, in management guru Peter Druker’s world you ‘change or die’, so we are often caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to complaints handling.

I will be speaking at our upcoming webinar event ‘Maximising customer outcomes through innovation in the complaints landscape’, in partnership with Association of British Insurers (ABI) on Wednesday 11^th November 2020, i'll be exploring three key dimensions that may lead to better outcomes for both firms and their customers in this area:

• Understanding the five key components in the complaints-innovation dilemma

• Navigating critical leadership challenges to innovate through complaints

• Plugging the creative ‘gap’ in ensuring that complaints spark innovation

In addition, the webinar will set out regulatory expectations around complaints and provide actionable steps to ensure more effective complaints operations. It will also explain how firms can continue to improve consumer outcomes post Covid-19 and describe what good Root Cause Analysis frameworks look like.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Martin Dodd, Chief Executive Officer at Huntswood
• Paul Whiteing, Lead Ombudsman and Director of Casework at Financial Ombudsman Service
• Amanda Mason, Head of Compliance at NFU Mutual
• James Daley, Managing Director at Fairer Finance
• Charlotte Clark CBE, Director of Regulation and the ABI

Register for the webinar here