FASTER! HOW TO RESPOND TO THE NEEDS OF THE BANKING AND INSURANCE MARKETS IN REAL TIME

In an increasingly volatile economic framework, the very logic behind the design of insurance and banking products must be completely rethought in order to reach the time-to-market speed required for the pre-emption of new parts. The finished product no longer matters as much as its future adaptability to new needs, which are now changing too quickly.

And it is this constant imperative for innovation that is shaking up the banking and insurance sectors. It is even taking priority over issues concerning design costs and the launch of new offers on the market. How can the different players orchestrate a successful transformation and supply the end customer faster with products that can be assembled or taken apart like ‘bricks’, without a loss in performance or autonomy? The era of permanent solutions is over.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Once developed, an insurance or banking product can only be ‘up to date’ for a limited amount of time. Therefore, it must be designed so as to allow an instant and user-friendly reaction to market changes. For instance, the life insurance market in France will be turned upside down by the government’s new tax deal, with a 30 % flat tax on capital income: it must be possible for all life insurance products to adapt from one day to the next to the behaviour of investors as a result of a new tax system.

Consequently, it is during the development phase of new products that suppliers for the banking and insurance sectors will gain the time needed to align their rate of innovation with that of the change in needs. Even if they have to give up time during the initial development phases to gain more time when updating products and adding new functionalities. Product cycles will therefore generally be shorter and closer to market variations.

LEARNING HOW TO DO THINGS SIMPLY AGAIN BEFORE DOING THINGS FAST

However, offering the insurance and banking players the means to be responsive is one thing, appropriating them is another. And yet, this is exactly what a product’s success depends on. The user experience will therefore be the primary concern of software providers, such as FinTech, to pre-empt market share in the next five years.

As a result, insurance and banking product end users have established a new standard: user-friendliness matters more than a product’s raw performance potential. Even cost is no longer at the top of the list. Numerous offers are now unsuitable because banking and insurance players have no time to exploit their full potential. Consequently, every product aimed at these agents must now be designed as though its future user was a novice.

Creating closer ties between market development teams… in the true sense of the word!

This involves a maximum level of proximity between the teams who design insurance and banking products and their end users. On the supplier side, the task forces must be formed according to the target audience, right from the initial product development stages. Also, don’t forget the tremendous influx of millennials on the labour market who are revolutionising common practices. So, let them into the product development process!

This adaptation will be the best response of ‘traditional’ players to the end customers’ new demands, which FinTech has used as a basis to pre-empt the market. These players are starting from a blank page while taking advantage of their elders’ mistakes to develop flexible back-office structures and tools. They are developing their offer(s) more quickly and, as such, are references for those who are seeking to reduce their banking and insurance products’ time to market.

DIDIER LAMBERT
PENSION & INSURANCE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR