OUTsurance / Enterprise Africa

OUTSURANCE

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OUTSURANCE

Out-of-this-World Service

When You Need It Most PRODUCTION: William Denstone

For more than two decades, OUTsurance has provided innovative, value-for-money insurance products developed with the needs of South Africans at the centre. “Disciplined underwriting and risk selection, great customer service and deep technology and data skills - these are our key differentiators,” sets out CEO Danie Matthee, and it is working, with growth, strength and recognition all continuing to come OUTsurance’s way. www.enterprise-africa.net / 3

INDUSTRY FOCUS: INSURANCE

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Today comprising some 5000 employees and South Africa’s third-largest insurance group, OUTsurance was launched in 1998 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rand Merchant Investment Holdings (RMI Holdings), a South African based financial services investment holding company. A main campus in Centurion, Pretoria is staffed by nearly 4000, with the remainder spread across offices in the likes of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Gqeberha.

“From an African perspective,” begins CEO Danie Matthee, “our focus remains very much on the

// WE ARE THE LARGEST DIRECT INSURER IN SOUTH AFRICA BY SOME MARGIN //

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South African markets, where we still consider that we have very strong growth opportunities.” This has not prevented this ambitious, young company from establishing subsidiaries in the likes of Namibia, and the 2008 launch of Youi also made OUTsurance the first African company to successfully inaugurate an insurance business in Australia.

Significantly expanding its scope since formation, OUTsurance’s offering now encompasses the full breadth of short and long-term insurance, as well as investment products, to individual and corporate customers. In 2010, the group also launched OUTsurance Life, to enable it to offer fully underwrite life insurance products in South Africa, as well as funeral and endowment products.

GROWTH DESPITE DISRUPTION A crisis such as Covid-19 affects all business sectors, but for the insurance industry there have been some

unique challenges to broach, from employee and business continuity issues to client service considerations to the financial outlook. Amid intermittent lockdowns, anxiety and stress surrounding the virus and tough economic circumstances Matthee details how the group has remained both strong and, impressively, growing.

“We have been really fortunate as a business to have not had to let anyone go during this period of time,” he says. “In fact, we have grown our headcount by close to 800 people in net terms over the last 18 months.

“From a consumer perspective there has been a concerted trend of being cost-conscious and downbuying, particularly when it comes to vehicle insurance, but overall, barring these visible consumer stresses, we are really proud of how we have managed to navigate Covid-19. Not only from a staff point of view, evidenced in our increased personnel numbers, but

OUTSURANCE

whether with premium relief, or claims payments for business interruption during hard lockdowns, for example, we have offered incredible support to our customers when they have needed us most.”

Assistance which has gone beyond the borders of the business, OUTsurance also moved nearinstantaneously to commit R102 million in March 2020 to help in South Africa’s time of greatest need, in support of clients, service providers, the healthcare sector and the Solidarity Response Fund. “With decisive leadership, togetherness and

// WE HAVE OFFERED INCREDIBLE SUPPORT TO OUR CUSTOMERS WHEN THEY HAVE NEEDED US MOST //

community support, we will emerge stronger,” Matthee said at the time.

“Of paramount importance to us is the safety and well-being of our staff and partners who work with us, while making sure that our clients are assisted. As a major South African financial services company, we have a social responsibility to contribute to the fight against this debilitating virus and its devastating economic impact.”

Then followed in July of this year another vital operation under OUTsurance’s ‘Staff Helping SA OUT’ banner, seeing it join the RebuildSA movement by donating more than 60 tons of food to riot-stricken areas in KwaZulu-Natal. “This is a time where we have to join hands and help wherever we can”, explained Matthee.

“We’re always looking for ways to uplift those in need and create social change. OUTsurance is a special place to work and is full of exceptionally caring people.”

SERVICE SETS IT APART “The business is in good shape in the face of enormous obstacles and tragedy,” Matthee is able to relate, “and to have been able to continue to focus on growth, and on disciplined underwriting and cost management, without the need to downscale our staff or affect anybody’s salary negatively is something from which we draw real pride.”

In an extremely competitive and ever-changing marketplace, filled to the brim with competent competitors, there is one factor that he feels is of paramount importance to keeping OUTsurance at the top. “The enduring competitive advantage that we retain is the ability to offer our customers great value for money, backed up by fantastic expertise and care,” he rounds up. “We think that the quality of our service is a significant differentiator in this tough field.”

Continues on page 106

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THESL: IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH EFFORTLESS AND FAIR CONTENTS CLAIMS “With our range of trusted products and solutions, we automate the replacement process as much as possible to ensure that claims are settled as quickly and efficiently as possible” Thesl is a leading insurance industry partner, delivering claims processing and settlement so that positivity can be returned to negative situations.

Possessions are broken, lost and stolen – that’s life but that does not have to be the end of the story.

Thesl, which stands ‘For The Silver Lining’, aiming to be the good in a bad situation, works with insurance providers, including OUTsurance, to ensure the claims process is efficient, effective, and fast.

By utilising best-in-class technology, Thesl can, often instantaneously, evaluate and act on claims to ensure the best possible outcomes for policyholders.

“We’ve been working with OUTsurance for the past five years,” explains Thesl CEO Craig Rawraway. “We facilitate the quantification and settlement of household contents claims. We provide the ability to value a claim and then settle it on behalf of the policyholder.

“Typically, when an item is lost, broken or stolen, the policyholder contacts OUTsurance to lodge their claim and they would, where required, ask us to assist with identifying the item of loss correctly, get best pricing from multiple reputable suppliers, and to potentially facilitate replacement for the policyholder in the most seamless way possible.”

With more than a century of combined insurance industry experience behind it, the team at Thesl are now looking forward, with a view to incorporating technology to ensure an even more efficient delivery for end-users.

“In the near future, it will be common practise for a claimant to use a mobile device to lodge their claim which we can, through our data set and algorithms, quantify instantaneously and automatically issue a buying voucher or a virtual card to spend at a store of their choice. It’s about streamlining and minimising the input so that the claim is settled as quickly and efficiently as possible,” says Rawraway.

Offering solutions which includes TenderSystem to quantify claims, as well as settlement mechanisms such as ClaimsCard, mobile vouchers and purchase orders, efficiency is the end-goal for this business – formed to bring ease, simplicity and automation to the claims process. Right now, the company is close to finalising the build of a fully automated claims process, removing multiple interventions where possible and saving even more time and money for insurers.

“We are busy piloting parts of that process” details Rawraway, “and have built a new system to ensure our data engines and data mapping is accurate. When a claim comes in, we must be able to accurately identify an item, which is mapped against our extensive product data set built up over many years. Once identified, a succession mapping process ensures the policyholder is provided with the best available replacement option. Our system then maps this to live pricing from multiple feeds and recycle quotes from various suppliers so that we can give instantaneous responses. This will reduce turnaround times and increase efficiencies, ultimately lowering the cost of claims.”

Offered on a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, Thesl’s service relieves pressure on handlers when processing complex and, sometimes, high-value and multiple item claims allowing them to offer better service to the claimant.

“We have a great working relationship with OUTsurance as we are both innovators,” says Rawraway.

“Our goal is to get the best result for our client. They, like us, are a data driven company, and therefore we focus on providing them relevant data sets, which facilitates providing the most value adding replacement solution for their client base.”

By constantly rolling out innovative solutions, Thesl continues to achieve its goal of leveraging product data to promote efficiency and improve situations for policyholders and all stakeholders across the claims process.

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IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH EFFORTLESS AND FAIR CONTENT CLAIMS EVERY “AAARGH” SITUATION NEEDS A SILVER LINING It is said that every cloud has a silver lining; even the darkest clouds on the gloomiest days hold the shimmer of hope and possibility. Thesl stands for “The Silver Lining” as we want to be the good in the bad situation that clients find themselves in. We are a financial technology company that knows that when you focus on possibilities, you’ll have more opportunities.

With Thesl, your shortcut to easy just became an opportunity. With our range of trusted quantification and settlement solutions, we automate the replacement process to ensure that your content claims are settled as efficiently as possible

COST SAVING

TIME SAVING

www.thesl.co.za | hello@thesl.co.za 021-8525420 | 0861-252467 (CLAIMS)

HAPPY CLIENTS

EFFICIENT PROCESSES

INDUSTRY FOCUS: INSURANCE

Continued from page 103 The 2020 Consumer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) for short-term insurance polled 2600 customers across major South African during the second half of 2020, with the results corroborating the perception of what Consulta calls, ‘an industry where competition between players is fierce, with the difference between the top four scoring brands on customer satisfaction score barely more than a single index point’.

“For the first time in the history of the SAcsi, the Short-term Insurance SAcsi score overtook the Banking SAcsi score, which has traditionally

// OUTSURANCE IS A SPECIAL PLACE TO WORK AND IS FULL OF EXCEPTIONALLY CARING PEOPLE // 8 / www.enterprise-africa.net

performed at a very high level,” it explained. OUTsurance was pitted against true industry heavyweights such as Auto & General, Discovery, Momentum, Old Mutual and Sanlam, and, with a score of 82.3, succeeded in scooping the top spot in the overall customer satisfaction measure. It is unique among the swathes of companies also vying for the honour

in demonstrating consistent yearon-year improvement in its customer satisfaction score from 2016, finally cementing the leading position in 2020.

Not only ranked number one for customer satisfaction out of all the major short-term insurers, adds Matthee, OUTsurance’s approach also incurs very few grumbles from its customers. “We are fortunate in South

OUTSURANCE

// WE THINK THAT THE QUALITY OF OUR SERVICE IS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENTIATOR IN THIS TOUGH FIELD // Africa to have the ombudsman for short-term insurance, for example, and for the last six or seven years consecutively we have had the fewest complaints referred by consumers compared to our peers. Our service is top-rated by the readers of numerous newspapers, including The Star and City Press, and we have won numerous awards relating to our service delivery.

“This is truly part of our DNA, and embedded into everything that we do,” Matthee furthers, and is backed by deep technology skills and capabilities. “We already consider ourselves something of an

Insurtech,” he details, “and the tech that we employ in our business is all self-built, proprietary and built to serve a specific purpose. We are able to construct processes and systems that allow us to give customers better services, and use customer feedback to continuously improve.

“Looking at our business mix,” Matthee summarises, “we are predominantly a largely personal lines motor and household insurer which provides in the region of 70% of our premium income, and this makes us the largest direct insurer in South Africa by some margin.” Some of the most glaring opportunities looking forward, he adds, are those that OUTsurance has identified in the commercial insurance space.

“We already have a great business here, made even stronger by our heavy investment over the last three years to build face-to-face distribution. We recognised that often SMEs need someone to come in and really understand how their

business works, and offer a much less commoditised product as a result.

This is a big area of growth and opportunity for us in the next three to five years,” he states.

“We have just over a million existing clients to take care of, however,” Matthee stresses, “and this existing business will continue to receive the primary focus that it merits.

“After all, we are in an industry of trust,” Matthee concludes, “and it is essential that we give the consumer confidence in the economic value we can add by protecting their assets and balance sheets through insurance.

In our sphere there is no tangible product in return for the payment of a premium, essentially we sell people a promise. What they can rely on is we are a committed, trusted and deeply skilled organisation that is there for you when you need us most.”

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