From uncertainty
The life insurance protection gap is a global problem. For example, in the United States, 61% of Americans are not adequately covered. This is due to multiple factors, which typically include an often less than transparent and tedious process for consumers to understand and determine how much and which type of coverage they need.
to security
Swiss Re’s iptiQ is trying to close the global life insurance protection gap by addressing some of consumers’ major pain points. The only way to do this is to deliver coverage quickly, conveniently and strategically. iptiQ partners with companies to offer a 100% digital, streamlined consumer and agent journey that’s customisable.
The challenge
Suzanne Bielser had always planned to purchase life insurance when she reached her early fifties
Life insurance in the US in numbers
~50%
of Americans with life insurance are underinsured
43%
of Americans have no life insurance policy
Source: Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association
So when she celebrated her fifty-third birthday, she knew it was time to look into finding the right policy.
Buying a policy online was so simple and straightforward, and I’m not a tech expert. The platform made the process of purchasing life insurance easy and even pleasant.
Suzanne Bielser
Swiss Re Lumico customer
She had reached a point where her children were living independent lives and starting families of their own, and she felt content about where she was in her life – she was enjoying her job, being a grandmother, and her life in the open spaces of rural Nebraska. It was time to plan for her and her husband’s future. She wasn’t looking for a massive amount of coverage, but just enough to give her peace of mind.
When she found Lumico, iptiQ’s US carrier, she was relieved – she doesn’t consider herself tech-savvy, but she found the platform logical and intuitive.
Consumers in the United States purchased over 100 000 Lumico insurance policies in 2019, resulting in more than USD 100 million in new annualised premiums.
The solution
Suzanne was able to find the right policy easily and efficiently
The iptiQ platform asked her to answer basic questions about her life and coverage needs. Based on her answers, she received a quote, and Suzanne was able to start the purchasing process, applying online.
Digitally narrowing the protection gap
Through iptiQ’s end-to-end omnichannel platform, Swiss Re partners with companies to focus on consumers in the middle market, an area where the protection gap can likely be narrowed through a convenient, more efficient digital process.
Swiss Re provides partners with the platform, which includes a clean and attractive user experience that they can align with their unique branding.
We are focused on making it easier for people to protect themselves and their families.
Niels Kueker
Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, iptiQ Americas
From risk to resilience
Watch our annual report video and see how we build resilience around the world.
The impact
iptiQ takes a major leap in closing the protection gap
Images (clockwise): Suzanne Bielser and Niels Kueker at their computers; iptiQ website.
The platform’s sophisticated use of data and technology allows iptiQ to cater to an individual’s specific needs and demands. Suzanne never had to answer the same questions twice because the platform remembers and auto-fills already-inputted data, combining customer answers on their digital application with real-time external data sources to create quick and frictionless buying experiences. Suzanne could even use a digital or voice signature at the end to finalise the application. The entire process was simultaneously fast and comprehensive, and completely digital. Her path to personal resilience was made easier through iptiQ’s cutting-edge technology.
iptiQ enables people like Suzanne to buy life and health insurance policies easily and efficiently, not only in the United States, but also in Europe and Australia, and its reach is only expanding. The iptiQ platform consolidates best of breed components with product innovation, balance sheet relief, underwriting and digitised sales capabilities in a single package, allowing its partners instant digitisation – an attractive option for carriers that clearly benefits the end-user.
In addition, the platform enables our partners to test and analyse user journeys in order to continually optimise. This has contributed to the platform’s continued success and growth.
Customers increasingly demand greater choice, enabled by expanded technology access, and choosing the right life insurance policy is no exception. This requires digital agility from the life insurance sector. The bar is being raised by technology firms for improved customer experience and expanded personalisation. Insurers are no longer competing with peers in their sector, but with the customers’ last best digital experience. iptiQ allows partners to respond to this changing marketplace and enhances the chance of satisfaction and peace of mind for end-users like Suzanne so they can more easily purchase the coverage they need.
How long have you been working at Swiss Re? I joined Swiss Re in June 2011, as the company started its journey into the primary insurance space.
How did you start to work in re/insurance? I have been in the insurance industry for my entire career. Having worked at several insurance companies in Europe, I was attracted by the notion of a large, global reinsurer entering the insurance space. In the last eight years, I have helped build Swiss Re’s iptiQ business in Europe and the United States, bringing innovative insurance solutions to distributors and insurers and their consumers, which we refer to as the Middle Market, through its B2B2C approach.
iptiQ is a tech-driven platform: has the tech/digital space always been of interest, or did you find yourself moving towards it gradually? Prior to my career at Swiss Re, I have been involved in several start-ups and D2C (direct-to-consumer) businesses, where digitisation was the key problem we were trying to solve. Tech is often an integral part of the solution—and it is exciting because that’s where the real competitive advantage is.
What tasks or parts of your job do you enjoy the most in your day to day? I enjoy growing the business, our partnerships, bringing easier and better solutions to Middle Market consumers, and knowing that we are making an impact, every day, on the lives of the families we protect. I also strive to help foster a more collaborative, cross-functional culture in which we solve problems together.
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