A survey of insurance carriers, brokers, agents, and distribution partners and technology partners in Canada conducted by Reuters Events shows that 93 per cent of the 257 respondents surveyed are confident about their company’s prospects for revenue growth over the next 12 months. 

When asked if they believe insurance growth will improve, stay the same or decline over the next 12 months, 61 per cent of respondents said they expected growth to improve and 34 per cent said it would stay the same, while just five per cent said they expected growth to decline in the coming year.

The survey of executives, vice presidents, directors and managers also examined the industry’s priorities for 2021. It found that just 32 per cent said they would be prioritizing or investing in the customer experience during the year, 25 per cent said core technology transformation was a priority, 17 per cent said they want to automate manual processes, 13 per cent were focused on product innovation and 10 per cent said claims transformation was their priority in the next 12 months.

Main challenges 

When asked to rank their main challenges in order of priority, improving the digital customer experience came out on top, followed by efforts to automate manual processes and others to drive profitability. 

Cyber threats were the most often named concern survey respondents had for Reuters’ researchers, with 73 per cent saying they were concerned, 22 per cent saying they were somewhat concerned and just five per cent saying they were not concerned at all about cyber threats to their organizations’ growth prospects. An economic crisis was listed as a concern by 58 per cent of respondents while 52 per cent said they were concerned about climate change and claims severity.