Deloitte Canada and the Canadian Association of Financial Institutions in Insurance (CAFII) have created a report focused on the evolving insurance needs of Canadians and their changing preferences, alongside an analysis of what it takes to offer best-in-class digital experiences to consumers.

Focused on credit protection insurance (CPI), the research found that collaboration between distributors, underwriters and regulators is needed to create the digital experiences that Canadian consumers have come to expect.

Consumer expectations 

They found that consumers expect more seamless, convenient and personalized service, there is growing competition from new entrants with technology-enabled business models, there are opportunities to create greater back-office efficiency and the increased availability of data and analytics makes it possible to generate better customer insights.

To succeed, they say insurers will need to have a well-articulated digital business strategy, clarity on the support required for customers, products and channel strategies, and be highly customer-oriented, hyper-focused on operational efficiency and inform business priorities with data-driven insights.

The report also found that 100 per cent of underwriters and distributors indicated that digitizing CPI was a strategic priority, while 65 per cent of customers say they are now more likely to use the product as a result of the pandemic. 

Of those surveyed, 60 per cent said they would like to have real-time virtual assistance when obtaining the product; 40 per cent will still want in-person assistance at some point. This, they say, highlights the need for building omnichannel capabilities. They also say improving the representative experience will also be critical to improving the end-to-end client experience.