Ep169 Keith Meier of Assurant: Listen to your customers

The more time we spend in this industry the more we learn that
there is very little that is genuinely new. Take the insurtech
community’s recent discovery of the idea of embedded insurance.
To read some of the posts about this on social media, this is an
idea forged in the white heat of technology and so
recently-minted that it’s still hot to the touch. Well, today’s
guest puts that idea into considerable perspective. Keith Meier
is Chief Operating Officer of US-headquartered Fortune 500
insurer Assurant and has spent a career of over twenty-five years
working in the business to business to consumer insurance space –
or B2B2C as it is more often called. Operating in 21 countries,
there is almost nothing that Keith and Assurant don’t know about
embedding insurance right into the heart of the product offerings
of the world’s largest consumer brands. So this is a very mature
sector and what follows is a masterclass on how to succeed in
this specialist niche of the industry. Keith’s absolute
customer-centricity will be a revelation to many listeners from
the wholesale world. What’s clear is this is a long-term business
that needs the right cultural approach to work for all parties.
You have to offer real value or you just won’t last. But when it
works, it really works. The insurer grows profitable business and
service revenues, consumers get great service and added-value
products and the consumer giants get new revenue streams and more
loyal and better-quality customers. What’s also clear is that
technology is enabling this segment to be so much more responsive
than it has been in the past, with new products configurable at
scale in a matter of days and weeks at negligible cost. That’s
clearly the part that’s exciting the insurtechs – and the growth
prospects are indeed considerable. But here is one embedded
incumbent who is way ahead and is going to be very, very hard to
disrupt! LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:
https://www.advantagego.com/