It goes without saying that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has sparked a massive transformation to the world’s way of life and the impact of the pandemic on the global community will likely outlast the outbreak of COVID-19 long after the illness is eradicated. And of course, this has led many of us to wonder about normality – What will the post-pandemic world look like?
As organisations grapple with how to future-proof themselves, we believe the crisis will spur more innovation, altering the way we live, work, and relate to one another.
The wave of disruption brought about by this pandemic is creating new business models and introducing dramatic changes in the existing ones.
Don’t be a dinosaur:
There is no doubt that while the pandemic has pushed many businesses into “survival mode”. In the post-pandemic world businesses should use this opportunity, and rather than survive, maximize new opportunities in the “new normal”.
Winston Churchill coined the phrase – “Don’t let a good crisis go to waste” and really this means that during the time of a crisis our status quo or day-to-day normal is changed and this gives us a great chance to think about opportunities during and after a crisis.
As the world evolves, so does the way we do our work. If you are not learning and changing every day, you are slowly becoming extinct. This crisis has forced many businesses to work from home, connect digitally and to come up with creative ways of doing business and connecting with customers.
At iTOO we have coined the phrase – Expert Service Always and this means that no matter what changes, we will adapt and ensure continuity of the service that our brokers have become accustomed to.
Keep it real:
The new buzz word, social distancing, has forced its way into our lives. As with many other organisations, our most immediate concern at iTOO was to look after our people and we have managed to get all of them working from home with no interruptions.
However, we are ensuring that though we are apart physically, we are more connected than ever.
Many people predict that data scientists, actuaries and technology will be the skills required for the future, however my view is, although these are important skills, the real skill of the future is going to be building real relationships and connections in the virtual world.
The need for Expert Insurance:
The world has changed and so have the risks we face. To illustrate with an example – in 1975, 85% of the value of the S&P 500 was made up of tangible assets like buildings, plant, machinery, stock and vehicles. Today about 84% of the value of these leading 500 companies is made up of intangible assets such as brand, intellectual property, data and reputation. This is a huge shift and yet insurance spend has not kept up with the change and businesses are still spending mostly on protecting their physical assets.
A global pandemic such as coronavirus is an example of a risk that was mostly not covered for ordinary people and businesses, yet pandemic risk was predicted by many. As the world changes around us, it is so important to work with a good broker who understands the risks their clients face so that they can get advice about what else can go wrong and how they can protect against it with the help of an expert in special risks.
In these uncertain times it is impossible to predict the future, so at iTOO we want to work together with our brokers to co-create the future.