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ARTICLE BY

  • Gareth Friedlander
  • Deputy CEO
  • Discovery Life

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You’ve probably heard that old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and possibly even said it a few times yourself. And yes, there are instances where it’s best not to meddle where meddling is not required. But there’s also something to be said for always being on the look-out to improve how we do things. Something can work fine, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be better. And with technology and the environment we operate in constantly changing, a product or service offering that was once best in class can become outdated.

 

A new plan for a new era

It was this thinking that inspired our latest Life insurance offering – The Discovery Life Plan. It is designed to provide clients with access to the most comprehensive suite of risk protection benefits and ensures they can experience them simply and powerfully on the face of their mobile phone. This follows two decades of innovation to build, develop and deliver the most comprehensive suite of Life plans, covering all client segments, and designed to meet the full spectrum of needs.

“This is next-generation life insurance that essentially lives and breathes, every day, on the face of your mobile device, offering our clients ongoing incentives and even more value for healthy living and managing their money well,” says Gareth Friedlander, Deputy CEO of Discovery Life. “It has evolved through the science in the Shared-value Insurance model and can adapt to the ever-changing needs of our clients while better protecting their unique lifestyles. We have also enhanced and simplified premium discounts and PayBacks.”

 

Everything all in one place

In the old days, the insurance industry operated in silos, putting advisers in the position where they often had to play detective to stay on top of clients’ portfolios. However, with the technology we have today, there’s no reason why this should be the case. 

When we developed the Discovery Life Plan, we also wanted to create a new way for advisers to engage with our products that would be quicker and easier. We created Adviser 360 – an enhanced platform that supports the entire advice process and gives financial advisers a holistic view of their clients’ financial portfolios through a centralised virtual platform and a streamlined, end-to-end new business journey.

Friedlander explains: “Adviser 360 offers a quicker and simpler new business process, meaning that advisers will be better equipped to provide more holistic advice through an efficient way to quote, activate and provide service to their clients, while clients enjoy the benefits of less paperwork, faster turnaround time, and more comprehensive life planning.”

 

The gift of time

Another hallmark of the old days of insurance was being able to spend hours with a client, shooting the breeze and doing some business in between. These days, clients have limited time available and the last thing they want to do with it is talk about insurance. As an industry, we need to be cognizant of this and save clients time wherever we can.

The Discovery Life Plan includes a robust underwriting capability that enables a significant number of clients to be fully underwritten faster than ever before. The new capability means that we are now able to fully underwrite applications for eligible lives up to the age of 65 in less than 30 minutes. This is because we use our existing extensive data and analytics capability to ensure we no longer need to call for medical requirements in many instances for these clients but they can almost immediately access Discovery Life’s world-leading benefits at fully underwritten rates. 

 

Creating an ecosystem

Finally, technology allows us to create an ecosystem, integrating every aspect of the client’s journey with us and enhancing their experience through interactive mechanisms like rewards programmes. Today’s clients are no longer loyal to an insurer because they feel a connection or because their family has always used that insurer. Loyalty has to be earned by creating an ecosystem that makes clients want to stick around because they feel like it works for them.

This has always been a big focus for Discovery and we’ve seen the value that it can create, both for the insurer and the client. By simplifying and enhancing the Shared-value Insurance model, Discovery Life clients are now able to get more value from their life insurance through healthy behaviour that brings about deeper discounts and further value through PayBacks and Cash Conversions. 

Upfront and ongoing premium discounts of up to 48% are available when clients integrate their policy with their other Discovery products which also allows them to access up to 100% of their life insurance premiums back in cash by managing their health and wellness, through the PayBack benefit. To date, Discovery Life has paid more than R10 billion in PayBacks. 

“We’re excited that we have transformed life insurance yet again. For over two decades, Discovery Life has become synonymous with making clients healthier and enhancing and protecting their lives. Over this time, we have paid out in excess of R45 billion in claims while designing market-leading products catered to the ever-changing nature of risk. The Discovery Life Plan is all about taking our clients into the future of life insurance by personalising and bringing their Shared-value to life. So, we are excited to offer many progressive features that are enabled by the high-end digital capabilities,” concludes Friedlander. 

 

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