Six key learnings from the first half of 2018

Sales Directors Peter Abel and Christian Elson reflect on their conversations with brokers in the first half of this year, which included BIBA 2018. Here is a list of the top 6 themes they identified.

Evolving Market
Face-to-face conversations are still very important in our industry, and will remain so, but it will come as no surprise to hear that technology is driving change in the market. The world is shrinking, and the speed of communication is accelerating. Businesses are finding new and innovative ways to grow their share. One company we spoke to, whilst at BIBA, specialises in insurance solutions for overseas professionals, because they identified a niche in which they can operate and have developed highly refined propositions. We think that this trend is likely to continue.

Data and Analytics
The ability of businesses to understand their own data and apply analytics that drives action shows no signs of slowing - no matter how large or small the broker. Greater segmentation of the market will continue, supporting the creation of niches, highly targeted proposition development and improved customer journeys. When fully deployed, action can be efficiently directed to the right audiences, generating a better return for a lower investment.

Adam Morghem, our Strategy & Marketing Director, recently wrote an article about using analytics to drive improved performance. Click here to read his article

Positive Sentiment
There was a real buzz about the future outlook at this year’s BIBA conference and many brokers we spoke to talked about the industry thriving despite the economic uncertainty caused by Brexit, changing regulation, new entrants and new technology. However, discussions with partners face-to-face always reveals many reasons to be positive, and many excellent ideas for organisational growth - including supportive partners willing to make these ideas real.

Customer Experience
Unsurprisingly, in a competitive market, good customer experience is vital to success, and high on everyone’s agenda. People are becoming increasingly intolerant of poor service and studies indicate that by 2020 good customer experience will overtake price and product as the top brand differentiator, with 86% of B2B buyers willing to pay for something better. Simply put, if you’re not investing in developing the very best customer experience, there’s a risk you will be left behind.

Changing Regulation
No surprise here. The two biggest topics of conversation have been GDPR and; for personal lines, Assessment of Affordability (AOA). The implementation and associated cost of GDPR was much talked about, and the big debate was about how to ease the burden and ensure you’re compliant without it swallowing up too much time. AOA driven by the Financial Conduct Authority has also created quite a stir, as they look to manage indebtedness. Fortunately, we’ve been working with brokers and the FCA for over a year to ensure the impact on both the broker and customer journey is minimised.

Robust Partnerships
We hear a great deal about partnerships and how collaboration can open up new opportunities and innovation. The partners we’ve spoken to refer specifically to mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, consolidation and the development of alternative supplier relationships to grow their business and better serve their customers. Some organisations have flagged that they need help in managing the regulatory burden and are outsourcing certain inhouse business functions to shift the regulatory responsibility and process design to trusted experts.

Working with us: We have over £3.4bn in net advances, over two million customers and we’re the only premium finance company accredited by BIBA. We provide technology and experience which helps our 3,000 intermediaries to improve their operation and open up new income streams.

If you want to know more, please email us at:
Peter Abel: Peter.Abel@pcl.co.uk
Christian Elson: Christian.Elson@pcl.co.uk