ONE OF CANADA’s foremost p&c experts has questioned whether the industry here is doing enough to create more meaningful and memorable experiences when someone reports a claim.

Writing in the latest edition of Solvency Matters, a quarterly newsletter from the Property and Casualty Insurance Compensation Corp., Glenn Gibson says it is unlikely that Canada will see a wave of technological products disrupting the industry in the short term.

“We are a cautious group in Canada with strong regulators. We tend to follow the U.K. market in terms of new products and are very cautious about embracing the growing number of U.S. innovations in our sector.

“If this view is correct, is our market missing an opportunity to elevate its game?”

Food for thought, he says, noting that the customer value proposition is crucial for today’s claims professionals.

Mr. Gibson is now ceo of The GTG Group and a member of the PACICC board of directors. He previously held senior executive roles at Crawford & Co. and is well known for his dedication to education.

He has served on the board of the governors and as chairman of the Insurance Institute of Canada and was also a founding member of the Hamilton chapter of the Ontario Insurance Adjusters Association and the Ontario chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators.

Mr. Gibson said having a clear customer value proposition is absolutely critical for a business being sucessful.

“Is how you handle claims part of this?” he asked in the article.

“Why should a customer buy insurance from you? What benefits are they going to get from buying your product? “How does your product add greater value or benefits than a competitor’s? How will things be different if a customer buys from you? Have you deeply, truly studied a day in the life of your customer? What are the unmet needs of your customer you are trying to address?

“What is it that the customer really values?” Mr. Gibson said.

“Are you owning your customer’s problems and finding solutions?”

He said insurance professionals must consider these questions and think about the general insurance product.

“A clearly articulated claims process — filled with added, unexpected value — would seem to

me to be the perfect recipe for developing and executing on a terrific customer value proposition.”

(For more independent coverage of PACICC’s latest quarterly newsletter and other Canadian p&c industry news, please choose the ‘Subscribe’ tab on our main page or email mpub@rogers.com).