NAICOM tasks operators on process digitalisation

The failure to key into the 21st Century digital services might spell doom for Nigerian underwriters, the Acting Commissioner, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Sunday Thomas, has warned.

He advised that it is important for practitioners to work together and become part of the digital wave of new technologies as well as have a rethink in the industry to be able to compete effectively in the global market.

He cautioned that “Our failure to master social mobile analytics and cloud technology means we will be unable to service even the most basic demands of customers and the post-digital world, hence we could be prevented from embracing the next digital trends or disruption.”

Thomas gave the warning yesterday, in his address to the 2019 Insurance Professionals Forum, organised by the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), held in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

According to him, the insurance industry is in a position to embark on a digital journey that can have real impact on customers and businesses, stressing that practitioners need to recognise the task ahead, and be determined to fill the gaps that are created in the business by advancement in technology.

He said: “For the desired transformation to occur, strong leadership is required, chief executives of insurance entities must embrace this change in a manner that will add value to their company. We all need to move beyond our comfort zone, this means, moving beyond the current structures and culture we have in order to achieve our goals.”

He explained that insurance professionals need to be more alert and imbibe relevant technologies as a baseline or core competence, while adopting newer technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), telematics, big data, marchne learning and artificial intelligence (AI), ‘’Chats-bots’’, distributed ledger technology (DLT), among others.

“The Commission is on its part, is committed to improving the use of technology in the sector. It is on this premise that it is investing hugely in automating most of its operations. The Commission’s portal that will integrate all insurance transactions into a single hub is being finalised; hopefully, by the time we meet next year, our processes would have become fully automated and operational,” he said.

He assured that NAICOM will continue to encourage practitioners to imbibe the adoption of technology in their businesses.
“We must invest in technology in order to meet up with current phase of advancement, and take our products to the comfort of customers; the demand by customers for ease of transacting business is becoming clearer and aggressive. How we respond to these demands will certainly determine our position in the financial market and long time sustainability of our business.”