Non-insurer? Perfect. You’re about to launch an insurance line.

Using the cost-effective cloud SaaS and omnichannel approach that made it Africa’s fintech winner at VIVAtech (Paris), Click2Sure unveiled a host of digital insurance solutions for different industries last year. Here, we round up the most intriguing.

With the global insurtech market set to reach USD 8884.7 million in size by 2026, Cape Town-based Click2Sure is ready to assist traditional southern African insurers to move to cloud and adopt a digital-first, customer-centric, data-driven business model, that will make them future-fit. 

Yet it’s no longer just traditional insurers that can leverage this game-changing insurance software. Aligned with a partnering underwriter (registered FSP), non-insurers of all kinds can also now get into the insurance market, using Click2Sure’s user-friendly distribution and administration solutions. Let’s unpack some of the possibilities …

Rolling out insurance opportunity for retailers, e-retailers and OEMs

There’s a big business opportunity in microinsurance. How big? Africa-sized. McKinsey has predicted that the African insurance market could grow at around 7% per year until 2025 – nearly twice as fast as North America’s. For the low-income majority of the continent’s population, microinsurance is the most accessible form of insurance, because it comes in the form of low-ticket policies that can cover almost any item or eventuality for a modest fee (have a look at India’s Digit). But why the predicted explosion in policies?

Because the rate of insurance penetration in Africa is still low: South Africa 16.99%; Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius and Zimbabwe 4%-7%; most other sub-Saharan countries < 1%. Yet microinsurance, which we engineer for mobile-first distribution, is growing at 10% per year in some countries … and there are 960 million mobile subscriptions across Africa.

Imagine the implications of being able to distribute compelling microinsurance offerings to those 960 million subscribers via SMS, USSD, WhatsApp and QR codes? Consumers can also be offered insurance on the web or via self-service digital terminals, when they’re making other financial transactions at supermarket money markets, or buying products at the tills.

This is what Click2Sure can engineer, by integrating its cloud software with clients’ business systems. All the details here. 

Another revenue-generating opportunity Click2Sure engineers for retailers, as well as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), is digitally-distributed extended warranties. The global extended warranty market was valued at about $120 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach almost $170 billion by 2027.

An extended warranty – or extended service contract – is a policy that expands on and extends the mandatory limited warranty period of consumer goods significantly, covering the cost of breakdown and repair or replacement for several months or years.

Via QR codes on product packaging, messaging on ecommerce platforms or self-service terminals at retail till points, consumers can be offered extended warranties on their new purchases. Such warranties aren’t just great for generating new revenue, they also activate an ongoing connection between the warranty provider and the customer, along with rich customer data – particularly valuable for OEMs, who would never normally have this opportunity. 

Interested in digital microinsurance or extended warranties? Read more here.

Uploading insurance to digital banking and remittance platforms

A Verified Market Research report, “Digital Remittance Market”, revealed that the global remittance/money transfer market could reach USD 40 Million by 2028. In southern African countries, where migrant work is common and many families have members across borders, the market is especially thriving.

As consumers increasingly adopt the convenience of these platforms, along with fast-growing digital banking apps, the time is right to meet their demand for convenient “all in one” financial services. In other words, transactional platform owners should seek to offer a wider set of financial services on their platforms, beyond just transfers or banking. Consumers are always on the hunt for a platform that will service more of their financial needs in one place – including insurance. Some examples of relevant insurance products:

·       Funeral policies: consumers can take out funeral cover for themselves and their immediate or extended family members, in just a few clicks on their phone.

·       Travel insurance: many consumers who regularly do cross-border money transfers often move between countries themselves.

·       Transactional insurance: to insure financial transactions against the actions of unvetted or unknown third parties.

·       Medical insurance: providing pay-outs for consumers’ sudden, unexpected medical bills.

·       Strategic “mini”-insurance offerings: value-add insurance products can be engineered to attract new customers to digital banks, or to encourage existing customers to upgrade to premium accounts.

Digital bank or remittance platform? Find out more here. 

Engineering digital insurance products for loan providers

In 2020, global debt exceeded US$ 220 trillion, in the largest one-year surge in world debt since World War II. The main reason? Covid-19. Lockdowns, disruption and loss of income flowered during the pandemic. In 2023, amid worries about a possible recession, many consumers are still tackling debt, often turning to loan or debt consolidation providers. Now, these institutions have an opportunity to serve consumers well beyond their loan terms.

Implementing insurance alongside loans or debt consolidation has the business benefit of transforming a loan provider from a one-time rescuer to a long-term partner, in consumers’ eyes. This extended customer stickiness financially benefits not just the loan provider, but also the licensed insurer underwriting its insurance line, with the transactional lifespan of customers increasing from a few months or years, to years or even decades.

Click2Sure’s software can enable loan providers to offer customers:

• Life insurance
• Credit life 
• Funeral policies
• Home and household contents insurance
• Short term insurance
• Vehicle insurance
• Medical gap cover
• Loan provider or debt consolidator? Read more here.    

Ensuring better care for pets through digital insurance

It is estimated that only 1% of dogs and cats are insured in South Africa – and at least 500 000 domestic animals are put down every year in the country. Vet bills can mount up significantly and most South African pet owners simply cannot afford them in the current economy. As a result, uninsured pets may be left to suffer, then get put down, when surgery or ongoing medication could have saved them.

Thankfully, the demand for pet insurance in South Africa has grown significantly in recent years, as more pet owners see its value –  but the easier and quicker it is to take out pet insurance, the faster its take-up will spread.

Already operating in this space, Click2Sure is on a quest to partner with more caring pet brands to make pets as easy to insure as they are to love. Our team can thread pet insurance distribution into every customer touch point: website and mobisite; social media channels; WhatsApp, SMS or USSD; at retailer/veterinarian till points and via QR codes printed on pet food, health products and accessories. For example:

• It’s tick season so a pet owner stops at the vet to pick up some Petarmor. At home they see an invitation on the pack to take up pet insurance in just a few minutes, via WhatsApp.
• Another pet owner buys a bag of Royal Canin at the supermarket and there’s a QR code on the pack, which they can scan to take up pet insurance just as quickly.
• A third visits Pet Heaven online to order some new dog blankets and the home page has an offer to cover their pets in another way, too – through insurance.

Read more about adding pet insurance to your pet range here.

Empowering carriers and couriers to carry insurance

Ecommerce platforms, retailers and big companies shipping goods are sometimes surprised by the limited level of protection afforded to the goods they send. As a standard practice in the transport industry, shipments are usually covered up to the carrier’s Limitation of Liability in the event of damage or loss – and the Limitation is usually much less than the value of the shipper’s goods.

Natural disasters, hijackings, road hazards – the list of in-transit risks aside from “gross negligence or wilful misconduct” is long. As a result, many companies that ship goods take out extra goods-in-transit/shipping cover online, from one of the third party insurers that offer insurance at affordable rates thanks to their all-digital business model and low overheads.

Now, our cost-effective cloud SaaS enables carriers to offer customers comprehensive shipping insurance in-house, at the same pricing levels as the third-party insurers, by implementing the same digital model of insurance. This empowers them to retain and attract customers through a more customer-centric service, while accruing a new revenue stream from insurance policies. 

Carrier or courier service? More details on our industry-specific solution here.

Click2Sure: need to knows

• If you are a non-insurer, you would enter a three-way partnership to launch digital insurance: you, as the product owner, Click2Sure as your technology partner, and an insurer or underwriter.
• While the Click2Sure software will be integrated into your business systems, the insurance products you offer will always carry your branding – they would be  white label in nature. 
• It can take as little as 30 days for us to engineer a demonstrable Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
• Because our model is software as a service, you don’t need to pay a hefty price in order to license an off-the-shelf software product, nor do you need to fund a complex, custom-built in-house solution. 
• You would pay Click2Sure only for implementation, and then an ongoing monthly subscription fee for using the software. Revenue accruing from insurance policies would be shared only between you and your insurance underwriter.
• We can assist in helping you team up with a suitable underwriter for your insurance line.
• Distribution is via diverse digital channels and is highly cost-effective.
• All digital roads would lead your customers to a branded  client portal, on which they can apply for, manage and update their policies.
• On the back-end, policy administration is easy and intuitive, via an administration portal. We would help you become familiar with it, and be on hand for support beyond go-live. 
• With digital insurance, both you and your underwriter can make strategic business decisions based on real-time customer data.

Innovate to thrive in 2023 and beyond

As the insurance sector as a whole is transformed by new technology, traditional insurers that  harness the business agility, automation, data integrity and data analytics of cloud solutions like ours will gain the edge in a competitive industry. Those that do not may begin to fall behind. 

Non-insurers of all kinds have an opportunity to grow revenue, increase customer loyalty and stand out from competitors, by launching Click2Sure-engineered insurance products under their own brand.

Ready to partner with Click2Sure? Next steps:

Contact the Click2Sure team on  +27 (10) 045 4019 or [email protected] so that we can schedule a call or meeting with you to understand your business, help you define the insurance offering you want to launch and discuss the timeline and actionables towards go-live.