Untapped Market Opportunities for Group and Voluntary Benefits with Diversified Plays, Open Ecosystems and Next-Gen Platforms

It’s no longer simply about providing life and disability insurance for employees. Employers also want and expect a broader range of services for them. Employees too want a relationship that feels relevant to them and one that addresses their needs beyond insurance. And, for the bits they really like and value, they also don’t want to be tied to their current employer to keep them when they venture off to new pastures.

For Group and Voluntary Benefits insurers, there exists a largely untapped market in diversified plays. Core medical and retirement services remain an anchor product in the employer/employee decision set and must be considered when shaping their strategy for products, partners, and an ecosystem. Benefits purchasing across all categories are converging as players attempt to integrate choice across product types. Most employee benefit plans extend beyond insurance to provide more holistic wealth, health, life, and wellness services. Increasingly, these services promote wellbeing, reward loyalty, and serve to increase the employee’s purchase power.

The challenge and strategic question faced by traditional Group and Voluntary insurers is how best to position themselves for these new diversified plays. Insurers active in Group & Voluntary are therefore presented with a clear choice. Are they content to continue being an expert product manufacturer in someone else’s ecosystem, or do they want to position themselves more centrally with both the employer and employee to have a better chance of building a fruitful long-term relationship?

Group and Voluntary Benefits players have the opportunity to extend their reach through new, broader diversified plays that align to a new generation of employees and employers, but it will take Next-Gen Platforms across the core, digital and data along with an ecosystem that can deliver what this new generation demands and expects.

Speakers
Denise Garth – Chief Strategy Officer, Majesco
Seth Rachlin – Executive VP, Global Insurance Industry Leader, Capgemini
Jamie Macgregor – CEO London, United Kingdom, Celent