There is untapped growth on which insurers can capitalise in the SME insurance market. Where retail and corporate customers are well catered for, SMEs are underserved, say our panel of six leading experts who joined our most recent virtual roundtable.

Below we summarise the conversation, in which the six thought-leaders explain how insurers can improve their offering for SMEs – and why there are reasons to be optimistic.

“I think the small business market is really under-appreciated,” says Ranila Ravi-Burslem, Director of Distribution, Workplace, Aviva. “Look at the volume of innovation that happens in the consumer space, by comparison.” The success of insurance in the retail sector is a clear example of how carriers can fulfill the needs of SMEs. They must prioritise customer experience by providing an easy, quick and simple service.

“Simplification of customer experience is a strategic theme for a number of UK insurers,” says Helen Bryant Director of SME and Corporate Partners, Allianz. “Whilst I would reflect that the market is taking steps towards achieving this goal, there is still some way to go. For example, in time, I would like to see policy wordings redesigned to a level that make them as easy for our customers to understand as reading a newspaper.”

A superior customer experience can be enabled by automation and analytics, say our experts. “We’re moving towards a single platform on the Salesforce cloud, fully API driven, which will allow us to transact wholesale and retail business internationally and find cross-sell opportunities,” says Bunty Aranja Head of Business Architecture, Howden Group.