Beyond COVID-19: Five key strategic priorities for a post-crisis world

A new world emerges

As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, insurers’ strategic focus is now turning to what the competitive landscape will look like in the aftermath, what it means for their business, and how to come out in front. If you’re an insurance leader, focusing on five key priorities will help you to be stronger and more resilient in the post-crisis world.

Now, as governments begin tentatively easing restrictions, you’ll need to turn to other issues. The first is operational: how to prepare your organisation for the return to work in this ‘new normal.’ Although this will be a new and difficult challenge, it should be resolvable in the near term. The other, and in many ways trickier, thing you’ll need to do is to determine what the mid- to long-term implications of the crisis are and how should you respond strategically. Several related questions are emerging within boardroom discussions and strategic planning sessions.

Coming through the crisis stronger than before

Exploring these questions will require considerable scenario analysis and optional planning. And the answers will depend on the nature of your business — property and casualty face different challenges than life and pensions, in particular. However, regardless of the shape of the recovery and your line of business, we believe there are five overriding strategic priorities that will help you emerge from the crisis stronger than before:

Realign your cost structure and sharpen productivity

Supercharge digital transformation to create a digital enterprise

Carve out new revenue streams

Prepare your workforce for the new world

Strengthen capital efficiency

These shouldn’t be new priorities — any good strategy should have included some or all of them already. However, COVID-19 has ramped up the urgency of these competitive imperatives. In this brief, we’ll outline why we think so, what actions you should take, and which potential benefits you should target.

Reinvention and differentiation

Out of every crisis come opportunities for competitive reinvention and differentiation. Today’s strategic rethink provides a catalyst for accelerating operational transformation, developing new business models and connecting more closely with customers. We believe that our five priorities offer a valuable starting point for capitalising on these opportunities.