As I reflect on the four years I have been leading the team at eric, I often marvel at the growth and determination we have shown in dealing with the myriad of regulatory change that is impacting our industry.

While regulatory change can sometimes prove to be a setback for some organisations, I see it as a necessity. Change helps organisations adapt, putting the customer at the forefront of their operations. Change helps protect you, us, and everyone in between.

Evolution is inevitable, and if you can’t stay ahead of the curve, it’s probably time to get off the bus.

At eric, we’ve invested a significant amount of time into remediating historical issues and implementing regulatory changes to our systems and our product portfolio. 2021 is no exception to this statement, with the introduction of the Deferred Sales Model (DSM) to the specialist insurance space.

Anticipation is key when it comes to regulatory change, that is why when we developed our Genesis sales system.  It was designed to accommodate the anticipated introduction of a Deferred Sales Model. For us, it’s as easy as flicking a switch. We expect our full roll-out of Genesis across our Motor vehicle & Motorcycle dealer and broker channels to be completed by September 2021.

For other Insurers, the DSM may be considered the ‘great unknown’ and a reason to exit the channel, but I believe it’s nothing to be afraid of. The DSM is simply being introduced to ensure that consumers in specialist insurance markets are making informed decisions. This deferral period allows consumers to learn more about the products on offer, further educate themselves around the features and benefits of the product, and therefore make a confident, informed decision on whether the product is right for them.

From my perspective, it should be the responsibility of the Insurer to ensure that all their customers (and potential customers) are provided with the information required to know everything there is to know about their products. If you keep up with eric on social media, you’ll see that we’ve been periodically releasing education articles over the last 12 months, so that you could learn more about our products!

While we are anticipating the implementation of the DSM on October 5^th, we are also continuing to review and refine our product suite to provide our customers with better pricing and greater benefits.

We have launched our ‘Motor First’ campaign, in which we are channelling a large focus on the growth of our Motor Vehicle Insurance and Motorcycle Insurance channels, these channels make up over 30% of our new policies yearly.

We’re also actively working to reintroduce contract warranty products. We are in the process of implementing roadside assistance to some of our product offerings and we have recently extended our customer service hours. If that’s not enough for you, we even removed all cancellation fees from our entire product suite!

Be sure to follow eric on LinkedIn and Facebook to keep up-to-date with everything that we’re doing, I promise that you’ll learn something new along the way.

See you next time,

Malcolm.