MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) comprise 99.6% of business in the Philippines, employing around 63% of the country’s workforce. Despite its significant contribution to the economy, MSMEs often lack insurance, leaving both employers and employees vulnerable to risks in times of emergency.
This is not to say that MSMEs do not care for insurance. A recent study by Manulife found 36% of small business owners in the Philippines found medical, health, or accident insurance a top priority among financial products. Entrepreneurs in this sector are interested in financial protection products but find them unaffordable and complex.
Gigacover, a regional insurtech firm, shared insights on the fundamental ways technology can change traditional insurance for MSMEs, including tailored-fit digital policies that are more affordable and simple to use.
Rise of digital insurance offers competitive protection for the underinsured
Digital insurance can pave the way for more accessible and affordable policies. These solutions can be more adaptable to the demands of MSME workers and offer reduced premiums by providing coverage for a particular need and making distribution entirely online.
Insurtechs are also better equipped to develop insurance products that are not being addressed by insurers for several reasons, including lack of data for risk assessment, bureaucratic structure, and regulatory constraints, among others. For instance, as ride-sharing and car-sharing businesses flourished, motor accident risks increased. Gigacover’s Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) product suite helps drivers reduce accident liabilities, improving their financial security.
Seamless management of insurance in unified platform
Customers don’t always know when to use insurance products, therefore MSMEs should review their policies on a regular basis to make sure they are valid when the time comes. Analyzing existing policies will also help entrepreneurs better understand new uncovered risks as the business scales up.
However, basic tasks such as reviewing benefits, claims filing, and other processes conventionally require assistance from insurance agents. Gigacover helps companies better administer their insurance through online applications where key processes such as viewing policy information and editing subsidy caps can be done to help businesses act more quickly on their needs. The technology behind it plugs in insurers, lenders, and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) into the unified platform for easy access and administration.
Simplifying claims settlement through AI and big data
One of the most innovative ways insurtech is disrupting the insurance industry is by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to help insurers analyze big data and identify risks quickly and accurately. As a result, risk assessment and management strategies become smart and impartial.
Gigacover’s system is able to extract data from claims documents and images, calculate and check against limits, detect potential fraud and also decide if advance claims payouts can be done for specific customer groups. This yields higher client satisfaction and also lower loss ratios for the insurers.
Amerson Lin, Co-Founder and CEO of Gigacover, shared, “By addressing the complexity and high costs associated with insurance, we make insurance more accessible to more Filipino MSMEs. We champion financial inclusion for MSMEs because protecting the vulnerable workers in this sector from health and income risks also financially protects the company, enabling MSMEs to grow sustainably and contribute to improved economic development.”
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