The customer is always right
The customer is always right. An old saying, but it’s part of the formula for future user-driven and customer-oriented innovation. Constant product development on customers’ terms is vital if TrygVesta is to maintain and expand its position as the leading peace of mind provider in the Nordic Region.
"We know that in five years’ time, some of our business will come from something we’re not doing today. And what might that be?" is the rhetorical question posed by Stig Ellkier-Pedersen, who is responsible for New Markets. He quickly gets to the point:
"We believe it will have more to do with people and less to do with possessions. It’s about personal peace of mind and security more than insuring things. It’s about insuring yourself, your closest relatives, and your family, against claims from third parties. It’s about your right to the good life," explains Stig Ellkier-Pedersen. In his view, this is a new tendency among customers and therefore an obvious business opportunity.
People in the Nordic region are interested in new kinds of insurance products. This is evident from the enormous growth in health insurance, for example, and in the general demand for healthcare. The health sector is constantly developing new treatments and new training methods that probably cannot be financed through taxes. Individual citizens can rely on insurance to make sure they get the newest and best treatment on offer. This development has been under way for the past five to ten years:
"It’s not something that happens overnight. It’s a gradual accumulation of many small changes over time and we need help to spot these trends. So we’ve hired people with backgrounds outside the insurance industry. People who are used to working with design and theatre, for instance. These new kinds of employees ask new kinds of questions. And we need help answering uncomfortable questions. We must therefore bring in people and new references that challenge us," says Stig Ellkier-Pedersen.
New investigative methods
As well as recruiting employees with new skills, TrygVesta is also using new methods for developing products. When you take a different approach, you get results that are different to those reached using traditional investigative methods:
"We normally use focus groups, surveys, and statistics, but we’ve invited youngsters in from various fields, including the theatre. We have not asked them what they want from us, but have discovered how they view themselves."
For Stig Ellkier-Pedersen, the new investigative methods represent a new level of user-driven innovation. They are less direct. The target group is not confronted with questions about what they want, but instead the methods give a realistic picture of the psychological universe that young people inhabit.
"In the insurance business there is a belief that young people are bad customers. However, we have looked into the matter and have found out that this is not generally the case. On the contrary. In general, young people are a very interesting customer group with needs such as accident insurance and other personal insurances. Young customers want to be met in a new way where they are experts on their own lives, and where they are responsible for their own lives. We shouldn’t play the role of parent. In the future, we will adapt our communication and service patterns to match young people’s wishes and needs," says the head of New Markets.
User-driven insurance trends
At TrygVesta’s BusinessLab, a variety of employees are working on innovation. The alternative style of working at BusinessLab often results in very specific products being developed. Participants in various workshops are often real customers. Instead of writing reports on what steps TrygVesta can take long term, the customers are encouraged to get to grips with tangible solutions and models. For example, one group of youngsters came up with the idea of texting your insurance company if your bike was stolen. And with that idea in mind, they immediately began developing a system that could be used in real life. This was done by drawing an "I’m-reporting-my-bike-stolen-via-an-text-message" system. This puts the customer in focus from the very start of the development process.
"There is a lot of potential to explore here. It generates a whole new energy. Instead of asking, we get customers to show us, so that product development is on their terms as much as possible," says Stig Ellkier-Pedersen.
Blazing new trails with TrygVesta
The new product development and user-driven innovation initiatives are not earmarked for specific products or target groups. Target groups might be young, middle-aged or senior citizens. Women and men. Customers with flooded basements or water on the knee:
"Just implementing what is safe isn’t good enough. We must stimulate our urge to experiment. We mustn’t take chances – not the kind that could backfire – but we must have the courage to launch products that may not be best sellers," says Stig Ellkier-Pedersen.
At the end of the day, it’s the customer who determines the success achieved by a product. After all, the customer is always right.
Responsibility and innovation
TrygVesta in a Nordic collaboration on CSR driven innovation
Klausdalsbrovej 601DK-2750 BallerupTelephone: +45 7011 2020Fax: +45 4420 6700E-mail: ir@trygvesta.com